1408 (2007)

Directed by: Mikael Håfström | 120 minutes | horror, thriller | Actors: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack, Andrew Lee Potts, Kim Thomson, Jasmine Jessica Anthony, Len Cariou, Drew Powell, Kate Walsh, Peter Conboy, Thomas A. McMahon, Chris Carey, Walter Lewis, Noah Lee Margetts Tyler Nilson, Jessica Cail, Ike Ononye

‘1408’ is based on a short story by Stephen King. Too bad the film wasn’t short either. However suitable King’s books are for film adaptation, this does not mean that an effective full-length film can be made immediately. With a story that focuses primarily on human drama and social interaction, such as in the short story “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”, there can still be successful deepening, as shown in Frank Darabont’s film adaptation. However, when it comes to a story that relies mainly in its strength on claustrophobic horror, there isn’t much to work with. A genius set-up and atmosphere can then be lost in psychological banalities and explicit, and dragged in horror clichés. As happens in the movie version of ‘1408’.

One of the few welcome additions to the short story is the larger role of the hotel manager, Olin, who barely appeared in the book. Olin in the film, as played by Mr. Bad-ass himself, Samuel L. Jackson, is of great importance for the tension building in the film. This importance is visually emphasized by portraying his first meeting with Mike Enslin through a camera that continuously revolves around the talking pair. But, Enslin’s words are even more powerful. His horror stories about all the dead in room 1408 have long seemed to the skeptical Enslin as just a fun act to live up to a myth, but Olin gradually makes it very clear that he is dead serious. He only tells Mike this out of self-interest. He doesn’t feel like (literally) always having to clean up the mess that remains in the room. This makes little impression on Enslin, any more than Olin’s claim that no one lasted, or survived, in room 1408 for more than an hour. Then he picks up a folder of photos with about fifty different victims who have been placed in various places. ways have come to an end in the room. Now Enslin has to swallow a bit. However, he is adamant and must and will have the room. Reluctantly, Olin gives him the key and goes up with him in the elevator, where he casually shares one last fact about the room: the room is cleaned every month, but due to the room’s reputation, this has to be done with the door open, with no one allowed in for more than ten minutes. However, even this proved fatal to a chambermaid from El Salvador…

No matter how experienced you are at ghost stories, and how skeptical you are, this is a lot to digest. Enslin, like the viewer, is clearly affected by the persistent and deadly serious-appearing Olin and his stories. The moment that Enslin now opens the (obviously creaking) door of room 1408, has therefore become extremely charged, pregnant with tension and anticipation. Enslin carefully switches on the various light switches, and for a moment, together with the viewer, holds his breath… nothing happens. It’s a one-man show from now on. Mike Enslin in the hotel room. And it should have stayed that way. The tension is wonderfully constructed, using Enslin’s rationality as a benchmark for the viewer. He is the ultimate skeptic, dryly analyzing the entire room, always recording everything on his memo recorder. However, when weird things start to happen in the room and even his impenetrable wall of self-control and dominance crumbles, the viewer is lost too. It starts with small things, such as a turning on radio (with the Carpenters’ “We’ve only just begun” as an ironic accompaniment) or a spouting tap in the sink, but gradually his rational explanations no longer seem to be sufficient.

This first half of the film is truly brilliant and keeps you on the edge of your seat as a viewer. At some point, however, the filmmakers decide to insert all sorts of ghost images and explicit action and horror, which practically erase the carefully constructed tension in its entirety. In addition, a lot of emphasis is placed on Enslin’s family trauma, which has to do with his ex-wife and daughter. Of course it is interesting to leave it open whether this is real horror caused by the room, or personal horror of the visitors of the room, which is generated there. But instead of a subcutaneous and strong psychological approach, as in, for example, ‘The Shining’, that other King film adaptation about an evil hotel, disappointing ghost images and melodramatic “confrontations” are chosen here. To top it off, a “surprising” twist is chosen late in the film, which adds an extra layer to the reality-fantasy dynamics in the film. Sad, and unnecessary. It should have just been purely about Enslin and the room. What could have been a brilliant short film has now turned into a promising, but ultimately disappointing full-length film.