MTTM (#3) - 1408

a film by Mikael Hafstrom

ONE SENTENCE SYNOPSIS
a novelist who writes about and discredits paranormal activity finds himself trapped in room 1408, where the supernatural might prove real

HER TAKE
Based on a short story written by Stephen King, 1408 follows jaded supernatural phenomenon writer Mike Enslin (John Cusack) as he attempts to discredit New York City’s Dolphin Hotel room 1408 as a site of paranormal activity. While the movie focuses primarily on Cusack’s Enslin, Samuel L. Jackson briefly shows up as the Dolphin’s manager who earnestly tries to dissuade him from checking into the room—and don’t get too excited; despite top billing, Jackson graces us with his presence for all of 15 minutes total and you quickly realize you’ve been bamboozled into watching this movie with only Cusack to entertain you the rest of the way. That’s a pretty tall order if you ask me.

To enjoy this movie, you must go into it completely accepting the premise: that there is, (in a classic Sam Jackson delivery—think Snakes on a Plane), “an evil [expletive] room,” in the Dolphin Hotel. Unfortunately, even if you do accept this, the suspense and terror that ensues is not enough to keep this film from digging its own grave, stepping in and shoveling dirt back onto itself. While it does maintain a slightly elevated level of suspense throughout, it does not achieve the thrills and chills it promises in the trailer. Cusack is cynical and tortured (before he even gets to the room) and provides a bit of comic relief with his snide and pessimistic comments. And that’s about as good as it gets with the acting.

The story is something all together different. The basic plot seems like it would make for good horror but it quickly feels like the tossed out first run version of The Shining. It feels very incomplete with no explanation of how the room came to be so evil and no solid indication as to its final state at the end. The bulk of the story isn’t even really story. It’s just sequence after sequence of Enslin attempting to escape. Some light is shed on why Enslin is so disillusioned with his life but it’s not compelling enough to warrant empathizing with the situation he got himself into. By the end, there is no great revelation about his character that makes you care one way or another what happens to him.

My recommendation for this film is that if you don’t like scary movies but want to give one a shot (Halloween is coming up…) this one’s for you. It’s safe to say you’ll be terrorized minimally and might get some thrills from the standard Hollywood horror gimmicks. If you are a die hard fan of horror though (or at least have seen so many you are desensitized—thank you, Hostel), take an indefinite rain check.

HIS TAKE
It had me. The hotel room setting. The atmosphere. The creepiness factor. It was all working. I was sitting uneasily in my seat watching the creepiest turndown service committed to film. It was even getting tension from a freakin’ clock radio.

Then it goes and shows us the ghosts and totally ruins everything.

For a good half hour, 1408 was the unsettling piece of filmmaking I was hoping for. It wasn’t The Shining… but it wasn’t Identity either. It was eerie and disturbing and mostly entertaining. There was a slow burn to the scare, with the director Mikael Hafstrom stifling all the urges he previously showed in Derailed to browbeat you with every twist and turn in the storyline.

John Cusack stars as Mike Enslin, a dispirited schlock ghost story writer who debunks the tales of ghosts and goblins that hotels use as tourist attractions. His doubting pessimism offers some of the best moments of the film – especially opposite a nearly cameo-brief Samuel L. Jackson appearance (playing ‘The Dolphin Hotel’ manager Gerald Olin) – while Enslin shoots down every ‘attempt’ to scare him early on as an act… like it’s all just a staged play for his benefit.

‘Stars’ is a very appropriate term for Cusack’s role in 1408 because for long stretches – think Cast Away long – the film is a one-man-show. Short of the one single effective scene playing off of each other, those hoping for a Cusack-Jackson acting session will be wholly disappointed. And only disappointed more-so because it’s the best scene in the film, it arrives merely twenty minutes in, and Jackson’s hotel manager delivers some great words of warning to Enslin not to stay in that “evil f***in room.”

But as is commonplace in this genre of films, Enslin has inner demons that cause him to question the reality of ghosts and spirits and fear nothing (no points for guessing those demons don’t stay inner throughout). Apparently it isn’t enough to just be a non-believer, he’s got to be a non-believer because his daughter died traumatically thereby crushing his ability to suspend belief.

Well, at least it worked for a while. Director Hafstrom starts ratcheting up the scares gradually, for the time being using the Jaws theory of terror (the less seen, the better) as he relies on a clock and what amounts to an invisible maid who likes to fix the bed and fold the toilet paper elegantly. It has an unsettling effect, and like Enslin himself says, “Hotels are a naturally creepy place... Just think, how many people have slept in that bed before you? How many of them were sick? How many... died?”

But apparently any restraint Hafstrom displayed early only acted like a rubber band being stretched and stretched and stretched to capacity… pretty soon that puppy’s gonna break – and when it does, look out. Because during that remaining hour Hafstrom burns, freezes, lives and drowns in excess. Anything even remotely scary he throws in. Walls closing in? Check. Walls bleeding? Check. Doors won’t open? Check. Windows close on themselves? Check. Ghost attacks and visions of dead people? Check and check.

Then there’s that ending. The original ending that was edited out for theaters because it was too much of a “downer” but was reinstituted for its DVD release. From what I understand of the alternate theatrical ending, it should have stayed that way (and I would have watched that version had I known the difference prior to viewing) because this one is just brutal. It’s not only a downer, it’s a cop out… totally negating any reason for explanations and rationale.

Oh well. It started off well. It just closes in a big fiery inferno of overkill.

HER REACTION
Well, I had no idea that there was an alternate ending. From the description of it, it may have resolved my issues with the confusion at the end but I'm still not convinced it would have made me any happier. I'm surprised it had you even for a minute. I mean, okay, there were moments of tension but it "had" you? Really? Ah well, we agree overall. That's the important thing.



HIS REACTION
Okay, so we took two separate paths to the same place. I went in with relatively high expectations, especially for a John Cusack movie (I’m not his biggest fan). But with the critical reception it received and the addition of Samuel L. Jackson to the cast… yeah, it had me hooked in for a little while. That is, until I realized I’d been duped into another blasé Mikael Hafstrom ‘thriller’, with only Cusack there as my guide and Sam Jackson having the good sense to bail out almost entirely by the twenty minute mark.

Side note: 1408 was based on a Stephen King short story, yes, but that short story was originally just a writing exercise for his On Writing novel. It was conceived to illustrate a basic “How to Write a Short Story” and has all the depth of that initial idea… it feels like an unfinished thought or premise.



written by Brian and Rebecca