Best film so far this year

Rating: 9/10 (25 June 2007)

Wow! What a great tribute to earlier films like "The Shining" (with the snow, a writer really "losing it, " etc.), "The Amityville Horror" (bleeding walls, anyone?),"Groundhog Day" (with the existential radio music), "Poltergeist" (with a nearly inescapable interior), and even the old TV episodes of "The Twilight Zone" that force us to consider whether what we are seeing is reality or fantastic hallucination.
At the same time, it's also a tribute to Edgar Allan Poe-- a collapsible structure to rival the "House of Usher's," a protagonist as mad as the "Tell Tale Heart's," a painting of a ship that turns into a true "Descent Into the Maelstrom," a walled-in victim reminiscent of "The Cask of Amontillado" and a mental chase of sorts that's right on par with "The Man of the Crowd."
And yet, we never really feel as if Stephen King has really stolen too much here. Sure, the ax-wielding specter looks a little bit like the killer clown from "It," but there's enough here that seems fresh and innovative: a laptop that sends the room's requests instead of the tenant's, a throttling of a hospitality fridge instead of a hotel manager, and a real satiric sting on automated-voice systems.
Cusack is perfect in every scene except for a few. There's a revolving shot near the end where he makes a ridiculous "crazy" face before it bleeds into a more convincing "hear no evil" kind of pose, and his early vehemence after the window cuts his hand seems a little too abrupt for such a calm, cynical guy.
Great ideas here, though, to really begin the breakdown: the call to the window across the street only to have us shudder at its own reflections is classic, and the replaying of "We've Only Just Begun" as the room's sinister overture is brilliant as well.
The conversation between Cusack and Jackson in the manager's office is almost worth the price of admission alone and will leave us with a new catch phrase: "It's just an evil f---'n room."
Let's hope that the Academy remembers this one come next year-- I'd love to see a return to movies as truly eerie as this.