The only demons in room 1408 are those within you. Renowned horror novelist Mike Enslin (Cusack) only believes what he can see with his own two eyes. After a string of bestsellers discrediting paranormal events in the most infamous haunted houses and graveyards around the world, he scoffs at the concept of an afterlife. Enslin's phantom-free run of long and lonely nights is about to change forever when he checks into suite 1408 of the notorious Dolphin Hotel for his latest project, "Ten Nights in Haunted Hotel Rooms." Defying the warnings of the hotel manager (Jackson), the author is the first person in years to stay in the reputedly haunted room. Another bestseller may be iminent, but like all Stephen King heroes, Enslin must go from skeptic to true believer – and ultimately survive the night.
I had read this short story of Stephen King's and was very interested to see how they were going to turn it in to a full length movie. John Cusack has been my favorite actor since Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer, and has always been totally underappreciated as an actor. He was great in this one. What really made this movie was the build up of fear. It wasn't gory. Although there were a couple of sudden flashes in your face scenes - it wasn't one of those scare you by making you jump out of your seat movies either. It just had this constant feeling of apprehension that had you sitting on the edge of your seat and really wanting to know what was going to happen next. It was a smart thriller that didn't lean on mutilation or cheap thrills. It was basically a breath of fresh air scary movie.
I strongly recommend people checking this one out. I hope that Hollywood can take the cue from this movie and stop the gore porn stuff and make more horror movies like this.
