| 1408 | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Mikael Håfström |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | "1408" byStephen King |
| Produced by | Lorenzo di Bonaventura |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Benoît Delhomme |
| Edited by | Peter Boyle |
| Music by | Gabriel Yared |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25 million[1] |
| Box office | $133 million[1] |
1408 is a 2007 Americanpsychological horror film based onStephen King'sshort story published in 1999. It was directed byMikael Håfström, written byMatt Greenberg,Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, and starsJohn Cusack andSamuel L. Jackson.
The film follows Mike Enslin, an author who investigates allegedlyhaunted places. Enslin receives an ominous warning not to enter room 1408 at aNew York City hotel, The Dolphin. Although skeptical of theparanormal, he is soon trapped in the room, where he experiences bizarre and frightful events.
1408 was released in the United States on June 22, 2007, byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer (underThe Weinstein Company). The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was a box-office success, grossing $133 million against a production budget of $25 million.
Mike Enslin is acynical andskeptical author of niche books about supernatural events, in which he has no belief. While promoting his latest book inHermosa Beach, California, he receives an anonymous postcard depicting The Dolphin, a hotel onLexington Avenue inNew York City, bearing the message: "Don't enter 1408." Viewing this as a challenge, Mike travels to The Dolphin and requests room 1408. Thehotel manager, Gerald Olin, attempts to discourage him. He explains to Mike that in the last 95 years, no one has lasted more than an hour inside of 1408; the latest count is 56 deaths. Olin repeatedly and impassionately attempts to dissuade and bribe Mike, but at Mike's insistence and threat of legal action against the hotel, preparations are reluctantly made.
While Mike describes the room's ordinary appearance and absence of supernatural behavior on hismini-cassette recorder as the "banality of evil", the clock radio suddenly starts playingThe Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun", and the digital display changes to a countdown starting from 60:00. Mike begins to see ghosts of the room's past victims, along with flashbacks of his deceased daughter Katie and his terminally ill father. Mike makes numerous attempts to leave the room, all in vain. Mike uses his laptop to contact his estranged wife Lily and ask for help. The room activates thesprinkler system, short-circuiting the laptop, which starts to work again when the temperature drops to subzero. Adoppelgänger of Mike appears in a video chat window, urging Lily to come to the hotel room.
The room starts to shake violently, causing Mike to crash into a picture of a ship in a storm, from which water floods the room. He finds himself reliving asurfing accident from before he entered the room. Recovering in the hospital, he reconciles with Lily and assumes his experience in 1408 was just a nightmare; Lily encourages him to write a book about it. When visiting the post office to send the manuscript to his publisher, he recognizes members of a construction crew as Dolphin Hotel staff, who start destroying the walls, revealing that Mike is still trapped inside 1408. Katie's ghost confronts him, and when the countdown ends, the room restores itself and the clock radio resets to 60:00.
A female voice calling herself "hotel operator" calls Mike. Mike asks why he has not been killed yet and she informs him that guests enjoy free will: he can relive the past hour over and over again, or use their "express checkout system". Ahangman's noose appears, but he refuses to give in. The voices call once again, threatening that even if he escapes, he will never leave. Mike tells them to not send his wife to the room, hanging up as the phone begins to melt. Mike improvises aMolotov cocktail and sets the room on fire. He then lies down and laughs in victory upon destroying the room. The hotel is evacuated and Olin, in his office, praises Mike for his actions.
Mike is rescued from the room by firefighters and he reconciles with Lily, though she is skeptical of his experience. She finds a box of Mike's possessions that were rescued from 1408 and Mike takes the damaged mini-cassette recorder from it, saying: "Sometimes you can't get rid of bad memories. You've just got to live with them." Mike briefly tampers with the recorder, making it work again. Suddenly, they both hear Katie's voice coming from it, confirming Mike's account.
In November 2003 and 2004,Dimension Films optioned the rights to the 1999 short story "1408" byStephen King. The studio hiredMatt Greenberg to adapt the story into a screenplay.[2] In October 2005,Mikael Håfström was hired to direct, with the screenplay being rewritten byScott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.[3] In March 2006, John Cusack was cast to star in the film,[4] joined by Samuel L. Jackson the following April.[5] In July,Kate Walsh was cast to star opposite Cusack as the protagonist's ex-wife,[6] but she was forced to exit in August due to scheduling conflicts with her role onGrey's Anatomy. She was replaced by Mary McCormack.[7]
According to Cusack, theRoosevelt Hotel in New York was used for some of the exterior shots of the Dolphin.[8] The lobby scenes were filmed at theReform Club in London.[9]
There are four endings that were shot for the film. In addition to the ending that appears in the theatrical release, three other alternative endings were shot. In 2007, it was reported that directorMikael Håfström said the ending of the film was reshot because test audiences felt that the original was a "downer".[10] However, in a 2024 interview, Håfström clarified that the theatrical ending was shot first and that alternate endings were later shot in a desire to "experiment". He also stated that he feels that the theatrical ending is "more rewarding" and "stronger, and much more emotional".[11]
Mike dies in the fire, but is happy to see the room destroyed. He spitefully laughs as the room screams in agony, and everything burns and crashes on top of him. At Mike's funeral, Olin approaches Lily and Mike's publisher Sam Farrell. He unsuccessfully attempts to give her a box of Mike's possessions, including the tape recorder. Olin states that Mike did not die in vain, as the room was successfully destroyed. He later listens to the recording in his car and is saddened when he hears Katie's voice on the tape. He sees a little girl in a dress walking on the cemetery grass behind the car, calling out as if she is lost. He then sees Mike's burnt corpse in the backseat. Then he sees the same girl holding hands with her father as they walk away. Olin places the tape recorder back in the box and drives off. The final scene is of the gutted room, where an apparition of Mike assesses the death of the entity while smoking a cigarette. He hears his daughter calling for him and disappears as he walks toward the door. A door is heard closing and the scene fades.
Mike dies in the fire. Instead of the funeral scene, the sounds of a funeral are dubbed over shots ofLos Angeles. Lily and Sam sort through Mike's effects. Sam returns to his New York office and discovers the manuscript that Mike wrote while he was in room 1408. As Sam reads the story, audio from Mike's experiences in the room is heard. In a final scene, Sam's office doors slam shut and Mike's father's voice says: "As you are, I was. As I am, you will be."
An alternative version of the theatrical ending, it has the same events but Lily does not acknowledge hearing Katie's voice on the tape and Mike reacts very happily at hearing her voice on the tape.
TheDVD was released on October 2, 2007, byGenius Products with a standard 1-Disc Edition containing only the theatrical cut and a 2-Disc Collector's Edition that contained both the theatrical and director's cut.[12] On September 16, 2008, Genius released the movie on Blu-ray containing the director's cut.[13] For many years, the theatrical cut remained elusive, as streaming platforms and several television broadcasts only had the director's cut. However, in 2021, wheneverLionsgate acquired the Weinstein Company library (which included everything Dimension Films released post-2005), they released the theatrical cut onto streaming platforms for the first time.[14] Lionsgate released the film containing both cuts onto 4K UHD on January 13, 2026, marking the first time since the initial 2007 DVD release that the theatrical cut has gotten a domestic physical home video release.[15]
In its opening weekend,1408 opened in second place at the box office, grossing US$20.6 million in 2,678 theaters.[16]1408 had a production budget of US$25 million.[1] The film went on to gross US$132 million, of which US$71.9 million was from Canada and the United States.[1]
On the review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes,1408 holds a rating of 80% based on 176 reviews, with the site's critical consensus reading: "Relying on psychological tension rather than overt violence and gore,1408 is a genuinely creepy thriller with a strong lead performance by John Cusack."[17] OnMetacritic, the film has an average score of 64 out of 100, based on 27 reviews.[18] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[19]
James Berardinelli awarded the film three out of four, calling it "the best horror film of the year". He offered significant praise for Cusack's performance as Mike Enslin, writing: "This is John Cusack's movie to carry, and he has no problem taking it where it needs to go." He found the film "reminds us what it's like to be scared in a theater rather than overwhelmed by buckets of blood and gore".[20] Some critics called the film far superior to other adaptations of Stephen King novels and stories.Mick LaSalle of theSan Francisco Chronicle described it as "one of the good Stephen King adaptations, one that maintains its author's sly sense of humor and satiric view of human nature" and "more genuinely scary movie than most horror films".[21]
Several critics found the film underwhelming. Wesley Morris ofThe Boston Globe wrote a mixed review, describing the film as "a lot of consonants and no vowels". He compared it unfavorably toThe Shining, a similar King adaptation, believing1408 lacked that film's "lunging horror and dramatic architecture". He wrote that it "conjures a wonderful anticipatory mood of dread in the first 30 minutes, then blows it to stylish smithereens".[22] Rob Salem of theToronto Star gave the film two out of four for seeming a predictable "hit and miss" production. Like Morris, Salem wrote: "Even as haunted hotel King movies go,1408 is certainly noShining. Not eventhe TV-movie version."[23]
