A One-Man Performance By John Cusack In A Sub-Par Supernatural Thriller

Rating: 4/10 (24 April 2008)

The only reason I can think of to go out of your way to see this movie would be if you're a big fan of John Cusack. I've seen him in movies I thought were very good; I've seen him in others I've thought were not so good. "1408" falls somewhere in the middle - mediocre/fair - but give credit to John Cusack: in a movie that for large stretches was little more than a one man performance on his part he's very good, and manages to hold the attention of the viewer enough to get through a largely disappointing movie that's neither very original nor particularly frightening.
My first reaction after watching this is that Stephen King must be rapidly running out of story ideas. This movie is about a writer who finds himself in an isolated place, cut off from the world, with supernatural goings on all around and rapidly going crazy because of it. Isn't that the basic plot of "The Shining?" Take away the supernatural element and isn't it the basic plot of "Misery?" And how many Stephen King stories have to feature writers? (Here, add at least the movie "Stand By Me" based on King's story "The Body" to the list.) And the real problem is that "1408" isn't anywhere near as good as any of those three.
Basically, Cusack plays Mike Enslin, a paranormal investigator and debunker (who is dealing with demons of his own, revolving largely around the death of his young daughter) who is writing a book about his experiences staying in supposedly haunted hotels. He gets a mysterious postcard that tells him to check out Room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel in New York. He investigates and discovers that a lot of strange things have happened there and so decides it's a good topic for a chapter of his book. The story goes on from there.
There are several problems with the story, not the least of which is - as I said above - that it's neither very original nor particularly frightening. Arriving at the hotel, Enslin is met by the hotel manager Gerald Olin (played by Samuel L. Jackson.) Olin doesn't want him in Room 1408; he doesn't rent 1408 because of the many deaths that have occurred there over the years - 56 as I recall, some of natural causes, others not so natural. Here's the first plot problem for me. Why 56? That's a lot of deaths for one room. The hotel management would have to have one of two reactions. Either it's nothing more than a bizarre coincidence, in which case why bother refusing to rent the room? It's just a coincidence. Or, they believe (as Olin does) that there's something going on with the room - in which case why wait for 56 deaths to start refusing to rent it? Why not 40? Or 30? Or 10? Why suddenly after #56 say "wow! Something's really weird with this room! We better not rent it any more!" In any event, a provision of the civil rights act forces the hotel to rent the room to Enslin. Once in Room 1408, Enslin doesn't strike me as a very good paranormal investigator/debunker. In the first little while that's he's in the room three things happen - the clock radio turns on by itself, a window slams shut on his hand and injures him, and there's an unexpected blast of scalding water from the bathroom sink. Quite a coincidence, but surely a cynical debunker such as Enslin would quickly think of logical explanations for them (I did, and I'm neither cynical nor a paranormal investigator and debunker!) Instead, Enslin is terrified and immediately tries to get out of the room! The movie continues to work through fairly routine "chills" - and you start to think it's over at one point with a logical explanation of what happened (without giving too much away, I'll just say I was glad this didn't end with the beach scene as it looked like it might; that would have made a mediocre movie a dreadful one.) There's never any real resolution to the mystery of the room. Near the beginning of the movie, Olin tells Enslin that it's not about ghosts or anything else - the room itself is evil. That's as close as we come to an explanation. And the closing scene served little purpose to me. Was it to show us that Enslin's wife now believed his story? Frankly, I didn't care if she believed him or not. Was it to show us that Enslin was now convinced? I always assumed he was. Was it to convince the viewer that this really happened? Again, I always assumed from the context of the movie that it did. This was altogether disappointing.
A note on Samuel L. Jackson to close. If you're a Jackson fan, don't watch this because he's in it. He played his role well, but the role is very limited, and his presence - to me at least - neither added to the movie nor detracted from it. The producers clearly just wanted a name to go alongside Cusack and they found Jackson, but I or anyone else could have played the part of Olin. (Memo to Hollywood producers: the next time you have a nothing part to fill, I come a lot cheaper than Samuel L. Jackson!) As far as the movie's concerned? On the "shiver-metre" (Enslin's rating for the creepiness of the hotels he stays at) - 4/10.