Escalating nightmare will "torture" you with old-fashioned horror goodness

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2007)

Within a summer movie climate piled high with stagnant garbage (hello, threequels!), critical darlings I cannot fathom (have aliens removed everyone's mind in order to make "Knocked Up" a success?), and horror offerings that all but beg for the genre to be put to sleep (goodbye, "Hostel: Part II"!), "1408" is like the chilled (and I do mean CHILLED) lemonade that hits the spot on a particularly hot day.
That being said, it should be made clear that the film is based on a short story by Stephen King, whose screen adaptations have grown finer (and more high-profile) over the past decade or so. "1408" is no exception. While screenwriters Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander, and Larry Karasewski have added some narrative material to tighten the cinematic aspects of the story (though I must say, the guilt-over-a-lost-child subplot is becoming pretty cliché), it remains incredibly faithful to King's original tale; similarly, the notion of "supernatural" is made increasingly (and believably) threatening through special effects that manage to frighten with a bare minimum of bloodletting. Like "Secret Window" a few years back, "1408" is all about building mood through atmosphere and knowledge of character.
King's protagonist, Mike Enslin (John Cusack, in a strong lead role), is a writer whose stock and trade is documenting real-life haunts, but has fallen from his former glory. One day, he receives a curious postcard in the mail from the Dolphin Hotel in New York City; with its cryptic warning ("Do not enter 1408"), Mike is enticed to check it out (with the mentality of debunking a tall tale); after a meeting with the discouraging manager Olin (Samuel L. Jackson, lending a tense professionalism to his small role), the writer is left to his own devices in the room, whose history entails 50-some odd deaths. (And the less said about Enslin's stay, the better.) Director Mikael Hafstrom shows definite skill in building suspense and toying with audience expectations--just when our flawed hero appears to be safe out of harm's way, another complication springs up. My only qualm with this tactic is that it wears thin by the end...nevertheless, Hafstrom should be commended for wielding such shopworn clichés as loud musical cues, jump-scares (one of which got me), and creepy noises in a manner that complements the story while escalating the tension. As with other thrillers, like "Phone Booth" and "Panic Room," the confined setting becomes naturally oppressive and suffocating, and the trapped character earns our empathy (if not right away); with "1408," the details of Enslin's daughter feeds into the dream/nightmare reality of the room itself. While "1408" outstays its welcome slightly, it is one of this summer's more impressive releases, and a chilling meditation on both internal and external demons.