The Stephen King thriller “1408″ earned its sleeper status the easy way - the film’s title is about as uninspring as any horror film could have.
Look past the generic name and you’ll find a surprisingly taut thriller with a star-affirming turn by John Cusack.
The actor plays a cynical author who writes about haunted hotels. He doesn’t believe a word of what he writes, but it’s a living.
All that changes when he checks into room 1408 at a posh old hotel run by Samuel L. Jackson.
The room is haunted, haunted I tell you, Jackson cries. But Cusack’s character has a deadline to meet, so he checks in with notepad in hand.
I won’t spoil what happens next, but suffice to say the room lives up to its reputation.
(Photo: John Cusack thinks he’s losing his mind in the underappreciated thriller “1408.”)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Ronn 10.31.08 at 1:55 am
i thought 1408 was pretty weak. i am a huge stephen king fan and i loved the short story i thought the main character was great and fleshed out really well the story was very creepy but i just don’t think that it worked that well as a full length film. A lot of elements were added to the story that just didn’t work for me. I thought the other king adaptation that came out the same year ‘The Mist’ was far superior even though many people are divided on its ending.
cftoto 10.31.08 at 1:29 pm
Ronn, 1408 did lose steam toward the end, but I thought Cusack’s performance kept me invested all the way through.
And man, we’ll have to agree to disagree on “The Mist.” The film has many admirers, but I HATED it. The ending? Well, the whole movie didn’t work for me, so the ending was just one more letdown. A nervy one, I’ll admit.
BTW, am reading King’s latest right now, Just After Sunset (short stories). Very solid so far.