Movie review - 1408

To be honest if you are a pussy cat - Cheshire, stray or whatever, this movie is definitely not for you. No offense eh. The first half and few scenes in the second half of this movie just shook me up BIG time and I would rate this as one of the best ghost/spooky movies I have had ever seen.

Well anyway the movie has it's own share of the old adage which is like when someone says don't do something, just shut everything up and just follow. There has to be a reason right. The protagonist is the one whom you might want to call him as a messed up teenager, not that he is that young in the movie, just that he does something which people say don't do - he is a ghost hunter, he is an amazing writer who takes interest in writing and exploring haunted locations and falsify them or atleast comes with some evidences and rates the scariest places he has been to. Samuel L Jackson,a.k.a SJ the antagonist, well not really an antagonist but I would still like to call him that for he has this "cryptic" role where his eyes and bodies say one thing where as his body relates to an another point. Great role for him considering he would have been in and out of the minute for like 10-20 minutes!

John typical of his job is on the look out for doing something interesting and fascinating which is nothing more than going to an another haunted location for he believes that there exists no ghosts as we are not protected by any god ! One day he chances upon this unusual ad for this classy hotel - Dolphin hotel where room number 1408 is haunted. Curiosity gets better of him and he does his little research to find that there are like close to 56 gory deaths in that room and later finds that the hotel guys don't leave that room for occupancy. Jesus, SJ asks the guy not to get in there and John dissuades him and gets into 1408. How he convinces him are some good dialogues and the whole drama begins to unfold and pace of the movie steps up to another level. Scary, mystery, artistic and John Cussack, to me, emerges out as a great actor. I mean, so many times it is just so easy to get carried away with either the screenplay or the dialogue or say the acting abilities. John has done a great job with role.

The manager, SJ, tells/challenges John that not anyone has survived more than an hour in the freaking room and as maverick as a teen, John brushes the fact and challenges to get in and prove the whole fact as a myth. To me this was the moment I started to hold my seat fast.

Another thing 1408 has going in its favor is a score that’s effective yet unobtrusive. And the film’s special effects, including a flood, an ice storm, and a fire, outdo the work done in some of 2007’s summer blockbusters that devoted hundreds of millions more dollars to the CGI work.

1408’s a real white-knuckle ride with half a dozen good jumpy scares. When Cusack closes the hotel suite’s door behind him 30 minutes into the film, the audience is trapped right there with him as he falls victim to one paranormal experience after another. 1408’s a room none of us would want to visit in real life but one everyone should spend some time in while in the safety of a darkened theater. Released in the midst of sequels and remakes and knock offs, 1408 is a real original that stands out and stands above the rest of the summer movie madness.

And as dog headed person I am, I found a few discrepancy in the movie:

Mistake #1

When John first enters room 1408, there are three light switches on the wall. He flicks on two of them. A few seconds later, you see the switches behind him, but it is two different switches that have been flicked.

Mistake #2

After slamming his hand in the window, John bangs on the front door leaving blood on the left side of the map on the door. Later in the film, there is blood on both sides.

Mistake #3

After using his Infra red light to search the room, John switches on the bedroom light, showing the one chocolate that should still be on the pillow is gone. The next shot of the pillow shows the chocolate is still there.

Mistake #4

When John goes to the window to call for help, his Doppelgänger across the street is mimicking John's every move. After waving their arms in mirror-image synchronicity, John leans to his right slowly, and so does the doppelganger but it should have leaned to it's own left to mirror John's movement. BUSTED ! All its other movements are exact mirror images.

Finally, if you still persist go for it and watch it. But for the other pussy cats don't go to room number 1408 ! And don't feel admonished over my comments. For weak hearted this surely is NOT a movie.

I would give this a 9 er on 10 - I love this movie but !