‘It’s an evil fucking room.’
Based on a Stephen King short story, 1408 is about Mike Enslin (John Cusack), a writer who is determined to the spend the night in the Dolphin Hotel’s most haunted room. Manager Gerald Olin (Samuel L Jackson) does his best to talk him out of it, telling Mike that no-one has ever lasted longer than an hour in the room. Like LA’s real-life Cecil Hotel, the Dolphin has a long history of gruesome deaths and dodgy guests. Fifty-six people have died in room 1408 since the hotel was built 95 years ago.
But Mike ain’t afraid of no ghost. He doesn’t actually even believe in ghosts - his career is built on writing books debunking hauntings in hotel, motels and holiday inns across America.
In a parallel with the Event Horizon, room 1408 presents its guests with their own personal hell. Things start off innocuously enough; the toilet roll neatly refolds itself, the bed smooths its own rumpled blanket, the heating has a life of its own, the radio turns on, always playing The Carpenters song We’ve Only Just Begun, the alarm clock goes on a sixty-minute countdown. Mike thinks that Mr Olin is setting this up and is watching the action through a camera hidden in the ceiling vent. Later on, Mike starts to think that the expensive whiskey Olin attempted to bribe him with has been spiked.
But then things get really weird, and as things start to escalate, Mike is drawn into a never-ending nightmare that he can’t wake up from.
There are apparently three different endings to 1408. I watched the director’s cut, which has a much bleaker wrap-up to the theatrical cut and the third alternate ending. Think the final few minutes of The Mist, which is also based on a Stephen King short story, and you’ll get the idea.
Content warning: suicide. A lot of suicide.
Final verdict: You can check out, but you can never leave.
You can stream 1408 on Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple TV and the Sky Store.
