1408 Review

 1408: Room with a license to kill?

Since I have been watching a lot of old movies recently, I figured it was time to check out something new. By the way, that horrid movie from last week does not count as a modern horror; it was more of a 'laugh-a-minute' festival. Well, in the hopes that someone has dazzled everyone with a brand new horror theme, I checked out 1408.

1408 was made in 2007 and stars John Cusack. I would name other stars but viewers will be spending a lot of time watching Cusack antics as he tries to flee a haunted room. So why bother mentioning anyone else? Incidentally, this flick was based on a Stephen King short story which makes me wonder – was some of the cooler elements lost in the adaptation? King is known to provide interesting – not to mention creepy – twists to his tales and this one was mundane to say the least. Not much like King and thus, I am inclined to blame the director and screenplay writers.

Moment of truth: Yes this was a bad career move

As for the plot, you've heard the gist of it. John Cusack is an emotionally troubled man who loves disproving myths about haunted locations. By the way, when I say troubled, I meant he has the kind of emotional baggage that retains his cool factor i.e. enables him to be vulnerable and macho at varying instances. It's not the kind of freaky emotional problems that would portray him as an overtly negative guy … just so you know. Explanations were in order since it was beginning to sound like a man with a dark past and troubled psyche had been trapped in a scary location. That would have been more interesting than what I ended up watching.

Alright, so during the entire flick, viewers will watch Cusack being tormented by the scary room. It comes in the form of the disturbing clown guy, the lookalike from across the street and of course, the freaky images of his dead child. He also comes across his father in a 'this must be a flashback' moment but at that point you no longer care. By then I was rooting for the room to win. Different scene, same expression

And who emerges victorious? The room or the skeptic? Did I just say room? How sad is that description? Do note, this does bring up an interesting point. The movie has two different endings, probably designed to please parties goading the room as well as the handful of die-hard Cusack fans out there. According to the Wiki page, a mellower ending was created after someone somewhere in that studio said – while sobbing into a hanky I am guessing – that no one will watch this movie with this ending, dammit. So there you have it; two different endings for an unremarkable flick.

Quite honestly, that is one of the biggest complaints about this movie. The presentation is not gripping. You are not sitting on the edge of the seat, wondering if Cusack is going to make it through. And if they were going for slower, 'that's be classy and build some mood' moments, then I must say they lost that train of thought early on. Everything comes across as an very earnest effort to create an atmosphere of desperation and fear. Unfortunately, that presentation fell on its face at the start of the flick, right about when the repair guy walks away from room 1408.