A 'Shining' Lite

For all their sunny, homey décor, hotels can be rather scary places.
Urban legends of lodging abound, from hidden videocameras and guests' toothbrushes crammed in the orifices from disgruntled staff, to unwilling kidney donations and bodies found in the mattresses (the latter of which is actually true).
My wife and I even encountered our own nightmare stay at a certain hotel in Seattle, on our way home from our honeymoon, where some spirits had apparently soiled our sheets, left a case of empty beer cans outside our window and an angry apparition scrambled the television, so that we could only watch fuzzy reruns of Oprah.
But taking a tip from Stephen King, director Mikael Hafstrom unleashes hotel hell upon a cynical writer by the name of Mike Enslin (played by John Cusak) in “1408,” a new thriller with an old-school scare vibe coursing through its veins.
Based on a short story written in his “Everything's Eventual” compilation of 14 short stories, King's tale of a creepy crib in New York City pulls out all the stops in its effort to jumpstart our jaded horror expectations at the box office.
Enslin is a slept-there, debunked-that nonfiction writer who compiles lists of scary stays across the U.S.A. His books are only mildly met by the public, as the author himself does not believe, even though his writing does not necessarily pass judgement on such locales. His past (which is detailed throughout the film) has left him without faith and marginal enthusiasm for his chosen profession.
But an anonymous postcard taunting him to stay at an upscale auberge piques his interest, and he quickly sets out to the posh accommodations of New York's infamous Dolphin Hotel, in which many a guest has committed acts of atrocity in the titular room.
Simply put by the hotel's manager, Mr. Olin (played by Samuel L. Jackson), “No one's lasted over an hour in there... It's an evil f***ing room.”
You said it, brother.
Almost before Enslin can unpack his luggage, the clock radio menacingly blares “We've Only Just Begun,” by the Carpenters, and the clock's time resets itself to a countdown, starting with 60 minutes.
The rest of the film is filled with demons (both of the hotel and of Enslin's past) as the room decides to take the writer down its wicked little rabbit hole.
And since it takes predominantly in a single room with one actor, “1408” would not be worth its ectoplasm were it not for the unquestionable talents of Cusak. We believe every note of his performance, as he walks in the room a skeptic, becomes mildly anxious and heads into full-tilt terror by the final minutes of his “stay.”
The actor possesses a built-in likability through his decades on screen that has us immediately on his side, rooting for his well-being. And when he arrives at the hotel, his verbal sparring with Jackson holds the same intensity as the famous DeNiro-Pacino diner sit-down in Michael Mann's “Heat.” For the Cusak devotee, there are also a few nods to his past films scattered throughout that are subtly amusing.
And while the film's allegorical underpinnings may not satisfactorily conclude its gradual buildup, the film's style and bag of tricks sate our expectations. It relies on the out-of-nowhere crashes and thumps, but it also slowly and effectively piles on the dread, thanks in large part to the director Hafstrom, who shows much more promise here than his limp Jennifer Aniston thriller “Derailed” a few years back.
“1408” should also be credited with its ability to legitimately creep out viewers without having to goose them with gore, which seems to be the current trend.
And while it may not by the Four Seasons of horror, viewers can get more amenities from their stay at this hotel than a “Hostel” any day.