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Capone Enjoyed Hanging Out In 1408!!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
I remember my first exposure to the Stephen King short story "1408," on which the new John Cusack film is based. Most fairly faithful fans of King's fiction first read it as part of his "Everything's Eventual" collection of short stories, but I remember so clearly reading the first chapter in his non-fiction instructional manual "On Writing," in which he gave readers (students?) the unedited version of that first chapter and then showed how he went back and edited his own work. As a writer, the book was indispensable, but that small sample of unreleased material was my personal Holy Grail for many years. Then came the King book-on-tape "Blood and Smoke," four stories never put in one of his books to that point (most, if not all, ended up in "Everything's Eventual"). With King reading this story on the tape, I nearly shit myself listening to this tale of a man in an evil hotel room.
On the surface, the story of 1408 doesn't lend itself to being made into a feature film. Nearly all of the major "action" takes place in the mind of writer Mike Enslin, played by Cusack in a return to greatness. With the exception of THE ICE HARVEST, I haven't been too impressed with much of what this gifted actor has given us in recent years, but I think 2007 is looking to be one of his finest, especially if what I'm hearing about GRACE IS GONE is true. Cusack's gift for maximum sarcasm and skepticism is exactly what Enslin needs as a once serious writer who has cheapened his talents by writing about supposedly haunted houses and hotels. For his latest work, an investigation of 10 well-known spook-occupied hotels (he tends to debunk every claim of supernatural activity in these establishments), Mike wants his final chapter to be on the Dolphin Hotel New York, which has seen dozens of deaths in Room 1408 since its opening in the 1930s. In fact, no resident of that room has lasted more than an hour.
Upon walking into the hallowed halls of the esteemed hotel, Enslin is met by hotel manager Gerald Olin (a nicely subdued Samuel L. Jackson), who plies the writer with expensive spirits and offers of access to information about all of the previous deaths if Mike will simply not stay in the room. Mike is convinced this is all part of the "sell," just a way to make nervous and easily spooked in the room. Olin does his best to explain the nature of the evil in the room, but Enslin simply isn't buying it.
It's within the confines of Room 1408 that we, too, begin to understand how things work. There are no ghosts or spirits in the room already, only the ones that you bring in with you. We soon see in a series of flashbacks ripped from Mike's mind by the room that he and his wife (Mary McCormack) once had a daughter (Jasmine Jessica Anthony) who died young, and whose passing caused Mike to leave his wife in New York and move to California, far away from his pain. 1408 is not a film with cheap scares or cats jumping out of closest punctuated by loud music (unless you count The Carpenters tune that is the recurring theme song of the film). This is a movie that earns the fear that it generates, and plunges deep into the darkest corners of Mike's soul to find out what scares him the most and what events in his life he would least like to relive. Don't go looking for any kind of explanation why Room 1408 is the way it is. Perhaps it's just a place where a person's ghosts are amplified and guilt is exploited to the point where many past residents ended their own lives as a means of escape.
I hope I'm wrong, but 1408 is almost too smart for mainstream audiences. Most of the crowd with whom I saw this film was restless early, and the film is barely 90 minutes long. This is a tense and thrilling art film disguised as a scare movie. It's a psychological profile of a tortured artist dealing unsuccessfully with grief. Swedish director Mikael Hafstrom (DERAILED) has crafted a near-perfect character study and Cusack makes it look easy. He's not afraid to look tired and older than we've seen him look before. This is not the typical man-ish boy that he's played in the past (and even recently). He's a grown man with a grown man's troubles. That doesn't mean he doesn't have fun with the role, especially early on when we see him visit one of many haunted hotels. But when it's time to rip out his heart with a chainsaw and crowbar, he doesn't flinch. 1408 is a smart, stylish, and gripping drama encased in horror show wrapping that works on both levels. The movie dares to have an artistry about it, while not forgetting to be entertaining and poignant.
Capone
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maybe
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Wow...I finally made it....I dont usually care aboot that kinda thing but some time your instinct just kicks in....(sniff)....okay so whats the story about? Starland vocal band?! THEY SUCK!!
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I love me some Cusack. From the early stuff up through Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity (hell, I can even appreciate moments of America's Sweethearts), but he's been in some sad fucking movies lately. Must Love Dogs? Are you kidding me? Serendipity? Why, John? I can understand doing something for a paycheck, but seeing him sleepwalk through these movies has weakened my faith in Cusackism.
So yeah, it'd be good to see him with some energy and a decent character. -
or turd!
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King stuff (the books) ARE usually good but I think people mis-interpret their potential-I dont find them scary, but more fantastic character studies. It, The Stand, Tommyknockers, Misery, even Thinner-not one was scary, but the richness and depth of character was astounding. Rob Reiner got that when he made Stand By Me, Darabont when he made Shawshank. Kubrick knew that to make The Shining scarier was to chuck most of the "scares",i.e, the garden animals and stuff and build the tension that King wrote between Jack and the family with more emphaisis on creepiness.Im not dissing King, cos I love his books but for different reasons....
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from the book where he picks up the phone and some mental voice starts shouting "NINE, THIS IS NINE... ALL YOUR FRINEDS ARE DEAD" That would be lege!
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Imagine the room amplifying THAT.
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..the eerie orange light described in the book?
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This looks good.
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yeah
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When you said all the action is in his head?!? I hope that's not really the case.
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And i like the look of this film, its been getting some decent reviews and the trailers look pretty scary.
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Too smart for mainstream audiences? Are you kidding? This movie has all the trapping of every other PG-13 ghost thriller of the last decade. Sarts off spooky and then gets REALLY fuckin' stupid. The ocean pouring out of a painting is NOT scary. Ghosts that look like old, scratchy film are NOT scary. How is it that in an "evil fucking room" he can still get WI-FI reception? Bullshit, I say. BULLSHIT!!!
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and you can call me hypocritical after my rant about them yesterday but am I the only one who reckons they need to have another stab at The Stand? I mean I reckon its his best book and that the Mick Garris thing was a travesty. My suggested cast: Stu-Nathan Fillion, Fran-Zooey Deschanel, Larry-Joaquin Phoenix, Tom Cullen-Ethan Suplee,Nick-Jared Leto, Lloyd-Clifton Collins JNR, Glen-Morgan Freeman and Flagg-Danny Huston (although a Cuckoos Nest era Jack Nicholson would have been ideal)... Anyone?
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Do you know why the smell worse when you are taking a bath? I don't either, but they do..
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and you can call me hypocritical after my rant about them yesterday but am I the only one who reckons they need to have another stab at The Stand? I mean I reckon its his best book and that the Mick Garris thing was a travesty. My suggested cast: Stu-Nathan Fillion, Fran-Zooey Deschanel, Larry-Joaquin Phoenix, Tom Cullen-Ethan Suplee,Nick-Jared Leto, Lloyd-Clifton Collins JNR, Glen-Morgan Freeman and Flagg-Danny Huston (although a Cuckoos Nest era Jack Nicholson would have been ideal)... Anyone?
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Seriously, though, this movie blows.
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Sounds interesting. I enjoy typically enjoy Cusack's work. And a good review too, that actually "reviews" the film.
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try this on for size: Dustin Diamond, Alan Thicke, Steve Guttenberg, Karen Black, Denise Richards, Casper Van Dien, and the undead George Kennedy
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I think it's all a matter of perception. If you go in thinking this is going to be a scary movie, then you're going to be disappointed - for me, it didn't work on the horror level AT ALL (although, the scenes leading up to Enslin entering the room are suitable creepy). On a psychological drama level, it was interesting and Cusack's performance was definitely a return to form. The short story was much more effective in its scariness. I didn't hate the movie but I really don't know that I'd recommend it.
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a magnificne Lady MacBeth....
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damn my feeble brain....
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So what were the bad points with the film when you saw it?.
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damn my feeble brain....
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The "Drop of Water" scarred this shit out of my underoos when I was younger. When it that being remade with CGI corpse chasing the lady around the house to get her ring. Long Overdue.
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Have a dude from India move into the room next door and start cooking with curry.
That shit smells so bad the ghosts we outta there in no time,
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The audience will get confused and start hating it!
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SPOLIERS
SPOILERS
SPOLIERS
SPOILERS
Did anyone else get the idea that his wife got to the room and they are now both trapped in 1408?
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SPOILER>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That was what I was thinking as well, mainly because the look on Cusack's face matched the one on his webcam doppelganger's face earlier in the movie.
Also they were in that huge white room, which to me looked really otherwordly. -
Maybe Cusack cuts off Sam "Fury" Jackson's head and in a puff of smoke sees that it's his own face.
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that said there house was haunted? and it screwed up there computer? i wanna hear about that now!
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and Cusack as Nite Owl
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It had a few jumpy parts, but other than that it was a pretty fun flick. When I become rich I wanna stay in haunted hotel rooms and write books dammit!
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Agree with you, 200%. The BLACK SABBATH episode, "Drop of Water," scared the bejesus out of me when I was a juvenile. The subsequent "Telephone" vignette was comparatively lame. I just bought Anchor Bay's "Bava" collection to reprise the experience (heard that AIP heavily edited the omnibus, including the climactic shot with Karloff, on a hobby horse, against a spinning diorama. Also heard that AIP chronologically rearranged the episodes, omitted the lesbian liaison from "Telephone" and omitted the muscial score!)
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It had a GREAT beginning, but I'm sad to say that the rest fell in line with lame PG-13 horror. Not scary at all.
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It was pretty damn good. And a refreshing break from the abundance of tourture porn we've been getting.
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movie was beautiful as far as ghost stories go
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I waited for this movie for six months. The anticipation over the last week was excruciating, especially with the glowing reviews on RT. I spent my $8.75. I sat in my chair in the theater thirty minutes early, ready to take it all in. Wouldn't you know, some black ass gorilla with a gangsta sock on his head sat down behind me with his two wigger buddies and proceeded to TALK THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE FUCKING MOVIE!! "Hey, day stoopid muthafucker be on his laptop in the snow." "Dis is stoopid shit, yo. Dey ain't no water can come outta paintin's" He basically narrated the movie in ignorant ebonic speak the whole time, taking little breaks to talk on his cell phone. The only time he responded (or remained quiet) is **SPOLIER** when the black engineer went up to the room and said, "I ain't goin' in there". Oh yeah, that ignorant black bastard got a kick out of that. "Yeah, brother ain't goin' in dere, he be smart. Stoopid whiteys!"
I tell you I've never wanted to KILL someone so bad in my entire life. If the HOSTEL agents had kidnapped this lowly motherfucker, I would have easily paid $50,000.00 to torture him. He would have been like a burnt piece of toast before I was finished...breathing out of a makeshift hole in his neck with a pvc pipe stuffed in his lung. I hate the n-word, but this guy was a capital N through and through. I thought about following him home and beating him half to death with a lead pipe, but then I realized that I have a good paying job and a beautiful family at home and revenge just wasn't worth it considering this black son of a bitch is gonna be on food stamps, driving his momma's car and evading child support payments his entire life. I have no choice but to be satisfied about this subtle piece of justice. But in the meantime, I am never going to a theatre again for anything. I'll wait for DVDs if AMC Theatres can't grow a backbone and throw these thugz in the fucking street where they belong. -
That happend to me too. Only instead of gangsta niggas, there were a bunch of screaming tweens.
Throughout the whole movie, they kept screaming, OH MY GOD I'M SO SCARRED and the kept getting up to change seats. Damn I wanted to jump over my seat and beat em all. -
and as a person who believes himself to be non-racist but politically incorrect, I must say...I loved every word of it! Bravo! And while we're at it, how 'bout the stupid parents who bring their THREE-WEEK OLD BABIES into movies like this (and worse)?!? Golly gee whiz, wonder why they're crying: it's only a giant scary face yelling at the decibel level of an airport, right?
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i thought it was pretty good.
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but i know what your talking about no matter what kind a person it is.
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So some guy talked through the whole movie, and you just sat there and never said a word? But then you complain about it once you get home? No offense, but it's pretty weenie behavior. You've already forfeited your right to complain. I realize in this day and age that people might shoot first and ask questions later, but you could've at least "shhh"'d them or told an usher.
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I was talking with a friend and we both agreed that we think that the main character is being tested, put through these morose, insanity inducing trials. The room is not malevolent, it is actually benevolent, but suicidal. The invitation, stay and subsequent survival of room 1408 allows the protagonist to make peace with his daughter's death, to reconcile with his estranged wife, to become a better and more satisfying writer, even to find God. The evidence I have to support my claim that the room itself is suicidal is that there are at least two shots of the words "Burn Me Alive" scratched into a gray brick wall. Guess how the hero "defeats" the room? By throwing a Molotov cocktail into the bedroom. The shots are quick and any average audience member will assume that it was engraved by any one of the 50 or so people that have died in the room. I think a lot of people will get it the second time around. Which is also something that helps the longevity of a flick
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about horror movies in particular that brings the worst, stupidist, most irritating audiences together in the theater? I'll bet we see less irritating people in Die Hard.
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movies. This summer seems to just not have anything that really sticks out. "knocked Up" is the only film I would see twice. I wouldn't see this twice, but overall it felt refreshing then the big overblown sequels that have come out.
SPOILER
I actually think they should have started off with the daughter's death then just cut to his first ghost hunt. I felt the backstory pulled me out of the tension that was so wonderfully built up. If they rearanged that idea then the "scary" aspect would ratchet up a bit. The see when he thinks he's out had good intentions but I think the stylized scene of the post office ripping down the walls took me out a bit. I think he should of just snapped right back. It just felt out of place.
As a poster said above I too feel the room just wanted it to end. I was wondering if it was filled the original spirit that commited suicide and this was his purgatory. The room was so intense in pulling up peoples deepest darkest regrets and fears that it seemed as if the room is just a test. Each person that showed up has to deal with themselves for what seems to be eternity. But nothing was truly threatening. But the character is wound up and littlerally turned into a slave to the room. But the why didn't the room just sketch "Burn this place" instead. That's the only hitch I have with that idea. It's too cryptic to say to a broken down person "Burn Me Alive". I mean the person is driven to suicide at that point. So it's hard to say whether the room was a test for the personal human soul or a room that clearly had it's own demons and it's own pergatory that it wanted to be set free from.
Why did the room service girl gouge her eyes out if she was only in there for a few minutes? She must of done or seen some pretty harsh things in her life. So beyond the room something wasn't right. =) But overall a nice little tight film that for the most part is John Cusack's character stuck in a room with the demons with in.
End of Spoilers
The sound is well done to enhance the mood and the cinemetography is not too intense. The acting is superb and the idea is pretty cool. It's definitely worth catching once. -
Yeah, well, I'm not the kind of guy to talk or shush people, I just smack a fucker in the mouth. I think long and hard before I take such drastic action because I know my temperament. It had nothing to do with cowardice and more to do with the effect of being in jail would do to my family and my clients. If the worse that would have happened to me was an ass whipping or a hospital stay, I would have been all-in like Texas Hold 'Em tournament. As for ushers, you make the erroneous assumption that there was someone to complain to. In this podunk town I live in, let's just say artistic appreciation is not a priority. This is the kind of town that fills two auditoriums with Stomp the Yard, Ecks and Sever and Barnyard. The rant was not racist, I just call it like it is. There was not one inaccurate statement. He embraced the stereotype, not me. And this fucker was a walking caricature of an ignorant black man. I'm 100% postive that if my black friends would have been with me, they would have agreed with every word I said.
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But blood dripping out of cracks in a wall, moving subject matter within paintings (what is this, a Disney film?) and those cheesy ghosts that looked like old film footage were uninspired.
This movie was much neeeded relief in the sense that it wasn't torture porn but it delivered way too few inspired moments. -
Strange, the exact same thing happened when I went last night.
There was also the addition of some stupid bitch and her friends screaming and laughing in the front row. -
I LOVED the first hour of this film. But after he "leaves the room" for the first time, it dives into some pretty silly storytelly.
*Major spoiler below*
Capone, I realize why you like this film, and why you think of it as a character study masked by a horror film, but the last scene disproves that thesis. If it were a character study, there wouldn't have been his daughter's voice on the tape... it would have been nothing and it all would have been in his mind. Instead, there's that cheesy moment where, uh oh, the dead daughter's voice is present, making the film another hokey ghost story. Don't we have enough of those already?
Personally, I wished he would have killed himself in the finale like the others. If he had, the "explanation", Enslin's sanity, and the origin of the room's scares would remain ambiguous. This would have allowed people to read it as either a ghost story or as a character study...
read my full review here:
www.deepfocusreview.com
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But I liked the whole of it. I could see this as a good direct to DVD series.
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He's a fucking plant!
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It was nice seeing a horror film that inventive and clever. Loved how the room got more and more clever in fucking with Enslin's head. Could have done without the daughters voice on the recorder at the end but oh well.
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Just tell them that "perhaps I should have them stop the film, so it dosen't interfere with your conversation". Works every time.
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To an editor, that's a misplaced modifier.
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Loved 1408, but had the same phukwads beside, infront and behind us. And waste-of-skin morons who answer their phones and then wave a blinding white light around like they're auditioning for the X-files, I swear sometimes I pray for the white plague.
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Finally, a decent horror movie. The look on John C's face at the very end was priceless. The only thing is, it didn't do a very good job setting up tension the way the Shining did. But it's still miles beyond the porn gore that a lot of horror hacks keep trying to feed us.
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And fairly scary, even if it's not exactly inventive. Thumbs up from me.
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Did anyone else see how the clock added up to Nineteen right before stuff started to go off?
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I liked this movie. Definitely one of the better Stephen King translations. I just wish they would tell the stories where the main character DOESN'T go crazy.
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You mean a Dark Tower reference made it into a Hollywood film? Amazing.
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They were the kind of inbred hick pieces of shit that watch Michael Bay movies and don't know why they're not up for Oscars. Well, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that they actually know what the Oscars are. During the credits, "Ohhh, I love Samuel L. Jackson!" Then throughout the movie, they felt the need to consistently point out what the movie JUST FUCKING TOLD US CLEARLY while managing to get out a few words between the fucks and damns. Mike looks at the thermostat. The temperature has dropped to 40. "Oh, daaaaamn, it's fuckin 40 degrees. It's gonna be cold." No, really? Now, I understand that it's a "horror" movie, and jumps and scares are inevitable, and a good thing, but they took it to the extreme. With every little thing, "Oh daaaaamn, oh my fucking god, that's unreal. That's unbelievable!!!!" NO FUCKING SHIT IT'S UNREAL, IT'S A GODDAMN MOVIE YOU MORONIC COCKSUCKERS. Despite that, I thought it was a pretty great flick.
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Quite a few of us had the same experience.
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I hate going to the movies, it so sad that you have to go when the normal "MTV Generation" is not out of school. I Try and see as many movies in the early morning as i can hoping to avoid these people. Its like playing frogger avoiding the common "yo that shiz is scury" crowd. We need an old fashion plague to scrape the botom 10% of society off our Shoes.
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