General thoughts: With all this "torture porn" taking up valuable screen space, it's good to see a nice old-fashioned horror thriller.
Summary: Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is a writer who churns out those godawful haunted-hotels books you always see in gas stations. An anonymous postcard warns him never to stay in Room 1408 of New York's Dolphin Hotel, so of course he goes there immediately and demands to stay in that room despite the manager's (Samuel L. Jackson) warning that basically everyone who ever checked into 1408 died within an hour, either by natural causes or grisly suicide.
Upsides: Lots of subtly creepy stuff like phantom room service, melting phones, a lampshade that glows by itself, and disappearing windows. (As if Samuel L. Jackson as a hotel manager isn't scary enough.) Also some humour: Enslin has a "Zuhl" moment, screaming at the hotel manager through his mini-fridge. He's really just screaming at some beernuts and Diet Coke.
Downsides: None, really. This isn't The Shining, but it's a thoroughly decent thriller that keeps you guessing. Is this guy nuts? Has the hotel or his ex-wife set him up? Or is 1408, as the manager explained, just a "f***ing evil room"?
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4 comments:
I have seen the previews on tv and it looks really good. So is this go rent movie when it comes out on DVD???
Not sure I could do this one. I could barely sit through Scream.
I want to see this too. I am with you, I have officially had it with the "torture porn" movies. They're simply pointless and I'm tired of paying money to watch women beg for their lives....
Definitely a good one to rent. There's nothing overtly gross, so you can even eat popcorn while you watch this.
I think I reached my limit with serial killer/slasher films when "Red Dragon" came out at the same time the D.C. snipers were loose, and I thought, I'm supposed to be entertained by this when it's really happening? No thanks.
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