Mikael Håfström´s effective if uninspired ghost story 1408 delivers the goods while sidestepping (by its finale) the usual clichés.
Writer Mike Enslin (John Cusack) makes a living espousing tales of haunted houses and their supernatural inhabitants; Enslin himself, however, is quite the skeptic.
That is, until he checks into room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel, despite numerous forceful warnings from hotel manager Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson, good but underused).
What follows is Cusack in a hotel room for much of the remainder the film, which could have been fascinating without the ghosts, but nevertheless: he´s soon being psychologically tortured by spirits who have a penchant for the Carpenters´ “We’ve Only Just Begun”.
And if that wasn´t bad enough, they also get to some touchy personal subjects, including Enslin´s estranged wife and deceased daughter. Bastards.
While never truly scary, film is effectively creepy throughout and even has a nice sense of dark humor. Neat twisty ending jerks the viewer around – just when we think we know what´s going on, the film pulls a 180, including nicely trashing an all-too-obvious setup from the very beginning.
No great shakes but a rare big-budget ghost story that works; not quite as good as, say, The Others, but leagues ahead of de Bont´s Haunting remake.
Based on a short story by Stephen King; lead role of Enslin makes for a nice fill-in for the author.
