Don't "OVERLOOK" This One...

Rating: 9/10 (9 June 2008)

Stephen King has always been a big fan of haunted places, and has carried on the honored literary tradition of introducing his legions of fans to locations that are completely terrifying and unforgettable. At the top of the list (at least for me) would have to be THE SHINING'S Overlook Hotel and the Marsten House from 'SALEM'S LOT.
Well, one visit to 1408, and suddenly you'll realize that those two garden spots for supernatural shocks are just for wimps. If you can survive an hour in this particular room, you can survive anything.
Unfortunately, author Mike Enslin (John Cusack) doesn't know this. Once a terrible family tragedy shattered his life, he devoted the bulk of his career to writing about and demystifying the supernatural, the unexplainable. He travels around the country, staying at so-called haunted hotels, mansions, houses and other places, then writing about them in cult-worthy bargain-bin knockoffs with titles like "The 10 Most Violent Vacation Spots", that sort of thing. Most of the tales of local spookery are nothing more than feeble fables, gussied up by the proprietors of failing lodgings and B&B's to drum up customers to pump up their sagging businesses.
But one day, as he's thumbing through the mound of letters and postcards he receives daily from places who would welcome one of his visits, one postcard catches his eye. It's from the world-famous Dolphin Hotel in Manhattan, and the message is clear and simple: "DO NOT ENTER 1408."
Used to having people all but bribe him to come and check out their haunted hostels, the message piques Mike's interest. He wants into this room in the worst way, even after he meets the more-than-slightly menacing General Manager of the Dolphin, Mr. Gerald Olin, (Samuel L. Jackson in an elegantly eerie role.) With the greatest reluctance and the most dire warnings to Mike imaginable, Olin finally forks over the key to the one room the Dolphin usually refuses to check anyone into...and where over 50 guests in the hotel's nearly 100-year history have availed themselves of a very special kind of "express check-out" service...using every method from homemade nooses and straight razors, to taking swan dives out of the window...
It isn't long after he checks into 1408, that Mike begins to realize how right Mr. Olin was. It's going to be one stay he'll remember for a very long time...and so will you.
I didn't have the pleasure of reading the short story that was the basis of this script. I was also not familiar with director Mikael Hafstrom's other work, since I have yet to see DERAILED. One thing's pretty clear: Hafstrom and writers Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski are definitely die-hard King fans, because even if they aren't slavishly faithful to the original prose, the FEEL of a King story is there, much in the same way the skillful adaptations of Frank Darabont capture the essence as well. The creeping sense of dread and unease; that queasy, rattling feeling that everything is slightly off-kilter and about to get MUCH worse...that's in the best and most unsettling parts of King's writing.
Casting John Cusack was a brilliant idea. Not since roles like his turn in THE GRIFTERS has he gotten the chance to work with a character and a scenario that lets him explore such a wide range of emotional states. Not to mention that he provides us with something of a rarity these days in horror films - a three-dimensional hero who you actually give a damn about, and find yourself rooting for when the odds get as stacked against him as mind-bendingly possible.
And though Sam Jackson's role in 1408 is so short that it would be considered an insult to his fans in any other film, for his role a little bit goes a long way, and he makes the most of his turn as the mysterious Mr. Olin...who has an agenda all his own in getting Mike Enslin into what has to be the most evil and most haunted room in the world.
While I'm at it, mention must be made of a quick but terrifyingly effective cameo from stage and screen vet Len Cariou. With just the way he said a single line, that alone left more egg- sized goosebumps on my forearms than the top three slasher series combined. Talk about less being more? Mr. Cariou makes it into an art form.
Which reminds me - you can't forget the most important character of all...1408 itself. A place more terrible and insidious than probably any other of Stephen King's creations, not because of its reputation, but because of how it earned that reputation. There's evil, and possession, and the trapped and tormented spirits of the dead stuck between worlds. And then there's something just a little worse than that...
But why spoil the surprises for you? Every element that goes into the creation of a great horror movie AND a psychological thriller is here. All you have to do is step in with Mike Enslin, close the door behind you, and see where things go...if your nerves can handle it!