Based on a Stephen King short story, 1408 stars John Cusack in a strong central performance as the caustic Mike Enslin; a successful writer, making a living investigating the paranormal. When Mike receives an anonymous postcard daring him to stay in room 1408, he flies to New York to uncover the truth behind what amounts to little more than a disappointingly hokey horror yarn.
Stephen King literary adaptations have, more often than not, made a successful transition from page to screen; The Shining, Carrie, Stand by Me, Misery, The Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile. Tapping into the domestic disquiet of many of King's works, the premise of 1408 is a refreshing change from the recent glut of Hollywood torture porn.
Unfortunately, the subtlety and suspense of the film's first half check out almost as swiftly as Cusack checks in, with Samuel L. Jackson, unconvincing as hotel manager Gerald Olin, believing the best way to dissuade Mike from staying in 1408 is by legitimising the very real horrors that lie within.
When Mike finally enters 1408 to investigate the truth behind the many fatalities, you can't help but be disappointed. What should be Kafkaesque amounts to little more than a litany of sepia ghosts, bleeding walls and technology invading spirits for the film's remaining half. The real demons for exploration are buried in Mike's past; divorce, bereavement and literary confinement; revealing themselves so far into the films nifty running time, that that you'll feel ashamed for not caring. That's not to say it's without its own sense of the macabre, any film that can torment its protagonist with The Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun" isn't completely without merit.
Where the film really falters in its mismatching of genre, one half psychological thriller, one half horror, that fail to gel as a cohesive entity. Swedish Director Mikael H�fstr�m (the man behind 2005 thriller "Derailed", starring Jennifer Anniston and Clive Owen) clearly knows how to build atmospheric tension, but fails to escape the genres most common failings as the film juggernauts towards a frustrating climax and an all too obvious false ending.
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