Reviews: 1408 (2007) Movie Review
Subgenres: Demons, Supernatural, Cursed, Haunted House - Hotel, Satanic
Our review of 1408 (2007) dives into the story, the scares, and whether it truly delivers the horror fans crave.
1408 (2007) is an American psychological fantasy horror film that is based on Stephen King‘s short story, 1408 (1999). 1408 had an estimated budget of $25 million and grossed over $132 million. Swedish director Mikael Hafstrom (Escape Plan (2013), The Rite (2011), Shanghai (2010)) did a marvelous job executing 1408 which took us somewhere new and exciting. The movie contains disturbing violence/terror, frightening images, bad language, twist, many jump scares, supernatural occurrences, gut-churning disturbing graphic images, suspense, and thrills. There were a few underdeveloped characters, but it is characters that we do not care for as they are the ghost and victims.
1408 revolves around Mike Enslin (John Cusack - Being John Malkovich (1999), 2012 (2009), High Fidelity (2000)) who is a skeptical horror author. He became cynical after his daughter Katie (Jasmine Jessica Anthony - Catch Me If You Can (2002), Water Pills (2009), Little Athens (2005)) died and now writes books about supernatural events which he does not believe. Mike received an anonymous postcard with The Dolphin, a hotel on Lexington Avenue in New York City on it with a message saying "Don’t enter 1408." Mike took that message as a challenge and tried to force book room 1408.
The hotel manager, Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson - Pulp Fiction (1994), Django Unchained (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), The Hateful Eight (2015)) tried his best to persuade Mike from not entering the room. He even told Mike that 56 people have died in room 1408 during the past 95 years but Mike is determined to get into the room, and so he did. Mike started to document the details of the room on his recorder describing the room as dull and lacks supernatural phenomena. Mike assumes that Olin is playing a trick on him when the radio mysteriously starts playing by itself. Mike soon after began to experience several supernatural events including the ghosts of the victims who died in the room and his daughter’s ghost appearing on the TV set. The door knob also breaks off as he tries to leave the room, a ghost attacks him as he tries to escape from the room through the air ducts, room temperature dropping to sub-zero and other disturbing occurrences.
The nonsensical plots, range of CGI, sound, sets, cinematography, makeup and jump scares were all excellent. John Cusack and Samuel. L Jackson gave brilliant performances as their acting could not be more realistic than it was. Overall, this movie was one of the best horror films I have seen in a while that made me jump several times and sent a fear of chill up my spine. All horror fans should watch 1408 and pay attention to the storyline.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- 1408 Rating Scores
- Our Score: 8/10
- Overall Score: 7.37/10
- IMDB: 6.8/10
- MetaCritic: 6.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 7.9/10
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