Started off OK, but...

Rating: 7/10 (15 July 2007)

1408 started off OK, but once the interaction of John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson was over the story became predictable. The cat and mouse of the two characters was engaging and well worth the $8.75 for the ticket, but there just was not a whole lot to the movie. The acting by Cusack was competent and his predicament understandable as a writer of haunted hotel reviews, but there were no real surprises. Samuel L. Jackson rarely gives a sub-par performance these days, but his presence in the film as the manager of the hotel in question could have been so much more. The ghosties and ghoulies that inhabit the Dolphin Hotel aren't really that scary. The most terrifying part of the movie is the incessant Carpenter's music that comes from the bedside radio alarm clock. To categorize this film as a thriller or suspense or horror is to mislead the potential viewer. In fact, there are quite a few comedic moments in the film that had the whole audience howling in laughter. All in all a good film but one that doesn't deserve to be added to any-one's DVD collection.