1408 The film review. A look at the film based on the story by Stephen King.

 

1408 A review. 

    1408 isn't your typical horror movie, and for me, that makes it something special. Starring John Cusack as the lead, the novelist Mike Enslin, it is a film that looks more at the psychological effects of horror. This is not a slasher horror or typical haunted house-like scenario. The film takes place, largely, within the confines of hotel room 1408, but there is enough outside said room to leave you with a few questions on what is real and what is entirely in Mike's head. The film opens up with Mike driving in the rain and stopping off at a small hotel for the night, the novelist investigating the reports of paranormal activity and reviewing how believable they are. This is so he can add them to the next book in his long-running series of paranormal investigations, something that he seems almost reluctant to do. Mike comes across as a weary character, intelligent but bored of the world around him, with no real belief in the very subject he investigates. Mysteriously, he is sent a postcard with room 1408 written on it, and he is intrigued enough that he begins to investigate the Dolphin Hotel and said room. Meeting with the inability to book the room, his curiosity is piqued further, and he begins to look for a way to stay the night in 1408. Eventually, with aid from the lawyer from his publishing house, he finds a loophole, and Mike has his in. 

    Upon entering the Dolphin, the manager is called to deal with the booking, and we are introduced to Samuel L. Jackson's character, a debonaire man with poise and a well cultured, practiced, approach to dealing with individuals such as Mike. He starts with an opening intended to convince Mike to take another room, an upgrade that he ensures Mike he will like, but our lead is resolute and continues to ask to take 1408. At this point, they move onto the manager's office, and the conversation continues. Mike is offered an expensive bottle of whisky as part of a bribe as the manager seems eager to keep Mike from the room, and it soon becomes evident that he truly believes that Mike would be in danger within 1408. L Jackson's performance throughout is solid, you can feel his concern and conviction as he speaks, Mike remaining steadfast, though thrown slightly, as he is informed of the additional, natural, deaths that have occurred in the room. Deaths that he had not been aware of in his own research into the room over the Dolphin's long history. This detail comes with a file, one that Mike is eager to look into, and he attempts to manipulate the other man into believing he will stay out of the room as long as he can have access to the file. However, Mike takes his drink and asserts that he still wants to stay in the room, frustrated the manager tells him to take the file anyway, that 'he won't want to stay in the room after he reads the damned thing'. Mike becomes combative after the manager mentions his work and his surprise at Mike's character in meeting him, highlighting his first novel, one that he rather enjoyed. Mike states he is unfazed by everything he has heard here and is determined to stay in the room, knowing that there is nothing out there to be afraid of, no ghosts or ghouls exist. 

    We cut now to the lobby, the manager brings out a metal key, and Mike comments on the use of a key being a nice touch to the mystique. He is informed that the electronic keys simply don't work in that room. Again Mike is dismissive, stating that he is unimpressed with their specter. The manager laughs at this and states that he has said no such thing about a ghost or specter. When asked what it is then, he merely states, 'It is, an evil f*@king room.". Mike is thrown a little by this. Together they go up to the fourteenth floor in a nearby elevator,  Mike commenting that it must be dirty in there. The manager relays that the room gets a light turnover once a month, that it is treated like a room filled with poison gas, maids work in pairs and the door remains open at all times, the stay no longer than ten minutes at a time. Again we are informed, that accidents happen and that a few years back a maid got locked in the bathroom and after a few minutes, she had been found to have removed her own eyes. Though surprised Mike seems reluctant to truly believe what he is told, he is far too much of a skeptic to fall simply for what he is told. The manager leaves him at the elevator, he does not go onto this floor except that time of the month, and Mike wanders off reading through the file. 

    After a slight detour, Mike finds himself in 1408, and it fails to reach his expectations. It simply looks like any other room in such a hotel. He begins to believe he has been tricked and quickly sets about getting himself ready for his overnight stay. It is interesting how the room begins to work on Mike. It starts subtly, with an increase in temperature, and the mints on the bed. I found it a nice little touch. Mike is bewildered at first, but he quickly sets about running through how it could have been done, moving through the room in the belief that someone else must be there. Things quickly begin to spiral for Mike, an incident leading to the injuring of his hand as the window slams down onto it and then the tap blasting through scalding water as he attempts to clean the wound. The room is attacking him to mess with his equilibrium, it is throwing him from one event to the other, working to unbalance him as other elements are brought to bear. Mike begins to believe that he has been drugged by the Manager, not ready to face the idea that what he is experiencing is real, far better to believe he is dealing with a drug trip. He is quickly trapped in the room, the handle coming away from the door, and he begins to experience moments from his own life. His daughter on the tv, his father in the bathroom, and we begin to discover elements to Mike that we had not been privy to before. The room continues to work on Mike, making him see a woman attempting to attack him, showing a version of himself in a room in the building opposite, and soon making him believe that there is no way out of the room. This is to force a belief of isolation, to take away any hope of escape. Again the room isn't attacking him directly, it is crumpling the bedrock of his belief in what is real, as it attempts to break both his spirit and his mind. The hardest hitting of these attacks is those that concern his daughter, Katy. It is shown, through various flashbacks, that she passed at a young age. A loss that Mike has not recovered from. As a viewer, we are often left to wonder, if the room is merely showing him painful images of his past, or if it is actually using Katy somehow. It is unclear, at times, just what the room is capable of.

    As the hour unwinds, Mike finds himself suddenly free of the room, emerging from the water at a point we have witnessed earlier in the film. Mike had gone surfing and had been knocked from his board and rendered unconscious, this time awakening in a hospital bed. Mike believes his time in the room had merely been a bad dream, a vision that he had escaped from, and finds himself renewed, his life taking on a redemptive arc as he begins to write about old wounds and the experience within 1408, his life is once more on track. Unfortunately, he can never shake the feeling that he will awaken once more to the nightmare, and soon, that proves to be the case. This is done very well, and it goes on long enough that you start to believe that it might have all been a dream, up until the moment the very walls come down around him. Again, the room is all there is, Mike sure that he had been out, and he finds himself facing what appears to be the image of his daughter. Here it is left ambiguous as to whether this is Katy, or the room merely showing him a facsimile of her, as he holds her in his arms, and she begs to stay. As Mike falls to rage, he finds himself on the bedroom floor with everything back to as it had been with the phone ringing. The room offers Mike the chance to checkout, commit suicide, or live the hour over again. The room shows him others doing so as he wanders about the room, even threatening his separated wife before Mike finally comes to his own conclusion to this encounter. Mike, finally, taking the route of a less selfish man, decides to take out the room, and spare any others from this hell he has endured. Making a homemade Molotov cocktail, he sets the room ablaze, himself trapped within, and calmly sits smoking his last cigarette as the room begins to burn around him. Finally, to ensure the room's demise, Mike tosses the ashtray through the window, the surge of oxygen causing the fire to erupt and spread to the rest of the room. Mike is last seen on the room floor, laughing hysterically, as we hear Katy speaking to him. 

    I always liked the premise that the room is simply evil, that it cannot affect a death but rather pushes the guests into taking their own lives, madness being the only other option. It is a unique twist that I have rarely seen done elsewhere. A lot of this film rests, squarely, on Cusack's shoulders, and he does a great job. He emotes the terror, confusion, and anger of Enslin brilliantly and conveys his loss and pain equally well but with more subtlety. This one is for people that enjoy more cerebral horror as it lacks any of the cheap gimmicks that work in other horror films to keep the film moving forward. It is very much a character study and looks at what evil is and how it can manipulate. I would recommend that anyone give it a look but if you're after blood and guts, give it a miss.

    I'd give it a 4 out of 5 personally, but I could easily see why it might not be everyone's cup of tea. Let me know what you thought of the film and any others that you might recommend. TTFN, and have a good one.