The Cinema of the Four

1408

Great-grandfather Sherlock had a basic rule: “The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply.” Every supposedly “supernatural” occurrence that he encountered was eventually exposed as having very natural, and in most cases, human-plotted causes. While fiction writers have for years tried to match him against Count Dracula in case after case, every one of them has missed the inevitable outcome: the supposed “vampire” would have been exposed as a smuggling plot or real estate fraud. In that respect, I suspect my illustrious forebear would have very much enjoyed the work of Mike Enslin (portrayed by John Cusack) in the beginning of this week’s “1408.”

Enslin is a writer who wanders from the site of one ghost story to another, looking for signs of the spirit world and finding none. Of course, that is until he wanders into room 1408 of the Dolphin Hotel in New York City. (As that great metropolis is the annual site for the Baker Street Irregulars weekend, one wonders how one of great-grandfather’s disciples would have fared, if he checked into that same room on Sherlock Holmes’s birthday . . . and if an after-hours room party had ensued.) But I digress.

Just as my ancestor performed the neat trick of seeming to read Dr. Watson’s mind, I will now perform the same thing on writer Stephen King, whose short story this movie is based upon. At some point in his career, King was on yet another book tour, sitting in yet another hotel room. His thoughts? “I think I’ll write a new story. I’ve done evil dog book and an evil car book. I even did an evil hotel book . . . but I want to do a short story. How about an evil hotel room?”

That’s not to insult this movie. In fact, the above paragraph is to praise the amazing work that director Mikael Håfström and actor John Cusack did with such a really weak concept. “1408” is actually the best horror movie this consulting movie investigator has seen in a long while. It’s basically a one man show for Cusack, who spends most of the movie trapped in that very room. Samuel L. Jackson has a good part, as the hotel manager who lays out the room’s evil history, but then, he is Samuel L. Jackson.

While the supernatural is not put to rest at movie’s end, as members of my clan might like, the end is satisfying enough, and I have to recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good old-fashioned fright.

What Great-grandfather Sherlock might have said:
“Don’t look so scared. It’s not as bad as it seems.”