Checking out? I don't think so

Rating: 6/10 (20 December 2010)

In 1408, an eccentric writer checks into a supposedly cursed room at the Dolphin hotel in New York. He plans to use his observations for a chapter in his book, but instead he goes on the ride of his life
I think I can see 1408 working as a short story, but as a movie it feels overlong, and overstuffed. There isn't enough plot to sustain a hundred minute running length. 1408 tries too hard. The horror devices are force fed to us in such a way that the movie never feels truly scary. It is certainly startling, no question there. 1408 doesn't generate suspense as much as it generates a sense of entrapment. We have nowhere to go. Unfortunately neither does the story, and it takes forever to end.
I think one of the worst decisions that 1408 makes is that it ignores the value of claustrophobia. The picture is surprisingly over lit for a horror film, perhaps as an attempt to avoid unrealistic lighting clichés. The camera is quite wide, and there is always to much in the frame. The room itself doesn't feel scary at all, and the devices used to make it scary are familiar and there are too many of them. The windows shutting is one that particularly bothers me, because it feels just plain unrealistic. PArt way through the film, 1408 attempts to justify this unrealism by turning it to surrealism. It becomes more of a fantasy, with rooms in the fridge and snow falling, paintings coming alive.
1408 is a very relentless film, it never lets up, to some degree it entertains, but it's too heavy handed for comfort and is never scary or clever enough to pass for a good horror movie. It's just a watchable one