Mikael Hafstrom
1408

Everyone, deep down, in the hotel of our soul (or mind or whatever you want to call it), has a locked, haunted room, a place we don't want to visit or, much less, make accessible to others. In those areas, you must indeed be careful: you can't burst in during brief moments of lucid madness, seeking redemption that might ultimately leave you aghast.

In the beginning, it was the Overlook Hotel, almost twenty-seven years ago, that took over the mind of writer Jack Torrance, gifting us one of the classic horror films of all time in the cinematic adaptation of "The Shining." Today, it's still a hotel, the Dolphin Hotel in New York, and it's still a writer, Michael Enslin, that forms the theme of another Stephen King thrill. However, if in "The Shining" it was the massive hotel hiding a mystery, in "1408," it's just a room.

"Hotel rooms are creepy by definition..." says Michael Enslin (John Cusack), once a writer on metaphysical themes, now reduced to a scornful skeptic who reviews haunted hotels and lodging houses to make ends meet, systematically dismantling every enthusiasm. What made Michael lose all belief in the supernatural is central to the story, but in fact, his cold skepticism reflects in every response, in every disenchanted eyebrow raise, even at the compliments of the few fans he has left. Michael is a man trying to destroy his past, wants to retract everything he once believed in. Because Michael has lost hope and, therefore, wants others to lose it too. Until he receives a mysterious tip about room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel in New York, a city that is part of the past Michael wishes to erase.

Horrible events have occurred over the years in that room on the thirteenth (fourteenth) floor of a chic street in the Big Apple. The hotel manager (Samuel L. Jackson) does everything to deter the insistent and cynical Enslin ("...I don't want to clean up the mess that's going to happen... no one lasts more than an hour in there.") but to no avail; Michael's urge to unmask is too strong, and thus room 1408, closed to the clientele of the luxurious Dolphin Hotel for years, is reopened...

This film has been described as one of the best adaptations from a Stephen King work. Not having read the story it's based on, I wouldn't go that far, but I must say it is definitely a good film: it builds high expectations in the viewer, maintaining them more or less throughout the film, although at a couple of points, you think they might be let down. And yet, they are not.

"1408" is a classic thriller-horror, far removed from the standards of the latest horror films released: here, there are no explanations provided that ninety-nine percent of the time don't hold up or leave a bitter taste; instead, there is narrative and stylistic coherence that leaves you satisfied and with some food for thought. The idea is simple but developed in an original and effective way, so much so that in the end, you seem to be there, in room 1408, hoping to find the way out of the nightmare you've gotten yourself into.

Rating: 4.5/5