.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

You don't need to read this review to know that Stephen King adaptations (short story or novel) are a hit and miss proposition with the misses heavily weighing down one side of the spreadsheet. For every Misery there is a Thinner and a Graveyard Shift. For every The Shining there is a Lawnmower Man. And for every Shawshank Redemption there are Maximum Overdrives, Children of the Corn's, Night Flier's and Mangler's.

King's books might be listed international best sellers, but the film's that result from his pages can be absolutely painstaking if not put into the proper hands of the person that has the chair reading 'director' on the back. Take for instance the directors that have had success with King's works in the past - Rob Reiner (Stand by Me), Stanley Kubrick (The Shining), Brian Da Palma (Carrie), David Cronenberg (The Dead Zone). These names are all A-list Hollywood helmers and their work both within the constrictions of a King brainchild and with other adapted work within their filmography casts an Independence Day type shadow over directors such as Mark Pavia (The Night Flier), Chris Thomson (Trucks) and Mike Garris (Sleepwalkers).

All the above rambling brings us to the new Stephen King film 1408 which is directed by Mikael Hafstrom (who?) and staring John Cusack in a story about a writer named Mike Enslin (Cusack) who both investigates and writes books about various haunted locales. Mike is a realist and doesn't believe in the afterlife, but his thinking might change after he checks into the Dolphin Hotel in New York City and rents room 1408 - a room where no less than 56 deaths have occurred within an hour of check-in.

During Mike's hour in the room (the night table alarm clock is nice enough to count it down for us), Mike will encounter paranormal activity that makes Poltergeist look like a Disney attraction. Whether it is the ghosts that jump out of nowhere, a picture of a sinking ship that becomes a reality or the fact that the room has severe temperature control issues, Mike's belief in "ghoulies and ghosties" is about to take as 180 degree turn.

1408 is eerily effective. It has more spooks than scares, but it works well walking the horror/thriller thin line. Most of the appreciation goes to Cusack who literally stars in the film like a one-man Broadway show. Sure, Samuel L. Jackson is around as the Hotel Manager and Mary McCormack and Tony Shaloub have small stretched cameos, but make no mistake about it, this is a one man show and Cusack is front and centre. Mike's struggles with his sanity (he thinks he might be drugged or that it is the lack of sleep that is causing the world to collapse around him) in an 800 square foot room - that still made me feel claustrophobic - are successfully convincing thanks to the believable acting that Cusack brings to the mix.

If there were some penalty strokes against the film, I would have to point to the editing could have been better (especially in some of the dramatic sequences) and that a scene where Mike thinks he sees the Samuel L. Jackson character in his bar fridge that was almost laughable and should have ended up on the cutting room floor.

But all in all, it was a good show and valued entertainment. It wasn't Stephen King's best haunted hotel story (see, The Shining), but I can't remember as many genuine shrieks in an audience in quite some time. The only thing missing was having the Eagles lyrics "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave" playing over the end credits.