Rating of
2/4
"1408" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 11/21/12
A cynical writer who specialises in debunking ghostly guest houses checks into a hotel room with a reputation for a long history of mayhem and soon begins to question his assumptions and sanity. Dear Lord, it's yet ANOTHER Stephen King adaptation containing the usual hokey premise and telegraphed "twists" that lumber over the horizon directly on cue in a Twilight Zone inspired chiller by numbers. It actually starts rather well as John Cusack is as watchable as ever and the scene in which he verbally spars with Samuel L. Jackson is quite good fun and like the similar Identity, also starring Cusack, it's quite intriguing right up until the moment you realise it's just the usual half-hearted horror nonsense rather than the off beat thriller you were hoping for. Most of the film just sees our hero within the same four walls staving off every scary movie cliche in the book and it soon becomes obvious that despite Cusack's winning charm, the idea just hasn't got the legs to last the full feature length. In the end, the hotel room location and obligatory King style chills just served to remind me how much better The Shining was and how much I'd rather have been watching that instead.
