1408

***

There had been recent talk on the Horror Board of the IMDb about 1408 which returned it to my attention. Quite frankly, I hadn’t thought of it much since I watched it back in theaters in 2007. Not that it wasn’t a fun theater experience, it was. Cusack provided a tour-de-force performance allowing him to expose his range as an actor. Here lately, Cusack seems to has gone the “paycheck” route, with the occasional role that utilizes his talents which are there as evident in 1408. His character lost a daughter, and he’s going through a sleepwalk phase in his life. 

The “haunted room” will provide plenty of harrowing events for Cusack to show what he is capable of as an actor. There’s this gamut of wild occurrences, too. Like the temperature fluctuation which eventually has Cusack in the fetal position wrapped in a blanket and the hotel room looking like the North Pole. The figment of a psycho with a blade pops in and out to give him a scare. The room is flooded (a painting of a boat provides inspiration for this to happen as the room uses things inside it to give its occupants a nice scare), Cusack is chased by a corpse (reminiscent to Murray’s old boss in Scrooged) while trying to escape in crawlspace ventilation shafts. The wall has giant cracks that bleed, the radio loves to use music from The Carpenters whenever possible to mock him, and he even believes his whole experience in the Dolphin was just a nightmare as he awakens on the beach after an incident with a giant wave in the ocean near his condo in LA. The receptionist on the phone when Cusack calls out seems to also mock him as her voice indicates to him he cannot leave 1408, an attempt to contact his wife on the computer goes haywire when a “doppelganger” requests her presence at the room (and is then ruined by the abrupt emergence of the sprinkler system), and the presence of his daughter is used by the room to torment him. 

Yep, the room no one should attempt to overnight in.

So all of this is hurled at Cusack’s character, and he is significantly present in almost every last scene. He is the certifiable anchor; you can throw as many special effects you want at us, but without Cusack communicating to us the reactions his character endures there would be no real heart in the film. He can pour on the tears and convey the aching his character suffers. When he’s pissed (which is often) because of how the room mistreats him, he rages and curses at 1408 (“It’s an evil fucking room”, Sam L tells Cusack before finally caving in and leads him hesitantly to 1408 as far as the opening of the elevator to the floor where the room is located). He constantly speaks into his audio tape recorder (it is kind of like his diary collection of all he sees and hears in the room), using his wit and sarcasm fluently to imply just what he thinks of 1408. His descriptions early are especially funny as he belittles and criticizes every mundane, dull aspect that defines its appearance and décor. His insistence on staying in 1408 in a conversation piece with Samuel L Jackson again is rather amusing. Sam L does everything he can to persuade him against staying in that godforsaken room, even providing a book detailing (with photographs even; quite macabre) all the victims who perished through natural causes or suicide in 1408.

Maybe the film does go overboard with all the effects (a little subtlety could go a long way), but I thought Cusack was so much fun to watch (and what a part he had!) I could tolerate the overabundance of noise and activity. I do recall this being quite a theatrical experience, too. The ending this go around (I picked up the blu where this film was featured in a double feature quite cheap with The Mist) was different than I remember (Cusack burns down the room and perishes in the fire; after his funeral, Sam L sees Cusack’s burnt corpse in the rear view mirror of his car; Sam L listens to Cusack’s audio recording and hears him communicating with his daughter; the burnt and gutted 1408 still contains Cusack’s spirit), though. Not sure how I felt about it, to tell you the truth. It’s a bit of a bummer, but Cusack put himself in that position when he just couldn’t resist not staying in 1408. So his fate in this alternate ending makes sense really.