1408

Pros: Plot, Acting, Special Effects
Cons: None.

Introduction Horror movies, we've all seen them. They range from the strange and obsurd to the hack and slash throw back of the 1970's and 1980's. This is one reviewer who is resistent to attending a horror movie but when I found myself out on ...

Pros: cool premise, great performances, some real potential
Cons: familiar elements cloak its theme, making it appear like a series of special effects

I began my initial review of this film with the following: "There was a moment, early on, when I thought this film would add up to something. Somewhere in 'sound and fury' I realized that moment had passed. Whether you call it a horror film or ...

Pros: Action in the first 15 minutes. Good acting, excellent special effects, realistic blood. Surprise ending.
Cons: The first hotel makes you wonder if this movie will be any good.

John Cusack plays Mike Eslin, a semi-known "ghost-hunter" and writer of haunted locations across the country. His daughter's recent death still weighing heavy on his mind, and an unresolved marriage compel him to view supernatural events with cynicism ...

Pros: First 30 minutes or so.
Cons: The remainder of the movie. Drags and loses momentum.

My goodness it's almost 12 hours since I saw 1408 and it's almost been erased from my memory. I just wish it would be forgotten period!!!! I think this has been the summer or year of very great movie trailer making and deceiving marketing that you go ...

Pros: Some.
Cons: Too much.

Think of a horror-thriller in 2007. Images of severed limbs, mutilated cuticles, screaming women, castrated manly men, butchers' knives, barbed wires, blood everywhere, intestines everywhere, open-mouthed decapitated heads, and (insert random metallic ...

Pros: Lots of good scares, good performance from Cusack, and it has a brain
Cons: Not enough of Sam!

As I am writing this review I’ve just returned from seeing 1408 and I’m house sitting for some friends. It’s just me and Murphy (their dog) in this quiet house. After seeing 1408 I have to admit I am a little spooked at the moment. That alone ...

Pros: Great writing, direction, acting and special effects
Cons: None

Few "ghost" stories shown on the big screen scare me. But "1408" is not your average ghost story. Based on what is called a "terrifying short story" by Stephen King (which I haven't read), this is one adaptation to the big screen that remains ...

Pros: Cusack and a great setup.
Cons: some drag in final act of film.

For writer Mike Enslin (John Cusack), ghosts and the supernatural are simply myths people use to bolster the local economy with tourism dollars. Mike has made a career of evaluating and debunking so called haunted inns, hotels, graveyards, and ...

Pros: Excellent effects. Great acting and supporting cast. Perfect pacing and entertaining throughout.
Cons: Rather weak ending. A few frights feel a bit cheap. A little padding near end.

One thing I am loving about the 'States is the special midnight screenings of new movies. Sure, these sessions tend to draw out a rather.... colourful crowd, especially here in Las Vegas, but the chance to beat the crowds on opening-day proper is a ...

Pros: Great filmmaking from start to finish, especially the total complete devastation of Room 1408.
Cons: If I ran the hotel I would have simply used 1408 as a janitor's closet.

I chose to see the psychological thriller "1408" like I choose so many of the movies I see mid-afternoon at the neighborhood multiplex -- the starting time fit my schedule. But I found myself drawn immediately into this adaptation of a Stephen King short story, and was kept on the edge of my seats til the very end. Unlike in most films of this genre, I could not guess what would happen next. For those of you who have had the privelege of seeing the film, consider the proposition that "1408" could be a philosophical companion to Sartre's existential classic "Huis Clos" where we learn (roughly translated) that "Hell is other people." Unlike Sartre, King and Company suggest that instead of "other people" we are smacked in the middle of the head with the real truth -- "Hell is US." Our fears, our inner most thoughts, our missed opportunities in life. And there is no escape.