Great production values disappoint predictably story-wise

Rating: Null/10 (31 July 2011)

I did't watch this movie when it appeared because I've seen the trailer. It was full of special effects and I always thought supernatural and forceful, obvious presence don't work well. But now I had some time and this was the only movie I could have watched so I did it. Some people might like it, I suppose - I do remember some friend or another tell me that 1408 is cool - but frankly I have no idea why anyone would.
You see, there is this writer turned psychic investigator who, after the death of his daughter and eventual separation from the wife, does not believe in anything and is looking for haunted places in order to sell "10 haunted (something)" books. Typical setup, he gets an intriguing letter about a haunted room in a hotel.
That being said, the beginning was kind of obvious, but not bad. The atmosphere was creepy enough, Samuel L. Jackson had the best role he landed in quite some time and I started hoping. As any long time Hollywood movie watcher could tell you, you must leave all hope before you watch one.
Long story short, by the middle of the game I was hoping the ending would be bad, like the character winning over "the evil room" without any merit, but that it would come soon. It did not, mind you, instead came a false ending, which was pretty obvious because there was quite some time left of the movie, so it didn't work on any level.
In the end, the tough supernatural investigator completely caved in (or rather, he gave up from the first minutes when his hand got hurt - awww - but the room took him hostage) and started acting like an insane monkey, leaving the screenwriters to take care of any decency in the ending of the film. And, of course, they didn't even try.
Bottom line, the movie stank on so many levels, that I could write a novel (get it?) about how bad it was. At least the acting was good, the production values, the music, just about everything except, of course, THE STORY!