Nothing special

Rating: 5/10 (21 October 2007)

This is the story of a cynical John Cusack, who travels the country visiting places that advertise in "spookiness" and then writes about them in books like "The Top 10 Haunted Hotels", but he doesn't personally believe in anything supernatural. One day he checks into room "1408" and all hell breaks loose.
What he experiences in 1408 is a montage of your average horror flick scares, mixed with a bit of what's real and what's not and spiced up with a little dive into the depths of a tormented soul. Nothing too special though. Only a handful of original ideas, the rest is business as usual.
The movie should have been 30 minutes shorter. The ending is, unsurprisingly for Stephen King, not satisfying. John Cusack is being just his usual self, you either like him or not. I do. As I liked Samuel L. Jacksons rather brief appearances.
All in all, if you don't watch too many films or play lots of video games, it might strike you as original and refreshing and you'll maybe like it. Veterans of the psycho horror genre will probably be disappointed.
I'm giving it 5/10: Average.