Swedish film director Mikael Håfström takes Stephen King’s unsettling story about a haunted hotel room and turned it into an amazing hour and forty six minute fright-fest!

This film is unique because the majority of it is Crusack alone in the hotel room. It’s virtually his very own one-man show. He takes command of the screen and doesn’t let go.

The film version of 1408 is vastly different and I dare say superior to the book. While King’s novella was good and spooky in its own right, the movie takes the story to a new level. In the book, we don’t really know what’s going on in the room. All we hear (read) is what Michel records in the cassette recorder. Other than that we are left to our imagination. And while this does work well for a novel, it obviously would not work for the theaters.

The story builds and plays on your anticipation of what is going to happen next. And when it does actually happen, it has you jumping out of your seats with fear. The pacing reminded me of M. Night Shyamalan’s work in Sightings, very slow and methodical.

When you get to watch this on DVD, be sure to watch the alternative version of the film too. I would say they are both equally good, while the alterative version is just slightly better. The ending is improved and makes more sense to me than the original.

Verdict: Buy the DVD