Entertaining and well acted, but unoriginal.

Rating: 6/10 (10 September 2007)

In '1408', horror veteran Stephen King revisits elements of his early classic 'The Shining', by basically asking "What would it actually be like to stay in Room 217? The result is naturally a battle of wits between whatever truly lurks in there, and the visitor's own mind. While it is definitely one of the better US horror offerings of late, I found '1408' to be largely derivative, partly from King's own work, but also of other horror films past.
I tend to think the ideal viewer for this isn't someone who's seen a lot of horror films, because with every scare on offer, I found each one bringing me back to a film, a King novel, or even certain computer games where I'd seen them before. Every step along the way, I felt ground being re-tread. It's inevitable that someone as prolific as Stephen King would end up retreading old ground, and it's certainly unintentional. Naturally, the Hollywood budget ensured that every chill and thrill was nicely realised, but it didn't stop the ending being easy to predict.
Nonetheless, '1408' was a good attempt to move away from the mindless gorefests that typify so many American horror films. That automatically elevates it by a level. Then there's the always-excellent John Cusack who turns in a very convincing performance as the sceptical paranormal investigator/writer who takes the challenge no-one else would. On balance, I think he's the main reason I'll be able to walk away from '1408' without being too disappointed.
Overall, if you seen/read a lot of King not to mention the genre films of recent decades, then there's not a lot new here - more the rearrangement of old ideas that suggest something new. It will entertain however, and I like to think of it as a good introduction to the genre for new fans.