1408 (2007/ matt greenberg)

[malicious32dll]

www.imdb.com/title/tt0450385/

Apparently it comes out tomorrow and is based off a Steven King short story... It looks to be pretty well done as most of the reviews have been very favorable so far... I haven't even heard of this film until a couple of days ago so I cant wait to see it. (not sure if theres a topic or something on this yet... I did a search and nothing turned up...)

[dontdigonswine]

I thought this looked like trash (Cusack hasn't been good lately), but apparently the majority of the reviews are good, just like you said. So I might check this out

[criterionmaster]

has anyone read the king story? my dad keeps talking about maybe going to this film, but i still think it looks crappy, even with the good reviews. maybe it could be good, though.

[captainofbeef]

I actually haven't read the short story, but I plan on going to grab the book its in soon.

[malicious32dll]

One of the best movies I've seen in a long long time, let alone horror or psycho-thriller. [Some spoilers]

Great scares, great acting, superb writing, interesting and visually captivating directing. Really this is going to be one of those quiet cult movies that live on for a long time. There are some really bad-ass things that go on in this movie that I really haven't seen any other flick do. I highly, highly recommend it.


The reason I think that the flick will have a long and healthy life on home video is that there are elements at play that can be argued and discussed about at length. Such as:

Religion, redemption, the nature of evil, family, career..

for example: 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.

What's ironic is that the short story sounds like a piece of shit. I was reading the summary on wikipedia and it seems like your run-of-the-mill bargain bin pile of crap. About a skeptical writer who goes into a room, shit happens and he ends up crazy. It sounds like shitty Lovecraft, whom I consider shitty to begin with. But the introduction by the film of all these different elements really makes it one of the exceptions to the rule of films that are far far better than the book that preceded it.

[PTAhole]

Dude, Lovecraft will crush your fucking soul. He is one of the greatest and most underappriciated writers of the past couple centuries.

[malicious32dll]

read my post, I wasnt implying that all lovecraft wrote was bad I was just implying that it could have been better done...

[dontdigonswine]

*SPOILERS*
The movie was decent. It had many great moments, but many ridiculously cliche moments. Especially Cusack's reply to his wife's asking why he left her. Cusack's character really isn't that interesting to me. SLJ and Cusack's singular conversation though is interesting. Honestly, the most interesting character by far in this entire movie is the room itself, which is quite original. The "bad guy" in this horror movie doesn't have a face, and most of its jabs aren't physical, but mental. As far as the direction and visuals go, it seemed decent. Sets seemed pretty cool, but the style when it comes to the spooks seemed a lot like every other horror movie: the loud jumps in music to try and enhance the scares. That is interesting, malicious, what you said about the room being suicidal. I never thought of that. But still, that only further strengthens my statement that the room is the best character in the movie. I give it 6/10, just for originality and the room.

[ie]

A friend of mine really liked this movie, so I've been considering giving it a shot with the free movie tickets I received a little while ago. Mal put some great insight into the movie that I don't think much of anyone would really bother with, but I think dontdigonswine went with a more grounded approach. Good work both of yous.

[criterionmaster]

how did you manage to get the free tickets?

edit: this is great...

"Desson Thomson begins his review in the Washington Post by writing, "Listen up, all you Hostels, Saws and other purveyors of bloody terror. Think you're lords of the fright market? Lay down your whips, chainsaws and paring knives to watch a truly scary movie. You might just learn something.""

from imdb.

[ie]

Oh, my mom gave them to me. I forget how she got them; it was something work related.

Might be watching Transformers instead of 1408, but we'll see what happens, I guess.

[captainofbeef]

This ended up being decent. Chalk it up as one of the better King adaptations.