|
Director: Mikael Hafstrom Cast: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson Category: IIB Duration: 94 minutes Stephen King seems to have a thing about hotels, the sinister potential of hotels. This was true of The Shining. It is very much true of 1408. Based on one of his short stories, this is quite eerie and frequently frightening stuff. John Cusack is a writer, sceptical, very sceptical, who writes books about haunted locations, especially hotels which make claims for ghosts (and tourists). His signature comment to fans is, ‘Stay scared’. That is the last thing he is expecting for himself. But, of course, we know that this is what is going to happen. He responds to a challenge to stay in the haunted room, 1408, (56 deaths have taken place in it), at the Dolphin Hotel in New York. The Manager, Samuel L. Jackson, does his best to persuade him against it. The film builds up the tension gradually so that we experience menace, anticipation and, then, the real thing with terrifyingly effective special effects. There is a moment when we reach a climax which momentarily seems like an anticlimax and we think, ‘is that all there is…?’. And, the answer is ‘definitely not’. Back to room 1408. John Cusack is centre screen all the time, often by himself for a long time in room 1408. He is very persuasive. This film returns us to the heyday of Stephen King films of the 1980s like Christine, Dead Zone, Firestarter. |
|