1408

US, 2007, 95 minutes, Colour.
John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary Mc Cormack, Len Cariou, Tony Shalhoub.
Directed by Mikael Hafstrom.

Stephen King seems to have a thing about hotels, the sinister potential of hotels. This was true of The Shining. It is very much true of 1408. Based on one of his short stories, this is quite eerie and frequently frightening stuff.

John Cusack is a writer, sceptical, very sceptical, who writes books about haunted locations, especially hotels which make claims for ghosts (and tourists). His signature comment to fans is, ‘Stay scared’. That is the last thing he is expecting for himself. But, of course, we know that this is what is going to happen.

He responds to a challenge to stay in the haunted room, 1408, (56 deaths have taken place in it), at the Dolphin Hotel in New York. The Manager, Samuel L. Jackson, does his best to persuade him against it.

The film builds up the tension gradually so that we experience menace, anticipation and, then, the real thing with terrifyingly effective special effects. There is a moment when we reach a climax which momentarily seems like an anticlimax and we think, ‘is that all there is…?’. And, the answer is ‘definitely not’. Back to room 1408.

John Cusack is centre screen all the time, often by himself for a long time in room 1408. He is very persuasive. This film returns us to the heyday of Stephen King films of the 1980s like Christine, Dead Zone, Firestarter.

1.The popularity of Stephen King? His novels? Screen adaptations? A long tradition? Fear and terror? Ghosts and haunted places, hotels?

2.Psychological fear, inner fear from the psyche? Confronting one’s life and one’s past? Dreams? Nightmares? Catharsis or not?

3.The authentic atmosphere, Los Angeles, the beaches and the surf? The book tours? The bookshops? The world of agents, motels and people at the desk, hospitals?

4.The hotels, Michael as sceptical? His investigations, his books? Visiting the motel with no ghosts? The book-signing, the readers and their questions, his sardonic remarks? His slogan, ‘Stay scared’?

5.The letters, collecting them, his attitude, reading them? The card about not entering room 1408? His making the decision, the booking, through the agents, the discussions with them, the legal advice, the threat of legal action?

6.Michael as a character, age, experience, the writer, his back-story, his wife, his daughter’s illness, her death? Belief in God? His disbelief? His vanishing?

7.The meeting with Olin? The staff at the hotel, Olin and his argument against 1408? In his office, the argument, the drink, the challenge? Surviving one hour? His later appearance as Mike peered into the cupboard? The argument, his final congratulations to Mike?

8.1408: its history, the newspaper research, 1938, the suicides, an evil room, the electrician not going in, the staff and the phone calls? An ordinary room, his taping his responses?

9.The build-up for the terror: the heat in the room, the Carpenters song continually coming on, pulling out the plugs, the clock and one hour to go, the countdown, the open window, coming down on his hand, the blood, the towel? Seeing himself in the opposite window? The locks breaking and the key? The pictures on the wall? His drinking, the cigarette in his ear? Going outside, along the ledge, his fall and grasp, the ghost jumping out of the window, his feeling welcomed back into the room, setting up the computer, talking to his wife, the room icing over? Seeing Kate, his memories, talking with her? The ship in the painting, the flood in the room? Taking him back to his accident in the surf, hitting his head, the lifeguard, going to hospital, waking up and finding his wife? In Los Angeles?

10.Writing his story, his wife’s advice, his memories, going to the post office, the men breaking the walls, it becoming room 1408? Trapped, the Groundhog Day syndrome? His collapse? Going to the hospital, in New York, his wife visiting him?

11.The character of his wife, her devotion? Mystery of his departing? Kate, her illness? His packing, the computer, hearing the tape recording – and Kate’s voice? His wife hearing it? The sudden ending of the film?

12.Audience experiencing and sharing the fears and the terror?