The "Empty Room Up There" You Don't Want Priceline to Find.
Written: Jun 22 '07 (Updated Jun 22 '07)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Excellent effects. Great acting and supporting cast. Perfect pacing and entertaining throughout.
Cons: Rather weak ending. A few frights feel a bit cheap. A little padding near end.
The Bottom Line: A more than satisfying way to spend an afternoon or evening. Great production values and some edge of the seat suspense makes this one a winner.
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| mickp's Full Review: 1408 |
One thing I am loving about the 'States is the special midnight screenings of new movies. Sure, these sessions tend to draw out a rather.... colourful crowd, especially here in Las Vegas, but the chance to beat the crowds on opening-day proper is a strong incentive. With my wife and I both wide awake at 11:00PM, we decided to head out and catch the midnight opening of 1408
1408 stars John Cusack and is based on a short story by master of the .... ok I was going to say macabre there, but that would probably be a massive, massive cliche..... let me go with "Master of the unsettling", Stephen King. The trailers had made the film look like a winner and I am pleased to report overall we were both very happy with the hour and a half's worth of entertainment we received.
Cusack stars as Mike Enslin, an author whose promising early work has given way to scholocky and almost unknown "most haunted" review books since a traumatic family event. It's fairly obvious that this event has influenced his now cynical reaching out to "the beyond". Anyway, after reviewing what I can only assume are countless small-town frauds and surviving a freak surf board accident, Enslin's attention is drawn to The Dolphin Hotel in New York City with its "evil" room 1408. The room has supposedly claimed dozens of victims, ranging from grotesque suicides, self mutilation, to seemingly co-incidental heart attacks and strokes. The cynical Enslin books into the room, ready to add another entry to his stable of hotel reviews, and believing in the authenticity of the purported horrors of this room no more than any of the others. At the risk of repeating the entire plot here, I will refrain from any further rehashing, suffice is to say that our hero's cynicism is soon rather harshly tested.
The production values in the movie are excellent for the most part. Simple scenes like the check-in at the Dolphin are positively swarming with details. I'm not usually one for artistic touches in the films I watch, but the activities of the other guests which were entirely inconsequential to the plot, had me fascinated here. The hotel decor is appropriately faux elegant, yet grimy and there were some neat little touches like leftover room service trays, complete with half-eaten burger and buzzing flies, as Enslin makes his trek towards his harrowing experience. Similarly, the film which quite obviously is going to involve the death of a child and a relationship with a loving wife smashed by a shared grief, doesn't ever get nauseatingly sentimental - neither does it dwell too deeply on the issues, preferring to let them hang for us to ponder.
Perhaps the best element of 1408 is the pacing. There is just the right build up, from the opening scenes, to the eventual arrival at room 1408 to sew the seeds of anticipation. Similarly, once the action proper does get going, it is implemented with aplomb and doesn't ever reach exhausting "Jumanji" mode for more than a few minutes on end. Likewise, the action is effective and convincing through the right balance of special effects and some good old creepy values, such as mints spontaneously appearing on pillows and a Carpenters themed clock radio with a will all it's own. There is a rather disturbing, but strangely out of place, demonic clown-like character who wields an ice pick and has a habit of springing up like a ghoulish jack-in-the-box at key moments. This is about the only element of the goings-on in room 1408 which I felt was a bit out of place - a bit cheap - and not really gelling with the rest of the bedlam.
Cusack does a good job and the small supporting cast does well enough, especially Samuel L. Jackson who has a pleasant cameo as the hotel manager who warns Enslin of the perils of the dreaded room. Unfortunately for Jackson he is handed the worst line of the film as part of the rather clumsy ending.
Yes, the one weak point of 1408 is the way it is resolved. Id have loved it to have been left more ambiguous, but I believe there was enough information for us to come to a clear conclusion about what happened. And it was a little weak and inexplicable at just why it happened - or how. The movie could have had a far darker, more up-in-the-air conclusion, but it feels like the easier path was chosen. Similarly, there was a sequence or two late in the movie which seemed to serve no purpose other than to extend the run time.
Overall though, 1408 is one hell of a ride. Don't expect to be totally blown away by the conclusion, because it does go down with a whimper which doesn't match the fireworks on screen, but if good performances and an hour and a half of edge of your seat tension sounds like a good way to spent an afternoon or evening, you could do worse than book a short stay in room 1408. Just do yourself a favour and bring a jamb to keep the door wedged open.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Scary Movie
Worst Part of this Film: Ending
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Epinions.com ID:
mickp
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Member: Mike Price
Location: Aussie in Las Vegas, Nevada
Reviews written: 431
Trusted by: 270 members
About Me:
An Australian living in Vegas - Eating too much buffet and writing too many Epinions.
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