We've only just begun!

Rating: 9/10 (19 January 2009)

At a time that sees cinemas inundated with slasher movies, along comes a pleasant surprise like 1408. It hearkens back to the good old psychological horror flicks of the 70s and 80s. Something we don't see much of nowadays. Ones where normal people wind up in circumstances beyond their control. Its not much of a surprise then that the film is based upon a short story by Stephen King.
I haven't read the story, but I have a feeling I'd enjoy it if the film is anything to go by. Although Stephen King is a fine writer, one of his greatest faults is he tends to fall into too much of a self-indulgence. Some books, like Insomnia could easily have been trimmed down without losing anything important. But King doesn't always know when to call it a day. He has to include minor characters that slow down the narrative. It was something that particularly crippled Insomnia. That book was more of a chore than a pleasure to get through.
King's best work is when he reduces stories to a bare minimum, and allows the ideas to grow out from there. Books like Misery, Cujo, The Shining. All books that are a strong influence on 1408. The idea behind it is simple. A sceptical writer, Mike Enslin checks into a so-called haunted hotel room. He's made a career out of debunking ghost stories and folk tales, and he doesn't expect 1408 to be any different.
Except this one is haunted. No one has ever managed to survive a night in 1408. In fact they don't usually last more than an hour. 56 people have died within its walls. And the room arrays all sorts of horrors, physical and psychological, driving Mike to more desperate methods to escape, before it kills him.
Its the sheer simplicity at the heart of it that makes 1408 such a wonderful horror film. Certainly one of the best I've seen in some time. Watching different ideas take shape to propel the story, its something you'd imagine Vincenzo Natali dreaming up if he decided to make horror films and not science-fiction. 1408 is a wonderful display of misdirections and jarring reversals. Especially during the initial scenes.
Mike hears nothing but tales of woe and misery about 1408 from the hotel manager (rather effectively played by Samuel L. Jackson). Mike doesn't believe it. Jackson becomes more insistent. Mike becomes more sceptical. And we the audience are that all the more curious to see the blood-curdling horrors of 1408. When we finally get there, we're half expecting to see blood bleeding down the walls or objects flying about the room. Except its the exact opposite. Its just an ordinary hotel room. Sterile. Bland wallpaper. The epitome of mundane normalcy. But its just a facade. To lull you in. That's the trap of 1408.
Director Mikael Hafstrom's handling of the initial scenes is really quite masterful. He almost pulls an age old magicians trick on us. Making us want to see magic before it actually comes. As soon as Mike enters the room, although it looks normal, we keep waiting for the shoe to drop. It makes the tension more edgier. And when the room finally delivers its shocks, they really pack a punch. Bravo to Hafstrom for waiting so long and not rushing into the action. A pitfall a lesser director could easily have fallen into.
Hafstrom allows the horrors to build with a real smooth assurance. First its just little things. Like clock radios suddenly switching on. Windows slamming down. A malfunctioning thermostat. All things that can happen in real life. Nothing to signify anything supernatural. But then things get worse. When Mike tries to escape via window ledge, it just leads to nowhere. The air ducts are a rat maze of never-ending shafts and dead-ends. It eventually gets so bad its as if the room itself has taken on a life of its own.
When Mike tries to call his wife through his laptop, an image of Mike starts talking to her, trying to convince her to come to the hotel, and entrap her in the room too. It even winks at the real Mike! One thing that surprises about 1408 is its sense of humour. Parts of the film are really blackly funny. The laptop scene. The different ways the room frustrates Mike's attempts to escape. Best of all is the clock radio. Not only does it give Mike constant reminders of how long he has to live, it plays (cheerfully) at various times the song from The Carpenters "We've only just begun." Like some morbid version of Groundhog Day!
The film's script runs us through a rigorous gamut of emotions. From curiosity, to discovery to outright horror. And John Cusack handles them all superbly. He's a good choice for the part of Mike. The wry irony he's mastered to perfection over the years is well suited to a seen it all before sceptic who gets in way over his head. He does a great job of carrying a whole film on his shoulders.
People have been quick to call 1408 a ripoff of The Shining. I don't agree. If anything, the film reminds me of the Coen classic Barton Fink. Since its more a case of a creepy hotel room rather than a hotel. And John Cusack does a far better job of playing a man driven to the edge by ghosts of the past than Jack Nicholson's irritating performance. The film ends on a few surprises. Perhaps too many. But I was kept guessing about the outcome right up until the very end.
Mikael Hafstrom seemed a little unsure of himself in his prior film, Derailed. A frustrating film that never saw the brilliance in its own material, but with 1408, he's come into his own and handles things like a pro. A rare horror film of ideas in a bankrupt genre.