BOTTOM LINE: Not even John Cusack's best efforts and a solid opening can rescue this absolute mess of a film from the depths of silliness and stupidity.
THE GOOD: Stephen King is renowned for coming up with some very chilling and scary stories and the idea for "1408" is right up there amongst his best. Sceptic Mike Eslin (John Cusack) hears about a spooky, deadly hotel room and decides to investigate it for himself. He meets the manager, played almost menacingly by Samuel L. Jackson who warns him not to stay in the room because most people don't last an hour, and the room itself has accumulated a gruesome body count. These scenes between the two actors are great, and elevate the material quite a lot. With John Cusack running the show, he holds the screen and makes you believe in his experience. With such a good opening, the minute he steps in to the room you're hairs will stand up because you feel like the evil is in there, ready to pounce...
THE BAD: After that great start, "1408" becomes silly, then stupid, and then flat out outstays its welcome. Some of the initial scares work because they play on your imagination (such as Cusack seeing himself in an identical room in the opposite building - very freaky!) but before long you're seeing everything in detail and you'll find it hard not too laugh. At one point, John Cusack almost drowns and freezes to death in bizarre circumstances before turning out he's trapped there forever. The material seemed to suggest that it should have played on his character's neuroses but for whatever reason it's just not visualised or physicalised in any satisfying way which is a shame because you have a great actor in John Cusack who could have pulled it off but was never given the chance. After about thirty minutes, you're not scared any more and as a result, we have just one more mediocre Stephen King adaptation to add to the list. Oh well, it could have been worse - Dreamcatcher comes to mind!
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