1408: shining the spotlight on the ending of the theatrical cut.

Rating: 7/10 (7 February 2009)

This dark horse of a film walks a tightrope: how do you adapt a Stephen King psychological horror story set in a hotel without awakening "The Shining" fans' wrath? Working off a skimpy three dozen page novella, director Mikael Hafstrom sparks interest in and empathy for his protagonist, the morose pulp word-smith Mike Enslin (John Cusack) as he duels with an evil f-ing room. Hafstrom is clever enough to use the horror from within, but his true masterstroke is the concept of repetition as hell itself. The latter being a concept touched upon by another Stephen King's short from "Everything's Eventual" (the same bundle in which "1408" is published), namely "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French". I think it's a safe bet that's where Hafstrom got his mustard.
ENDING: Mike lights the room ablaze (literally a hell of a way to go) and survives the inferno miraculously thanks to his wife's intervention in the nick of time. As he later rummages through his charred possessions, he finds his trustworthy voice-recorder. He presses play and hears a record of his encounter with his dead daughter in 1408. He throws his wife, who had been skeptical about the whole ordeal up until this point, a look with worlds of meaning in it. FADE TO BLACK.
If one takes the events at face value, the end brings forth a resolution: what occurred in that room really happened. When digging deeper, another theory is unearthed, based on the old switch-a-roo past the half-way point. Let me set up the time-line for you: First Enslin takes his surfboard out for a spin and an aggressive tidal wave knocks him senseless. He washes out onto the shore. Then he sets foot in The Dolphin's notorious hotel suite. After a series of events where the room toys with Enslin, it floods and he wakes up on that very same shore again. A plane flies through his field of vision sporting a phone number containing the numbers 1,4,0 and 8. An epilogue plays out that seems to conclude the movie. However, in a spectacular and haunting scene, he discovers the epilogue is a dream. He exclaims "I thought I was out", as he finds himself located back in the room. Then he throws an impromptu Molotov cocktail, survives and plays the tape as elaborated on in one of the previous paragraphs.
The way the plot folds back onto itself in the middle of the runtime fuels the theory that Enslin is still in room 1408 after he hears his daughter's voice at the end of the movie's runtime. In fact, the one ending creates enough ambiguity to feed no less than three theories. Bear with me now as I explain.1)Either he's gone insane and everything in the room is a figment of his imagination. This is quite plausible as he's plagued by flashbacks in which we learn his child has died, he's left his wife and his father suffers from Alzheimer's. Reason enough to not have his ducks in a row. This is a much used variant of the 'it-was-all-a-dream' cop-out. Lately the 'he-turns-out-to-be-schizo' cop-out is more frequent still. These are not very satisfying conclusions.2)Or he's really out and has conquered his personal demons by pouring his heart out in his new book.3)Or his wife is stuck in the room. This stems from the people who don't buy the Enslin in the epilogue being real. The strange, bordering on evil, look Enslin throws his wife at the very end can signify a demonic clone, much like the one that beacons his wife to come get him (on the computer screen).4)The last lines of Enslins new book are: no more ghost stories for me,I've checked out. But has he really? This is my personal favorite theory: he's still in the room! Follow my train of thought: There are some similarities between when the room first fools him into thinking he's out, and the epilogue(after the fire). First of all, both plot twists come forth from a destruction via natural elements(water and fire). Second of all, both times he ends up with the best life one can dream up: his wife forgives him, and he's got a foot in the door of reprising his marriage where he left it. Third, he writes the same book. His wife asks him how he can write so fast, he replies: simple, I've wrote this book once before already.He is forced to relive this hour in the ninth circle of hell(see "Dante's Inferno")until all eternity. Possibly as a punishment for his egotistical road of life: abandoning your wife after the death of her child because you can't stop wallowing in self-pity? Big misstep.5)A slight nuance on that last theory: Enslin really died in the surfing accident and is tested in 1408. The result will determine whether or not he gets into heaven. Heaven: if he takes the room down with him (the selfless choice). Hell: if he commits suicide. A lot of religions name suicide as the ultimate sin because you basically defy God by refusing the gift of life. The repeated hour in 1408 is purgatory.
Additionally, looked through my storyteller glasses, it's also much more satisfying than a cliché death of the hero (director's cut). Such an intensely emotional movie is required to end in one of two extremes: either he escapes safe and sound and the room gets turned to cinder or he meets his demise and 1408 survives.