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By Robert Scucci
| Published
Here’s some insight into just how stupidly my brain is wired. I love John Cusack. Grosse Pointe (1997) is one of my favorite comedies of all time, and Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) always gets by on its ridiculousness. I also love Stephen King, his philosophy on writing, and most adaptations of his work. However, I never watched 2007’s 1408 for just about the dumbest reason imaginable: somebody I trust said it wasn’t very good. I barely put any thought into it. It was probably a five-second conversation nearly 20 years ago, and then poof, the thought of checking out the movie left my head forever.
The moral of the story is to trust no one, because 1408 is not only one of John Cusack’s best thrillers (though I’m partial to his collaboration with Nicolas Cage in 2013’s The Frozen Ground), it’s also up there with some of the best Stephen King adaptations of all time.
It’s based on the 1999 short story of the same name, but takes on a life of its own. Visually, it makes some baffling choices, but the story itself is so baffling that it feels more like a feature than a bug. If you’re looking for a haunted escape room experience with one of the most expressive leads for the job, John Cusack’s performance in 1408 is worth your time, and not a single minute is wasted thanks to its constant escalations.
A Classic Setup That Goes Hog Wild
1408 has such a simple setup that the only thing it can really do after establishing its characters is continually escalate. John Cusack’s Mike Enslin is an author whose writing centers on debunking supernatural phenomena. While promoting his latest book, he receives a tip about a supposedly haunted New York City hotel known as The Dolphin. The note he receives says, “Don’t enter 1408,” so naturally, he decides to do just that. He packs his bags, grabs his little tape recorder, and heads to the hotel to see the room for himself.
He’s met with resistance from the hotel’s manager, Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson), who’s overtly cautious about the haunted room but otherwise seems like a reasonable man. Gerald initially refuses Mike access to the room, but when he’s threatened with a lawsuit, the best he can do is warn him about the previous 56 guests who stayed there, all of whom died within less than an hour of checking in.
From this point forward, the haunted room simply does haunted room stuff with exponentially increasing intensity, pushing Mike to the edge of sanity as he comes to terms with the fact that he’s finally found the real deal. Not only does he come face to face with the room’s previous tenants, but he also sees visions of his deceased daughter Katie (Jasmine Jessica Anthony) and his terminally ill father (Len Cariou).
While the alarm clock on the bedside table slowly ticks down from 60 minutes, Mike has to plot a daring escape, not just from the room trying to swallow him whole by any means necessary, but also from the trauma of reliving his worst memories on a constant loop while navigating the very real physical threats waiting behind every corner.
If One Ending Doesn’t Satisfy, You Have Options
Aside from the film’s theatrical cut, 1408 has three alternate endings, all of which offer a different fate for Mike. I’m not going to spoil any of them for you, but they’re all solid in their own right depending on your mood and the kind of vibe you’re going for. While I prefer the theatrical ending to the alternates, they all provide satisfying conclusions.
You can rest assured, though, that John Cusack absolutely kills it in 1408and I can’t think of many movies that have been cast more perfectly. His ability to shift from bored cynicism to terrified bewilderment is unmatched, and as all hell breaks loose in his hotel room, he leans fully into the physicality of the role as he’s confronted by ghouls, disasters, and one of the peskiest thermostats you’ll ever see somebody try to adjust.
As of this writing, 1408 isn’t available through any regular streaming subscriptions, but it can be rented or purchased on demand through Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.
