1408 - Mikael Håfström - 2007

This movie actually scared me a few times!

Story: This movie does a perfect build of creating anticipation in the mind of the audience, mainly through Jackson's constant warnings about room 1408. We're caught between saying, “Don't go in there, stupid!” and, “But I'd really like to know what's in there, since it's been built up so well!” Sometimes, Cusack's character comes across as a bit dense, but if he didn't then we wouldn't have a movie. B

Acting: John Cusack does a great job of portraying a man who has given up on his life and is simply living and writing for a paycheck. He then convincingly grows as a character without being cliché about it. Samuel L.Jackson is Samuel L. Jackson and awesome because of it. A

Direction: This creates an atmosphere of anticipation in an expert fashion. In terms of quantity, there are very few scares in this movie, but those work and work well because of that atmosphere. A

Visuals: If the visuals hadn't worked, the direction would have failed in this movie. I think the best scene visually would have to be the scene of Cusack in the [SLIGHT SPOILER... BUT IT WAS IN THE TRAILER] snow filled room attempting to communicate with his wife through his laptop. The image is distorted and hard to make out when his avatar starts talking without his prompting, telling his wife to come to room 1408. The shot of his possessed avatar looking back at him though the LCD screen with a slight smirk on his shadowy face is probably one of the most effective visuals I've seen. A

Overall: I've read far too few Stephen King stories, something that I'm trying to rectify, but the most recent movies based on his stories have been absolute gold, and this one is near the top of the mountain along with The Mist. You should see this movie. A


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