1408 -- Mikael Hafstrom
There's not much good sub-R horror in the world, especially in the past 15 years which have seen a multitude of remakes of older, R-rated movie for the kids of today. But amongst the sea of dreck, there are a few standouts. Drag Me to Hell, The Orphanage, The Others. 1408 is so close to joining their ranks.
1408 is well-made and sets up the premise very well. It's pretty relentless in its suspense and scares up to a point. There's a completely heartbreaking moment when Mike Enslin (John Cusack), a travel writer who writes about scary places, is brought face-to-face with his dead daughter. But cracks being to show (figuratively. They literally show much earlier in the movie). There's an extended break in the suspense that returns us to a beach Mike was surfing at earlier. The payoff is nice, but it kills the momentum. Then there is a reveal that drops the movie on the spot. Any sense of stakes is lost and every action seems unnecessary. Luckily, it happens in the last ten minutes of 1408 so it doesn't derail and it would be a bigger problem if viewed with the alternate ending. But it would have done nothing to the narrative to take out that one. Stupid. Line.
On the whole, 1408 is a top-notch scare delivery service and shouldn't be dismissed for being PG-13.
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