1408 (2007) or, The Haunted Hotel Room

6/26/2013

1408 (2007) or, The Haunted Hotel Room

♥♥♥♥

Mikael Håfström's 1408, though good, does NOT rank as one of the best Stephen King adaptations with The Shining, although Maxim's Pete Hammond is quoted saying so on this sickly looking poster for it

A horror writer stays in a haunted hotel.

This horror just makes it to generous four small hearts. It is an adaptation of a 1999 same-titled short story by Stephen King (The Stand (1978)).
The shocks are there, and the horror is mostly based on different phobias which is interesting. 1408 is entertaining, although I can't really stomach John Cusack's (Maps to the Stars (2014)) silly acting here, bulging his eyes out and staggering around. He's often just not my cup of tea for some reason.
The film's Swedish director Mikael Håfström (Escape Plan (2013)) is also no Stanley Kubrick, (who made the arguably scariest hotel horror ever with his King adaptation The Shining in 1980), even if he did make a really good film with Jan Guillou's autobiographical youth novel, Evil/Onskan (2003), (which, despite its title, is not a horror film but an intense, school-set drama.)
1408 is co-written by Matt Greenberg (Mercy (2014)), Scott Alexander (Goosebumps (2015)) and Larry Karaszewski (Big Eyes (2014)).
Besides The Shining (1980), the best Stephen King adaptations are, in my opinion; Carrie (1976), Creepshow (1982), Christine (1983), Stand By Me (1986), Misery (1990), The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and The Mist (2007).

Related post:

Mikael Håfström: Derailed (2005) - Håfström's pointless romance thriller

Watch the trailer for 1408 here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 131.9 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 5.72 times the cost)
[1408 was premiered 12 June (Los Angeles, California) and runs 104 minutes with an unrated cut that runs 112 minutes. Shooting took place in New York, California, including Los Angeles, and in England, including London, ending in July 2006. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Evan Almighty, to a 20.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another week (#5) and grossed grossed 71.9 mil. $ (54.5 % of the total gross.) The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 6.4 mil. $ (4.9 %) and Spain with 5.7 mil. $ (4.3 %). Håfström returned with Shanghai (2010). Cusack returned in Martian Child (2007), and Samuel L. Jackson (Unicorn Store (2017)) in Great Performances (1990-07)) and theatrically in Cleaner (2007). 1409 is certified fresh at 79 % with a 6.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of 1408?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

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6/26/2013

1408 (2007) or, The Haunted Hotel Room

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