Day Six: 1408 (2007)
1408 is an unusually classy mainstream ghost story, and one of the very best films to have come from a Stephen King work (its based on a short story of the same name, and is most easily found in the collection, Everything’s Eventual). John Cusack stars here as Mike Enslin, a man who once aspired to be a novelist and has resorted to writing Top Ten Scariest Fill in the Blank books to make ends meet. He resents this, he feels its beneath him, and the script, at first, does a ripe job of setting him up for retribution.
The first act is the best in the movie, and we revel in the return to slow build basics that have made past films such as the original The Haunting so pleasurable. 1408 is very old school: polished, lush atmosphere, economic character development, solemn, mysterious connections to past tragedy. Cusack is an ideal stand in for the contemporary movie goer; effectively bridging the gap between old school spooks and a society that finds them ridiculous.
Of course there are nitpicks. I think 1408 is a very enjoyable 90 odd minutes at the movies, and you may want to turn back if you haven’t seen it yet. Because I do want to address a few crumbs that have fallen in between the pillows on the couch.
The second and third acts are primarily effective but more problematic than the superb opener. The script doesn’t continue to trust Cusack’s performance to tell us that he’s a cynical SOB. Which is too bad, because Cusack’s performance does just fine without the added filler that connects the dots a little too concretely for my taste.
The room 1408 turns out to be a sort of scrambler of its’ occupants’ center of reality, and this is a provacative idea. Its been done, but as presented here its still scary. The majority of the past deaths have been suicides, and its made chillingly clear toward the end that this is the only escape from a never-ending cycle of madness.
The last third of the film is too schematic, more A Christmas Carol than The Haunting. Cusack eventually finds a depressingly banal means of escape and finds out that there indeed will be a Christmas morning and that all of his problems have been solved, because he looked within himself to, you know.
What if that was just the final joke of 1408? For a charged moment or two, I thought that was where they were heading, and it would’ve been a hell of a cherry to walk out on, but the filmmaker (Mikael Hafstrom) and the writers (who include Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, of Ed Wood and The People Vs. Larry Flynt) want to teach us a Valuable Lesson, and nothing is less scary than the assertion that life is indeed governed by a kinder, divine set of rules.
I was worried from the trailer that the effects would drown the movie, but they are fairly thoughtfully integrated (a few typical moments of modern overdirection notwithstanding) and work well. Its been a while since I’ve read the King story so I’m not certain, but I think things were a little more up in the air in his version. But who knows? Maybe the movie was never made to begin with.
October 7th, 2007 at 8:20 am
I hate to start off the comments with a tangent, but I haven’t seen 1408 yet. I meant to, but it never worked out. Perfect or not, I like John Cusack.
Relating to Steven King short stories however, I’m guessing you’re looking forward to The Mist (December I think?).
October 7th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I am looking forward to The Mist, which hits late November I think. Frank Darabont is nowhere near 100 percent with me, but he may be the ideal mix of talent and lack of auteur to do this very good story justice without overstuffing to make him look more important.