1408

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On Sky Movies Sci-Fi/Horror 11/12/09 13:35

Director: Mikael Håfström

Stars: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack

Year: 2007 Running Time: 104 mins Rating:

Ignoring the dire warnings of manager Samuel L. Jackson, haunted house guidebook author John Cusack checks into suite 1408 of New York’s Dolphin Hotel. But the room’s grim legacy of 56 untimely deaths suggests that he may be in for a very bad night. That said, no one ever lasts more than an hour… Cynicism goes out of the window in this clever, disorientating and truly nerve-jangling adaptation of Stephen King’s short, sharp shocker.

Review

It’s obviously the devil he knows, but writers have a torrid time of it in Stephen King’s world.

When they’re not being crippled by lunatic fans (Misery), menaced by vampires (Salem’s Lot) or aliens (The Tommyknockers), they’re being driven mad by evil spirits or their own solitary existence (The Shining, The Dark Half, Secret Window… the list goes on).

As the sceptical hero of the short story from King’s 2002 collection ‘Everything’s Eventual’, 1408’s Mike Enslin (the perfectly cast Cusack) falls into – or rather foolishly volunteers to join – the latter category.

A full-blown cynic, Enslin hypocritically makes a living by writing travelogues about haunted places. But as a professional, he is honour-bound to investigate (and thus debunk) the gruesome goings-on in room 1408 of New York’s Dolphin Hotel (killing people since 1912).

Faced with the stubborn Enslin, hotel boss Mr Olins (Jackson) gives him 56 reasons why staying in the room is unwise. And it’s not bad press he fears: “I just don’t want to clean up the mess.”

But the would-be ghostbuster refuses to listen to reason so Olins hands over the key.

The room heralds its evil intent through the creepy tones of Karen Carpenter. “We’ve only just beguuuun…” she wails from the possessed clock-radio before each ghostly occurrence. Brrr.

Soon, every fixture and fitting is against him: windows, taps, walls, pictures... Then painful memories from the past are made flesh. And all the while, Enslin keeps telling himself that it’s just a hallucination. But is it? Is it really?

Swedish director Mikael Håfström considerably improves upon his so-so Hitchcockian thriller Derailed, combining with his technical team to keep the audience on edge throughout.

The sound guys lead us from blocked-ear bafflement into the deafening realms of screaming babies, while smart camerawork and generally subtle special effects are judiciously used to boost the ‘boo’ factor.

Had it been built around a lesser performer than Cusack, the whole enterprise would have undoubtedly collapsed. It says it all when the creepiest sequence involves Enslin simply trying to get the attention of the guy in the room opposite.

The repeated rug-pulling of the final act won’t please everyone but Ed Wood/The People Vs Larry Flynt screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (here working with Matt Greenberg) know what they’re doing.

On this evidence, their upcoming adaptation of King’s mobile-phone fable Cell should be a call worth taking. 1408 is the best King conversion since Misery.