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routes of escape eventually disappear. All the while though, he keeps talking frantically into his trusty tape recorder, hoping to hold on to some semblance of sanity. He eventually realizes there’s only one way out of this personal hell: he must destroy the room.
Aside from the brief appearances of Samuel L. Jackson and Mary McCormack as Enslin’s estranged wife, 1408 is essentially a one man show. Unfortunately, Cusack seems miscast in this role. Slightly goofy and sporting a bad haircut, Cusack’s Mike Enslin never quite possesses the appropriate strength needed to carry this movie. Whenever he yelled in anger or screamed in terror, I just had the overwhelming urge to laugh.
The room service may not be all it was cracked up to be, but the movie does contain a few creepy tricks and some entertaining special effects. 1408 succeeds more visually than it does psychologically. The scene when Enslin calls out for help to a person in the building across the way only to realize that it’s his own reflection was an eerie twist, as was the scene where his laptop computer turns out to have a mind of its own.
But even the special effects can’t pad up a movie lacking in substance and cleverness. The supernatural occurrences in the room are never explained. What makes room 1408 so “evil”? Sure, 1+4+8= the unlucky 13, but I thought the movie would go a little deeper. Instead, we get a weak ending which tries to provide a definitive answer to whether the events that took place in 1408 really occurred. The audience needs, and deserves, more.
As for this “psychological thriller”? I guess I just wasn’t, well, psychologically thrilled.
Movie Grade: C
Synopsis:
A man who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences after the death of his daughter checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel... | 
