Manages to attain what other horror films sorely lack

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2007)

I am not a horror fan. One of the best horror films of all time, The Birds, is not on my favourite movie list. Even though it's done by my favourite director, Hitchcock, and obtains that thing that 1408 also obtains... It's not up there because I really just don't like horror... Especially Stephen King.
I found The Shining to be boring... And Red Rose to be trite.
But when I saw this film's trailer, I wanted to watch it for two reasons... The first being that I think Cusak actually has great potential (Identity showed it, though it wasn't a very good flick at all) and I wanted to see if he could live up to it... The second being that I thought this movie might have more to it than the usual spook movie.
I was right.
1408 is an experience. An experience of one man's inability to escape his past. True, this is a subject that could have been attacked in a thousand different ways that we easily could have thought up ourselves, but I doubt would have had the effect this film had.
At one point I was moved to tears by the power of the imagery (when some fools actually began to laugh)... I too, know this man's struggle... And if you stop to think, you realize you know it too.
The room, is his past. He is stuck in it... He has been for some time, way before he ever gets to the hotel. His writing career is stuck because of it... His is stuck estranged from his wife because of it... The room is merely the climax... The moments where he must face those choking memories.
And even though the premise is hokey, the room is effective for this. I think it's a shame that many people will approach this film the wrong way. They'll say it wasn't spooky enough... Or too slow...
*Shakes head* That's what happens when you're not willing to approach a movie for what it is... But insist on approaching it with your expectations... Which happens WAY too often.
This is the one horror film that actually had an existential message that I've seen since The Birds.
It also features Samuel L. Jackson's new best line ever... And an ending finally feature Cusak as a true badass.
Go see it, approach it with an open mind for what it is, then apply liberally.