I've railed against Hollywood horror for being the new pornography, where narrative concern for creativity has been replaced with meeting the screen-quota of gore and jump scares. Yet now I'm going to eat crow because with 1408, a genre movie fails because its story is way overdeveloped.
After seeing the movie, I read the original short story from Stephen King and I must admit, it could have been the basis for a pretty good movie. A tale about a prick of an adventurer who stayed at supposedly-haunted places and made a living writing such books. He learns of a notorius hotel room where dozens of people have committed suicide. The body-count doesn't include the considerable number of "natural" deaths. It'll be the basis for a new best-seller. Too bad he finds out there are so many deaths....
The story was a thrill ride with mind-screwy visuals suited for the big screen. The real charm though was the concept that evil in itself is a real substance, and room 1408 is built from it. This place simply can't be haunted because it would mean that it was once alive, and nothing this evil could have ever been alive.
Apparently, the filmmakers didn't think this was dramatic enough, so a whole backstory is scripted about the hero's kid dies. He's mad at God and he wants to prove that the supernatural is fictional. Ghosts don't exist dammit!
What complete tripe. The story's hero suffers simply for his utter arrogance. The jerk bites off more than he can chew and gets burned it, literally. The movie's hero suffers for simply having religious doubts. 1408 didn't need this whole melodrama subplot because the story was was already dramatic, or at least enough for me if paintings came alive and walls tried to eat me and ghosts ring me up in the phone. Then again, I have low standards.
After the incre-dibly silly fake-out in the third act, I quit caring. Maybe what annoys me the most is how John Cusack is acting great and he's wasted. I would add Sam Jackson too, but for the last few years he's just like Vince Vaughn: Dead to me.
This movie being a solid box-office hit under Cucack's belt might very well be the only good thing to come from this evil. Thankfully, that evil has a name. Its called mediocrity.
