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The haunted-hotel-room thriller 1408 is the latest release from the
cottage industry known as Stephen King. Aren’t most of his stories
set in cottages? King has churned out enough books and stories to keep
Hollywood busy for another century. The Internet Movie Database already
lists 107 adaptations of his work, with varying degrees of quality.
Complaints about the movie versions are often dismissed with “you
should read the book,” but a movie must stand on its own, completely
independent of its source material.
1408 is nothing
substantial, but it is better than most King adaptations. John Cusack stars
as an investigator of paranormal activities who checks into the
world’s deadliest hotel room. Knowing that 56 people have died there
doesn’t deter him. The suspense that builds throughout the first
two-thirds is eventually overwhelmed by special effects. The film’s
greatest failing is resorting to that tired old cliché of preying on
a past tragedy to weaken the protagonist’s resolve. Cusack’s
deadpan charm ultimately saves the day, however.
The best feature films adapted from King works remain
the first two, Carrie (1976) and The Shining (1980), and it has been downhill ever since. King publicly
denounced Stanley Kubrick’s take on the latter and then proceeded to
show the world how it should be done with Maximum
Overdrive (1986). He has been less crabby
since making the worst film adaptation of his work to date. Horror is his specialty, but King does occasionally
branch out. With the prison dramas The
Shawshank Redemption (1994) and The Green Mile (1999) he
frightened audiences with drippy sentiment, and the result is more acclaim
than they deserve. According to the Internet Movie Database, Shawshank is the second
greatest movie ever made. It doesn’t get any scarier than that. Dreamcatcher (2003)
couldn’t be more different from The
Green Mile, but both rely on the same plot
device: A saintly simpleton with special powers is befriended by four
equally saintly protectors. The major difference is, in Dreamcatcher the device is
dumped into one of the most monumentally stupid movies ever made by
talented people. Riding the Bullet offers
no expectations, and it turns out to be a pleasant surprise. A college
student, circa 1969, learns of his mother’s stroke and experiences a
nightmarish journey hitchhiking home. The constant shifting between the
real and the imagined keeps the audience off balance. The one reality with
King is, if one or a few of the movies turn out bad there are always
several more on the horizon.
New on DVD this Tuesday (July 10): The Astronaut Farmer, The Last Mimzy,
and After the Wedding.
This article appears in Jun 28 – Jul 4, 2007.
