Cusack frightfully fine in '1408'
Actor shines in film based on Stephen King tale
By Phil Villarreal
Pvillarreal@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.21.2007
Author Mike Enslin has a hotel horror story to top anything the Better Business Bureau deals with.
In "1408," Enslin (John Cusack), a cynical ghost-story writer, checks into a legendary room at a swank New York hotel and wonders whether his sanity has checked out.
Visions of weapons-wielding ghosts spring from the walls. The window slams shut, the heater cranks up and the exit door won't open. The radio alarm clock instantly turns on, ominously blasting the Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun."
In a cold sweat, Enslin looks toward his bed to find it has been turned down with mints on his pillow — at least the poltergeist is courteous.
Adapted from a Stephen King short story, "1408" is a film for those who like their horror flicks served with a slice of cheese. It pins you into a claustrophobic chamber of terror for a surprisingly stomach-turning thrill ride. Like a ghost story told over a campfire late at night, the movie somehow persuades you to abandon all rationality and take it seriously enough to allow it a chilling grip on your senses.
Much of the credit belongs to Cusack, still boyish in his 40s, who pulls off a tireless one-man show that runs nearly the full 97 minutes. Samuel L. Jackson appears in a near-cameo early on as a hotel manager who begs Cusack not to enter the room, and a couple of other bit players garner screentime, but for the most part it's just Cusack talking to himself the whole time.
The actor faces a daunting task, willing his frenetic, bug-eyed procession of shocked reactions into a cohesive narrative that could easily devolve into dopey unintended comedy with a single misstep. The fright on his face is probably not acting.
Mikael Håfström, the Swedish director whose Hollywood debut was the pulpy neo-noir "Derailed" (2005), keeps command of the tone and atmosphere. Unlike the stable of torture-horror directors of the "Hostel" and "Saw" ilk, Håfström is aware that when it comes to scares, less is often more. It's far more effective to milk tension from conspicuously innocuous moments than an all-out sensory assault.
The story doesn't quite play fair, tossing in a couple too many twists and convenient revelations, but even when there's a lack of plausibility, there's always enough Cusack. Any film with him in it has at least a ghost of a chance.
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