14-O-So-Nearly-Gr8

Rating: 7/10 (18 September 2007)

Call me picky. Call me choosy. Call me anything you like. Just don't have the executives call me from that phone in Room 1408.
As a genuine fan of psychological terror in flicks, 1408 for the first 65 minutes had me creeping the crawlies - and I don't scare easy these days.
Not because I am in possession of a DNA strand that separates me from anyone else, but simply because I know what makes me shiver - and it's the same, primal thing that makes everyone do likewise.
1408, is a room split right down the middle - one end of it is so bleak, stark, horrifying and tense it's hard to visit. Every corner oozes fear, every breathing part of the structure is intent on showing you hell for the good it'll do you. That's the good end.
The bad end, is the end filled with Hollywood executives and money men who are ensuring they get a return on their investments. In reality, this part of 1408 is far more horrid than the other, but when film and politics mix, it all gets waxed.
Think 'The Haunting', 'The Exorcist', 'Don't Look Now', 'The Shining'. Think of all the sequences from these movies that gave you that gut-wrenching sense of dread and unpredictability. Keep thinking that for the first hour.
Then switch it off.
Because to be honest, what you have here is ironically one of the finest psychological horror movies made for YEARS, combined with one of the worst. I genuinely felt a bit hollow after it ended.
The first hour is SO good, it puts every horror flick with the exception of three or four to shame. Ever. The last 'bit', is so contrived it re-enforces the notion that Hollywood is dead, and is feeding on the brains of any unsuspecting, talented director who has the inclination, but not the balls to tell these vampires where to get off.
As you may be aware, there are alternative endings - not that it matters. Get to 65.00 on your player and stop it right there. Don't ruin the dream of a classic.
With regards to acting, sequence work and direction - everything is absolutely as you want. It's a lonely, isolated place, the dread building with every moment. You won't so much jump as sink into a feeling of genuine fear. The rhythm of the attacks are perfectly timed, giving the viewer a moment to breath - but when they do, it's either a moment too soon or a moment too late.
Cusack is top-notch, spanning a spectrum of emotions and playing them just so - that being up to the point when the executives made a phone call and said; "Right, can we make it a little bit happy at the end because we don't want people complaining. Let's just make another Skeleton Key but a bit better, yeah?". Then he just becomes John Cusack again - you can almost sense the actors disdain at the change of course, and for that I hope he gets another bite at such a fantastic cherry. Potentially.
The last 'bit' - and I can only refer to it as a 'bit' - is so contrived, so banal, so washed-out, watered-down and weak that it belongs in another film. As horror films go, this 'bit' is horrible to watch - but for all the wrong reasons. To be perfectly honest, I have to feel for the director.
You can picture Noe, Kubrick, Roeg, Lynch, Fincher and Cronenberg all sat in the same row at the theatre shaking their heads and wondering if they had enough between them to give this bloke another shot at the title.
It's like watching someone make a record-breaking attempt at spinning plates, albeit plates of terror, and fall short with just one more to go - you can almost hear the gasps from the audience as that last plate smashes in slow-motion onto the cold, corporate floor. For the first half they are gasps of horror and amazement - for the latter, they are gasps of surprise and shame.
That said, if you want to watch the first half of the best horror movie made for well over 30 years - watch 1408. If you need a reason to have a moan on the IMDb boards - watch 1408. If you're an independent movie maker and want inspiration - watch 1408. If you reckon you'll be sorely disappointed by what could have been - watch 1408.
Rated at 7.0 / 10 just because the first 65 is THAT GOOD. If it finished the job it set out to do, this could have been scariest, most upsetting horror flick ever, and worthy of something close to a 9.0 / 10.
Really. No. REALLY. This movie could have been the best in genre.