Indeed, if you are afraid of something, then 1408 magnifies it. While he sorts through what’s real and what’s not, he curses God for letting his daughter die and yells at his ex-wife for teaching the daughter the “stupid heaven Nirvana crap.” In other words, the room serves to pull out and force a sorting through of one’s worst, suppressed fears. 58 … because “No one lasts more than an hour in 1408. He finds that the toilet paper is nicely folded-after he’s used the bathroom! The clock begins to spin, and it occurs to Enslin that it’s counting down minutes … 60 … 59 …. Though he thinks he’s alone, a radio suddenly comes on (with a distorted version of The Carpenters’ “We’ve Only Just Begun” playing), and he sees that two chocolates are on his pillow.

Since Mike “doesn’t believe in anything but himself,” according to Olin, he thinks he has nothing to fear and proceeds inside.Īt first the room seems quite normal, but very soon strange things begin to happen. He tells him that dozens of guests have died in 1408, and he begs him to leave. Jackson) does his best, as the hotel’s manager, to persuade Enslin not to stay in the room. Though he’s warned in a mysterious letter not to go there, and though he fully believes the stories are all myths, his curiosity gets the best of him and he jumps through (even legal) hoops to arrange a stay. In researching for his latest book, Enslin is intrigued by the infamous room 1408 in a New York City hotel.

If you’re a little low on your claustrophobia, schizophrenia, acrophobia, and especially “blood-o-phobia,” MGM’s latest movie will back you up-and then some.īased on the Stephen King horror short story of the same name, 1408 tells of Mike Enslin ( John Cusack), a skeptical author of two books on paranormal phenomena who is about to become a believer himself.

Jackson, Paul Birchard, Margot Leicester, Walter Lewis, Eric Meyers, David Nicholson, Alexandra Silber, Johann Urb, Andre Lee Potts, and Tony Shalhoub Rating: PG-13 (for thematic material including disturbing sequences of violence and terror, frightening images and language)Īctors: John Cusack, Samuel L.

1408 short story book review