"As in the movie Secret Window starring Johnny Depp, 1408 is based on a Stephen King short story about a writer with nothing left to lose except his sanity.

The writer in this case is Mike Enslin (John Cusack), who has been disappointed in life and now makes a living tearing the illusions of others to shreds in his books on the paranormal.

Following a chilling interview with the manager of the Dolphin Hotel in New York (played by Samuel L Jackson), Mike insists on staying the night in a supposedly haunted room, firmly convinced the horror stories connected with it are a fiction.

From this point on we are left with two characters: what turns out to be a super evil hotel room and a petrified Mike Enslin trapped alone in it, understandably freaking out and throwing things ... and it works.

As far as haunted hotels go, Stanley Kubrick’s Overlook beats the Dolphin by about a mile, but for sheer creepiness and emotional impact (unfortunately the tear-jerker kind), the movie ends up being a surprisingly haunting watch.

1408 is definitely worth the price of admission, if not a slightly higher than usual electricity bill at the end of the month.

"

""1408" has finally arrived, adapted as the short story by horror-meister Stephen King. This is someone who has made his mark on the cosmos by dominating every horror story idea possible, but yet with this movie, I feel unable to give him the credit. The idea doesn't break any new ground. The twists are foreseeable. I felt the influence of "The Shining" quite strongly. Why on Earth did I like this movie? Because it's FREAKIN' scary in an innovative way.

This movie is quite the PG-13 dream: No nudity, very little blood, not much violence, the F-word once and I think I also heard a 'G**D***' once. It's pretty much a one-man show, with a couple of additional bit parts including the highly overhyped Samuel L. Jackson. The story won't surprise anyone who has seen more than 10 horror movies. So, how could this review possibly end with 4 stars?

The director of this movie, Mikael Hafstrom, is one to watch. Even considering the PG limitations of "The Ring," I found it to be a trendsetter in PG horror. The same is true for "1408." This director handles this idea by pushing the boundaries of how scary a scene can actually be without anything offensive. When I heard this movie had this rating, I was very disappointed. Other than "The Ring," PG horror movies are usually terrible. They do not capture true horror and there is not enough emphasis on the actors' fear. He has used excellent music - a variable which I consider to be the MOST important factor in setting the horror atmosphere. He knew when to add the jumps (I almost lost a $4 drink because of one of these). He blended in sorrow and lonliness as well as he could have. There was something scary happening almost all the time and the action was subtle yet effective. Most of all, I was delighted to see the excellent return of the 'creepy phone calls' notion. I just don't think I would get the same out of reading King's short story.

This director also made John Cusack work for his money. His acting was exceptional throughout, and he really shows how someone would behave in this terrible situation he's in. He looks scared, he acts scared and sometimes I thought he might really be scared. When a movie is made with one central character, everything rides on that character's performance and John Cusack does not let us down. When the room gets hot, he looks very uncomfortable.

"1408" packs a punch even for someone who has seen hundreds of horror movies. I highly recommend it. I can't wait for Mr. Hafstrom to do an R-rated horror film. He has definitely shown mastery over PG horror and I would imagine he impressed more than one producer with this one. "

"This movie is 94 minutes and up until minute number 93, I was aching to love it, praying for a surprise ending and hoping not to be disappointed.

As you can guess, none of that happened.

Even though the premise is immensely interesting (no one has ever lived in hotel room 1408 more than 60 minutes) it falls apart rather rapidly.

It's borrowed interest from the TV show "Dallas" (remember that JR getting shot was actually just a dream) and "Groundhog Day" (where your punishment is to relive the same day over and over) and "Misery" (the author sees a waitress in a restaurant who looks exactly like the villain who tried to kill him) to "The Sixth Sense" (I see dead people.)

I could go on and on. Every couple of minutes you realize they've stolen some schtick from some other movie.

Simply dreadful.

Steven King had nothing to do with this movie. Or if he did, getting hit by that car up in Maine several years ago did some pretty serious irrepairable damage."