disturbing and upsetting

Rating: 7/10 (31 December 2015)

First off, I am a big fan of Stephen King's books and, apart from The Shining, I don't much care for the movie versions (obviously for reasons of space they leave way too much out). This is a movie version of a King book, though one I've not read. So we find Mike Enslin, a spectacularly unsuccessful author (relegated to paperback book bins, as one of this film's characters refers) undertaking research for a book about hauntings. He is a sceptic and has no belief in god, ghosts or any paranormal bulldust. He hears about this hotel in Manhattan and decides to book a night in the infamous room 1408. He attempts to book 'the room' and is told it's not available, a lawyer tells him he can due to some legal technicality which I didn't get. Anyways, he ends up in 1408 and his night of terror begins. Although the "night in a haunted house" scenario has been done to death, Mikæl Håfström for the most part effectively plays his audience with an eerie, often jarring, soundtrack, clever cutting, and a minimum of effects. "1408" is a ghost story, not a horror or slasher flick. It is much more about the 'unseen' terror – and this he achieves with panache. John Cusack is brilliant as the beleaguered "soon-to-be-new-ghost" character AND I loved Samuel L. Jackson. He gives a chilling performance as a manager whose intent is ignored. I also kind of got the feeling his character was one of the many ghosts. The music was unmemorable and the stupid radio kept playing "We've Only Just Begun" a song I loath. The graphics/GCI were very fine, indeed. I loved the various people leaping from the window!