Not the Overlook Hotel

Rating: 5/10 (13 April 2008)

There is a reason why Stephen King's books are usually good while their movie adaptations usually aren't. King has one main strength as a writer: a vivid, crisp prose. Unfortunately, aside from dialogues, that's the one aspect which doesn't translate from page to screen.
The plot of 1408 could be written on a stamp: skeptical writer Mike (John Cusack) - the usual King protagonist, a talented, hard-drinking, cynical novelist (how original, Steve!) - rents an infamous haunted room in a New York hotel and finds himself trapped there as Bad Things Start To Happen.
Cusack is reliable, turning in an entertaining performance. The setup is fine: the conversation between Mike and the hotel's manager (Samuel L. Jackson, wasted, as is Tony Shalhoub) is tight and well-written, with compelling performances and King's excellent ear for dialogues.
And still, the result is mediocre fluff. 1408 pulls too many punches to be scary. When Mike desperately peers through the keyhole, I wanted a sharp blade to poke him in the eye. I wanted a rabid dog to come out of the picture on the wall and jump at his throat. I wanted the ghost of his dead daughter to be a vampire-like presence. I wanted the firemen at the end to remain trapped inside room 1408.
Nothing of the sort happens - it's a tame PG-13 horror with a couple of mildly unsettling "boo!" vignettes.
5/10