Scary and inventive, but a bit overwhelming at times

Rating: 7/10 (24 June 2007)

1408 is the (mostly) scary tale of a once-promising author turned hack writer (John Cusack) who is determined to spend a night in a supposedly haunted hotel room in mid-town Manhattan, of all places. He is amply warned off this plan by the hotel manager (Sam Jackson), to no avail. The room has claimed numerous victims, most of whom have met bloody fates after spending an hour or less in the room. Cusack is no sooner checked in than he wishes he could check out, having almost lost his hand to a window with a mind of its own. And that's only the beginning. The room soon throws everything at him, and it all gets to be a bit much after awhile. The elaborate, eye-popping sets are magnificent and were obviously shot overseas to save money. Since the movie is derived from a short-short story, the scenario is opened up to include a subplot involving the writer's estranged wife and dead daughter. And this is where things go slightly awry. The dead daughter bit is a really tired cliché, and the actress playing the daughter is not particularly convincing. Nevertheless, what the filmmakers have done with Stephen King's marvelous little tale is quite the feat of filmic ledgerdemain. Cusack is great and he definitely sees ghosts, which were absent in the short story and are a welcome addition here. Jackson is also terrific, although physically he is quite a departure from the manager as described in the story. The movie ending is not that far off from the story ending, praise be, and it is actually more clever than the story ending. Aside from the boring dead daughter business, I would strongly advise you not to see 1408 alone. It is pretty scary. Even if it is only a PG-13.