Haunted Hotel Room

Movie Review

1408

Mikael Håfström

Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is a writer who writes books about haunted places, but he doesn't believe in anything that he could not see. One day, he came across a certain hotel in New York called the Dolphin Hotel that has a fabled room where many of its previous occupants died horrible deaths. Intrigued, he came with the intention of investigating it, but met with stubborn resistance from the hotel manager, Olin (Samuel L. Jackson) who, in his effort to convince Enslin to abandon the idea of staying in the room, provides him with a lot of documents on the previous victims with photos of the incidents. Enslin, saying that Olin's constant resistance is only a ploy to raise the hotel's occupancy rate, is undetered. Olin, finally giving up, gives him the key to the fabled room.

Room 1408

That was the main plot of the movie 1408, a movie whose story was based on one of Stephen King's short story. John Cusack delivers a convincing performance as a novelist who was haunted by his past but nevertheless still trying to run away from it and Samuel L. Jackson delivers a very good performance as the hotel manager, Olin, who tried his best to convince Enslin in giving up. Aside from good acting, suspense/horror movies need the right kind of music, the right kind of special effect, and the right kind of camera angle and screenplay to make the 'magic' works. The movie delivers all this. And this is one spooky thriller-horror-suspense that made me shrink in my seat. So, horror/suspense movie fans, you'll get your doze of scare in this movie.

Now, for those Stephen King fans, you'll be delighted by this movie. This is vintage King, all the way through. Håfström has done a terrific job in bringing the story to life. Now, I've never read the story before, but I've read some of King's other novels (Bag of Bones, for example), and the vibe that I was getting from watching this movie is exactly the same as the vibe I was getting from reading King's books. This movie is not just a horror movie, but it also has a lot of psychological elements, which are also present in King's many books. In King's many works, the horrors and terrors are in many cases metaphorical. Without spilling much about the story, let's just say this movie has that exact same elements: that room 1408 is a metaphor whose horrors and terrors are no less real than the horrors and terrors that are present in the human minds.

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised (in a scary-but-good way), since it has been awhile since I last saw a good horror movie. Highly recommended for suspense/horror fans, especially those with a penchant for psychology.