Best horror film to come out in a long time

Rating: 8/10 (11 October 2007)

Having read the short story first, I pretty knew what was going to happen...or I thought I did. The film is very similar to the short story but not totally. I'll leave it at that.
John Cusack made this film work. He captured the madness and the fear that the character was going through while enduring the room. You really get drawn into the movie.
This movie isn't all that violent or bloody; instead the horror is psychological. This type of horror is really rare these days when directors rely instead on trying to instill nausea rather than fear what with all the blood, maiming, torture, etc... This is the good Stephen King type of horror.
Spoilers:
I liked how they showed Mike Enslin prior to showing up at the Dolphin Hotel. The short story only alludes to Mike's other travels. I felt that it really built the character up well.
I did feel that the scary parts of the film were all compacted in the middle. I also wasn't fooled by the "it was just a dream" sequence though they made that part longer than one expected in an attempt to fool you, it was just too obvious to me.
I seem to remember that in the short story, there is more detail about the deaths in the room. I would have liked to seen more "ghosts" or images as well as the back stories for the victims. Especially the guy with the hammer who periodically came after Mike. Though I suppose the director left that up for the individual viewer to play with in the mind.
I was a little surprised that Stephen King didn't have a cameo anywhere or maybe I missed it and no one else caught it either. He usually has a cameo in his films but then again, this really wasn't marketed as a Stephen King film...