An old fashioned ghost story that will make your skin crawl

Rating: 7/10 (23 June 2007)

Mike Enslin is a writer who loathes the subject matter of his books. Jaded by the untimely death of his daughter, Enlsin puts no stock in anything broaching the religious or supernatural. To Mike, if he can't see it or touch it, it's not real and can't happen. Which is why this writer of haunted hotel travelogues views his chosen profession as just another means to a paycheck. He's not even remotely into his work because he views it as a dead end (pardon the pun) before it even starts.
That is, until he receives a mysterious unsigned post card from New York's Dolphin Hotel with the singular cryptic message  "Don't stay in 1408". 1+4+8=13. With that Enslin's curiosity is piqued.
Based on a short story by Stephen King, and capably directed by Swede Mikael Håfström, 1408 is a throwback to old fashioned haunted house movies like 1973's The Legend of Hell House, allowing the fear and tension to ratchet up in tiny increments, largely driven by small, out of place events, and things you don't actually see.
Fans drawn by the presence of Samuel L. Jackson will be in for a letdown, however. Although he shares co-billing, Jackson's role is a relatively small one. This is John Cusack's (Enslin) movie, and it's pretty much a one actor show. Surprisingly, Cusack does a good job portraying a man who may or may not be the victim of his own inner ghosts, or, alternately, waging a one man war against a "truly evil f*****g room", as Jackson's hotel manager character describes it.
Seeing as the horror genre is becoming increasingly populated with the gruesome torture porn of films like Hostel and Touristas, 1408, in all it's throwback glory, is a refreshing breath of fetid air.