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John Cusack freaking out after an hour in room 1408, MGM has a new set of Stephen King movies
A Haunting We Will Go:
1408-The Stephen King DVD Collector Set
6-20-07 "Knight Thoughts" web exclusive
By Richard Knight, Jr.
1408-The Stephen King DVD Collector Set
6-20-07 "Knight Thoughts" web exclusive
By Richard Knight, Jr.
1408 is based on a Stephen King story which features the usual King protagonist – a haunted leading character who encounters
haunted doings that are made even more horrific because of their past transgressions. From “Salem’s Lot” to “The Shining,” The
Dark Half,” and literally a dozen more, this has been King’s signature – the psychological haunting encased within the traditional
terrors of Things That Go Bump in the Night that serve as the drawing card for his work.
It’s a writing trick (although “trick” is perhaps too harsh a word) that has served King well because it provides the reader a human
connection, an instant empathy, to literally all the leading characters in his work. It’s also the thing that sets his horror fiction apart
from other writers. After 30 years of Stephen King books this tic continues to work but the same isn’t true of the movies based on
those novels. So it is with 1408, a perfectly good frightfest that has a wonderful build up and pretty good middle section but then
just an okay ending instead of a terrific one.
That’s because at a certain point, the psychological demons of professional ghost hunter Mike Enslin (John Cusack) fuse with the
paranormal ones he’s encountering in deadly Room 1408. It’s not that the two don’t merge successfully. It’s just what we’ve come
to expect as typical behavior from the lead character in many, many Stephen King movies. The scary stuff becomes suffused with
the deep seated guilt of the leading character. So it is with Mike who is grief stricken over the death of his daughter (played by a
child actor who has the freakish large eyes of a child in a Keane painting or one of those Bratz dolls).
By that point, three quarters through the movie, I was willing to forgive much as 1408 had delivered a thrilling, anticipatory set-up
that was long on atmosphere. Mike Enslin, we come to understand, has spent years working as a hack writer churning out books on
the most haunted places in America to slowly diminishing audiences. We are meant to understand that with each of these
compendiums, he has debased himself further and further from the purity of his natural gifts (and like the Ben Mears in “Salem’s
Lot,” Mike Enslin began by writing one of those critically lauded but poor selling novels). His contempt for himself and those around
him is apparent from the moment we see Cusack onscreen. Has there ever been an actor who more quickly gets across the
sourness of the skeptic? The know it all contempt that is at once off-putting and desirable because it seems to come from someone
intelligent, controlled and cool? The producers were very canny in casting Cusack in the role.
When Mike receives a postcard warning him away from Room 1408 in the Dophin Hotel in Manhattan and does a little research he
realizes that he’s found a potential smashing last chapter for his latest tome. But the hotel manager (Samuel L. Jackson nicely
underplaying for once) knows better than anyone the tragedies that have happened in the room and does everything he can to
dissuade Mike from checking into the room. No one, apparently, has lasted longer than an hour but Mike is not to be deterred (not
even when Jackson in a final shot at convincing him otherwise says urgently, “It’s an EVIL fucking room”).
Upon entering the room everything seems normal but of course, soon the paranormal rears its ectoplasmic head. I loved the irony
of “We’ve Only Just Begun” by the Carpenters playing on the clock radio announcing the hauntings were about to begin (this also
seems a backhanded homage to the clock radio playing “I Got You Babe” by Sonny & Cher every morning in Ground Hog Day). What
I didn’t love is that Mike’s character changes from intelligent skeptic to raving lunatic faster than you can say “Casper the Ghost” and
much too quickly after the hauntings have commenced. Is he supposed to be dosed with a psychotropic drug thanks to the cognac
he’s drunk courtesy of Jackson or the mystery chocolates he’s eaten that appeared on his pillow? The movie never explains that or
pretty much anything else that happens afterward. Once the scares start you're just strapped in for the ride and aren't given time to
consider motivation or much else. During the ride there are some good frights, not too much gore, some suspense, and just about
on cue, the reappearance of Mike’s Guilt via an otherworldly visit from his dead daughter.
But knowing Stephen King movies (or having seen the trailer) we knew that was coming. What we didn’t know (and don’t find out) is
what made Room 1408 such a creepy place to begin with, why the hotel owners don’t just plaster over the door to the room and be
done with it, and much else. Not having all the answers is kind of cool actually but 1408 would have been elevated even higher in my
estimation if the character that entered the room was just a regular, normal, everyday guy instead of a regular, normal, everyday
guy with some major psychological issues just begging to be haunted.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
More Stephen King awaits. MGM is releasing The Stephen King DVD Collector Set on July 3rd with a collection of four movies
made from his books. These include two of the best films made from the horror-meister’s books: 1976’s Carrie from director Brian
DePalma with Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie in their Oscar nominated roles, Kathy Bates in her Oscar winning role in 1990’s Misery.
The Dark Half from 1993 with Timothy Hutton in a dual role as a deranged writer and Needful Things with Ed Harris as the sheriff of a
little town visited by an evil antique dealer from the same year round out the set.
The first two movies are perhaps the most well regarded of those taken from King’s books for obvious reasons. Amazing
performances, special effects, DePalma’s justly famed slow motion set pieces, Pino Donaggio’s beautiful horror music, and more
have all made Carrie the classic it deserves to be while the work of Kathy Bates and James Caan (along with great supporting work
from Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen, and Lauren Bacall) make the ingenious Misery a great example of cinematic cat and
mouse.
The Dark Half, thanks to Hutton’s creepy/sunny dual performance is also certainly worth taking another look at and I’ve always found
Needful Things a true guilty pleasure (and Max Von Sydow takes great relish in his role as the antiques dealer-cum-devil). A passel
of special features are spread out with Carrie having the bulk. A nice boxed set, value priced from MGM.
haunted doings that are made even more horrific because of their past transgressions. From “Salem’s Lot” to “The Shining,” The
Dark Half,” and literally a dozen more, this has been King’s signature – the psychological haunting encased within the traditional
terrors of Things That Go Bump in the Night that serve as the drawing card for his work.
It’s a writing trick (although “trick” is perhaps too harsh a word) that has served King well because it provides the reader a human
connection, an instant empathy, to literally all the leading characters in his work. It’s also the thing that sets his horror fiction apart
from other writers. After 30 years of Stephen King books this tic continues to work but the same isn’t true of the movies based on
those novels. So it is with 1408, a perfectly good frightfest that has a wonderful build up and pretty good middle section but then
just an okay ending instead of a terrific one.
That’s because at a certain point, the psychological demons of professional ghost hunter Mike Enslin (John Cusack) fuse with the
paranormal ones he’s encountering in deadly Room 1408. It’s not that the two don’t merge successfully. It’s just what we’ve come
to expect as typical behavior from the lead character in many, many Stephen King movies. The scary stuff becomes suffused with
the deep seated guilt of the leading character. So it is with Mike who is grief stricken over the death of his daughter (played by a
child actor who has the freakish large eyes of a child in a Keane painting or one of those Bratz dolls).
By that point, three quarters through the movie, I was willing to forgive much as 1408 had delivered a thrilling, anticipatory set-up
that was long on atmosphere. Mike Enslin, we come to understand, has spent years working as a hack writer churning out books on
the most haunted places in America to slowly diminishing audiences. We are meant to understand that with each of these
compendiums, he has debased himself further and further from the purity of his natural gifts (and like the Ben Mears in “Salem’s
Lot,” Mike Enslin began by writing one of those critically lauded but poor selling novels). His contempt for himself and those around
him is apparent from the moment we see Cusack onscreen. Has there ever been an actor who more quickly gets across the
sourness of the skeptic? The know it all contempt that is at once off-putting and desirable because it seems to come from someone
intelligent, controlled and cool? The producers were very canny in casting Cusack in the role.
When Mike receives a postcard warning him away from Room 1408 in the Dophin Hotel in Manhattan and does a little research he
realizes that he’s found a potential smashing last chapter for his latest tome. But the hotel manager (Samuel L. Jackson nicely
underplaying for once) knows better than anyone the tragedies that have happened in the room and does everything he can to
dissuade Mike from checking into the room. No one, apparently, has lasted longer than an hour but Mike is not to be deterred (not
even when Jackson in a final shot at convincing him otherwise says urgently, “It’s an EVIL fucking room”).
Upon entering the room everything seems normal but of course, soon the paranormal rears its ectoplasmic head. I loved the irony
of “We’ve Only Just Begun” by the Carpenters playing on the clock radio announcing the hauntings were about to begin (this also
seems a backhanded homage to the clock radio playing “I Got You Babe” by Sonny & Cher every morning in Ground Hog Day). What
I didn’t love is that Mike’s character changes from intelligent skeptic to raving lunatic faster than you can say “Casper the Ghost” and
much too quickly after the hauntings have commenced. Is he supposed to be dosed with a psychotropic drug thanks to the cognac
he’s drunk courtesy of Jackson or the mystery chocolates he’s eaten that appeared on his pillow? The movie never explains that or
pretty much anything else that happens afterward. Once the scares start you're just strapped in for the ride and aren't given time to
consider motivation or much else. During the ride there are some good frights, not too much gore, some suspense, and just about
on cue, the reappearance of Mike’s Guilt via an otherworldly visit from his dead daughter.
But knowing Stephen King movies (or having seen the trailer) we knew that was coming. What we didn’t know (and don’t find out) is
what made Room 1408 such a creepy place to begin with, why the hotel owners don’t just plaster over the door to the room and be
done with it, and much else. Not having all the answers is kind of cool actually but 1408 would have been elevated even higher in my
estimation if the character that entered the room was just a regular, normal, everyday guy instead of a regular, normal, everyday
guy with some major psychological issues just begging to be haunted.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
More Stephen King awaits. MGM is releasing The Stephen King DVD Collector Set on July 3rd with a collection of four movies
made from his books. These include two of the best films made from the horror-meister’s books: 1976’s Carrie from director Brian
DePalma with Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie in their Oscar nominated roles, Kathy Bates in her Oscar winning role in 1990’s Misery.
The Dark Half from 1993 with Timothy Hutton in a dual role as a deranged writer and Needful Things with Ed Harris as the sheriff of a
little town visited by an evil antique dealer from the same year round out the set.
The first two movies are perhaps the most well regarded of those taken from King’s books for obvious reasons. Amazing
performances, special effects, DePalma’s justly famed slow motion set pieces, Pino Donaggio’s beautiful horror music, and more
have all made Carrie the classic it deserves to be while the work of Kathy Bates and James Caan (along with great supporting work
from Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen, and Lauren Bacall) make the ingenious Misery a great example of cinematic cat and
mouse.
The Dark Half, thanks to Hutton’s creepy/sunny dual performance is also certainly worth taking another look at and I’ve always found
Needful Things a true guilty pleasure (and Max Von Sydow takes great relish in his role as the antiques dealer-cum-devil). A passel
of special features are spread out with Carrie having the bulk. A nice boxed set, value priced from MGM.
