Horror Fest Day Two: 1408

I get it. Now that I've watched both cuts, I understand why people have a bad taste in their mouth for watching 1408, if not outright hatred.

1408 is a movie with a very simple premise: Guy investigates haunted hotel rooms, finds the ultimate haunted room, spends the night. Shit happens. For the purposes of this kind of movie, it's basically a one man show, and if you're looking for a guy who can go unhinged and still maintain credibility, you can't do much better than John Cusack.

Cusack plays Mike Enslin, a guy who had a promising future as a writer and then gave it up to pen trashy books about the degree of "haunted-ness" a place has on a five skull rating system (cute). After we see him debunk one and get some idea of his limited fame, it's on to the big kahuna: a postcard saying "don't stay in 1408", the infamous haunted room of the Dolphin Hotel in New York. Of course Mike is going to check it out, otherwise we don't have a movie, so off we go.

The movie would have you believe that Samuel L. Jackson is the co-lead in 1408, but don't be fooled, dear reader: depending on which cut you watch, his role is either a cameo or an extended cameo, and nothing more. Yes, you get Sam Jackson and John Cusack in a room together once (maybe twice), and Jackson's job as Gerald Olin is to keep Enslin from staying in 1408, which leads to this exchange:

"Enslin: Most hotels have switched to magnetics. An actual key. That's a nice touch, it's antiquey.

Olin: We have magnetic cards also, but electronics don't seem to work in 1408.
Hope you don't have a pacemaker.

Enslin: [into his tape recorder] General manager claims that the phantom in room interferes ...

Olin: I have *never* used the word "phantom."

Enslin: Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, spirit? Specter?

Olin: No, you misunderstand. Whatever's in 1408 is nothing like that.

Enslin: Then what is it?

Olin: It's an evil fucking room."

And evil it is; the build up once Enslin gets inside of 1408 is nothing short of awesome, because for the first little bit you can argue either way about whether the room is evil or that Olin is fucking with Mike, but when 1408 finally asserts itself, all hell breaks loose and the movie kicks into high gear, and stays that way for about an hour.

Then something happens. Something that just doesn't work with this kind of movie, and it's sustained way too long, and even I got impatient, wondering when they'd get this shit over with and get back to the REAL plot, which they eventually do. Depending on which version you watch, the movie is either a) slavaged, but not saved, or b) totally wasting your two hours.

I urge anyone interested in seeing 1408 to find the two disc version, because the Director's Cut on disc two is the only thing that's going to keep you from totally feeling gypped in the end. After I watched the ending that went to theatres, I was bitterly disappointed. It's a total cop out, and thematically just doesn't fit with the trip Enslin takes in the rest of the film. The director's cut is darker, but so much more appropriate, with a final image that makes sense considering everything else you've seen come before it. It's still not enough to totally wipe out the stumble two thirds of the way in, but at least it doesn't make everything nice and happy.

Up next:....? Maybe From Beyond. I haven't decided.

Tonight is probably going to be 3-D night, but failing that, we're going to watch 28 Weeks Later, Planet Terror, The Monster Squad, Night of the Comet, The Call of Cthulhu, and part of Death Proof, if not more stuff.

So move your dead bones on over here, you slackers!