“1408 (2007) is a 2007 movie filmed in color. It is in English and lasts just over 100 minutes. The movie is taken from a short story by Stephen King. Unlike some of his short stories that lend themselves to thoughtful, rich stories, such as “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Heats in Atlantis,” or “Stand by Me,” the movie “1408? is purely a scary movie. I think this is the greatest weakness of the movie.
John Cusack plays Mike Enslin, a travel writer specializing in hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts that are supposedly haunted. At one time he had written a serious good book and appears to wish he were still writing good fiction instead of the schockly, commercially successful, non-fiction he now writes. He and his wife separated about a year prior to the movie following the death of their daughter. In “1408? he checks into The Dophin hotel in New York. The hotel management reluctantly rents the room to him because they don’t want to have to clean up the mess that results when someone stays, and dies, there. Nearly two hours of special affects, designed to scare both Enslin and the moviegoer follow.
. . . .
. . . I like John Cusack as an actor. In no small part this is because he’s a fellow Chicago Cubs fan and appears at Wrigley occasionally where he talks to Ron Santo and Pat Hughes. It seems like he’s been around forever. Favorite movies of mine that he has appeared in are “Eight Men Out,” that great movie about the Chicago Black Socks where he got a chance to indulge his love of baseball. I liked “The Grifters” where he starred with Angelica Huston and Annette Bening as a con man. I also like “Grosse Pointe Blank,” particularly the parts where he carries on the high caliber badinage with Dan Aykroyd.Read the rest of my Review Stream Review
