review: 1408

Weinstein Company  //  Buy from Amazon.com John Cusack (Identity, Runaway Jury) gives a chilling performance as a best-selling author who specializes in debunking the paranormal. For his latest novel, he checks into the Dolphin Hotel's infamous room 1408 where there have been 57 deaths since it's opening and shortly discovers that unlike his previous "haunted" encounters, the terror of room 1408 is real! Stephen King adaptations are usually hit & miss, with far more of them missing than actually hitting (and even those that hit are rarely homeruns.) "1408" may not be of the grand slam variety, but it's definitely a solid, creepy, and thoroughly entertaining film, so for all of that you have to give it at least a 2nd base hit (to keep the ridiculous baseball analogies going even further - not bad for a Canadian guy who knows nothing about baseball, huh?) John Cusack is alwasy good, no matter what the role or movie, and in this one he delivers a very believable performance as an everyman sort of dude, obviously dealing with not-everyday types of events. Samuel L. Jackson is starting to overextend himself a bit much (in my opinion, anyway), but he manages to deliver the exact type of performance you'd expect from him. However, it's definitely the story that seals the deal on this one - it's imaginative, engrossing and more than a little scary - despite being all growns up, I was scared at least a half-dozen times in this one - sometimes by the creepy atmosphere, other times by the jump-out-at-you types of cheap scares. In the end, I enjoyed, and I greatly prefered the alternate director's cut - first half is mostly the same, but the differences in the 2nd half - and especially the different ending - made it just a more complete & satisfying romp for me. Video The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and it looks fantastic. The very stylized color palette looks amazing on my big-screen plasma, and there was not a speck or blemish to detract from this one - excellent!! Audio The very atmospheric Dolby 5.1 surround mix is perfectly creepy. Extras theatrical & director's cut of the film (w/ audio commentary by director & writers on the alternate cut) "John Cusack on 1408" webisode "Inside Room 1408" webisode trailer deleted scenes 4 featurettes Closing Thoughts Entertaining, creepy piece o' entertainment + bonus disc of solid extras = a great (and often chilling) bit of cinema to curl up on the couch to watch