The movie appeals to an old-fashioned sense of horror, a psychologically based creep-out that again differs from the current horror trend of randomly occurring torture porn. The effects are exceedingly well done, while never giving the appearance – which is all too common these days – of being a techno wizard’s wet dream. Once inside the room, director Håfström goes to work, marshaling the suite’s various ghosts and frights to bring Enslin’s cynicism to its knees. It’s an “evil fucking room,” he says succinctly, in this PG-13’s rare instance of profanity. Enslin wheedles the hotel manager (Jackson), who adds to the known lore of the five suicides that have occurred in the room by recounting the 50-some-odd other strange occurrences, such as the maid who got locked in the bathroom and gouged out her own eyes. He sets his sights on Room 1408 of the Dolphin Hotel, a room so notorious that no guests are allowed entry.
JOHN CUSACK 1408 FULL MOVIE PROFESSIONAL
Enslin appears to have abandoned the novelistic ambitions of his earlier professional years in favor of writing guidebooks such as the one he is currently researching: Ten Nights in Haunted Hotel Rooms, a follow-up to Ten Haunted Houses. Cusack plays Mike Enslin, a cynical writer (a common King protagonist) who authors books about the supernatural world – books that both exploit the public’s fascination with the occult and debunk our naive sentiments. The other characters are secondary at best: Jackson and Shalhoub have one scene each, and McCormack, in the role of the wife, has only a few more than that. Yet 1408 becomes a true showcase for the actor, who appears in every scene – the majority of them as the lone actor in the frame apart from the devilishly shape-shifting shenanigans of the titular room in New York City’s Dolphin Hotel. Sure, the fact that Cusack appeared just a few years ago in Identity, another horror hotel movie, raised fears that the actor might have overdosed on one too many Gideon Bibles. 1408 is Cusack and Swedish-born director Håfström’s ( Derailed) movie all the way.
However, it’s not the script (by Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander, and Larry Karaszewski) that deserves most of the credit. But regardless of what conclusion makes for the better one, with the King renaissance still in full flow, there are far worse ideas out there than bringing back John Cusack to reprise his role in a long-delayed sequel to 1408.Based on a Stephen King short story that bears a great resemblance to the author’s famous spooky-hotel novel-cum-movie, The Shining, 1408 ranks as one of the best King adaptations for the screen. The 54 year-old recently suggested a third ending for the movie in addition to the one tacked onto the theatrical version and the one attached to the Special Edition home video release that a lot of people prefer. He’s such a terrific writer, and I do love like that Rod Serling psychological horror.” That’s just getting into that Stephen King headspace. I always thought there was another version of 1408, where he could wake up back in the room and continue on. I did a couple of loose sequels, where I felt like I had something else to say with the character but you can’t get the rights, so you just do another version of it. One of the more overlooked entries in the Stephen King back catalogue, Cusack admitted in a recent interview that he’d love the chance to return for a sequel, saying: Both Cusack and Jackson deliver solid performances, and 1408 scored generally enthusiastic reviews from critics and was a modest success at the box office, where it raked in almost $135 million against a $25 million production budget.