Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
No room for chickens -- 1408
Genre Horror
Director Mikael Hafstrom
Cast John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson
Storyline A writer who does not believe in the myths surrounding 50 mysterious deaths checks into killer Room 1408.
Bottomline Your popcorn may choke you.
Setting a horror tale within the physical limitations of a confined space – like a hotel room – and keeping you hooked on to it for over 90 minutes could be quite a challenge. Stephen King’s ‘1408’ keeps you trapped insi
de the plot and scared out of your wits for at least half the time.
The set-up is clearly the best part of this horror flick. Director Mikael Hafstrom builds up the tension and the spooky mythology of the killer-room that has caused over 50 deaths including bizarre suicides and also many due to natural causes.
Hotel Dolphin does not want people to check in to Room 1408. Superstition has already made the hotel not have a 13th floor, but does pure evil really care about how you number your floors? So when non-believer writer Mike Enslin checks in to 1408 to bust the myths, well equipped with wisecracks, you already know who really is going to have the last laugh.
How Mr. Cocksure Pig-head turns Scaredy Cat is made entirely believable because of John Cusack’s brilliance in slipping from coolness to anger to vulnerability to stoicism in the end. The film is an emotional rollercoaster for the actor. Samuel L. Jackson cuts a nice cameo playing the devil’s advocate trying to dissuade the writer from checking in. This part of the film is extremely well-written.
Effective devises
His warning apart, the devices employed by the filmmaker during the first half, though minimalist, are effective in scaring the pants off you. Imagine, one moment you find chocolates on the bed, then the radio turns itself on with a Carpenters number, you stick your neck out to catch your reflection on the building at a distance, only to find an attacker behind the very next moment.
This juxtaposition of the subtle spook with the loud horror punctuated by tense music and jump scenes makes 1408 an unpredictable stay for most parts. The kind of fare that could make you choke on your popcorn. It’s only when the minimalist doses of horror are stretched to catastrophic proportions does the scare-factor fall flat.
Why would anyone suddenly buy into a storm inside a hotel room or believe the sea pouring out of a painting? It’s only when ‘1408’ tries a ‘Jumanji’ does it relieve you of all the eerie ambience it generated in the first half. As the horror escalates to nightmarish proportions bordering on the ridiculous and turns indecisively abstract towards the end, you sense fear escaping the room. And suddenly, your popcorn doesn’t seem all that dangerous.
SUDHISH KAMATH
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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