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1408
WARNING - SPOILERS!
There are also spoilers for the Stephen King's short story "1408" as well as his book "The Shining."
The more I think about this movie, the more I love it. When I first heard about the movie, I also heard that it was based off of a book by Stephen King. So, I decided I wanted to read the book first since it'd probably be better than the movie. So, I looked it up and it turns it out it's a short story. Interesting. So, I read it anyway. I liked it! I wasn't sure how they were going to turn it into a movie, and I was sure I would hate it and I had heard from a bunch of people that it was terrible. My expectations weren't very high. But, I loved it.
I think the big issue with this movie is you have to know how Stephen King's mind works. I also think that you have to have read "The Shining" to fully understand it. Not the movie--the book. The movie didn't capture the same idea as the book did. (But I suppose that rant is for The Shining's movie thought, if I ever write one.) Anyhow, in the short story there really wasn't time to develop the whole back story with Micheal Enslin losing his daughter and leaving his wife, but it fit so well. The room took his soul and tried its hardest to tear him apart so it could capture him. I do wish that they did more with the paintings, though. In the short story it was as if the paintings took things in the room and added it to the painting. They didn't really show that at all. But, that's okay. They had a bunch of other stuff that was just as brilliant! I think that they established the idea that being in that room was utter torture. It seemed to build up torturing him worse and worse.
First, they give him physical pain of the window shutting on his hand. Well, ouch. That hurts. Okay, then have some more physical pain of having the sink give off some steaming hot water while you're trying to clean the wound. Ouch, that hurts some more. Try to get out! Mwhahaha... but no. He can't get out through the door. That would be too easy. So, try the window. We'll let you try to climb into the next room... until you realize we've shut you off from the rest of the world. Here, we'll make a deal with you. You can jump from the window onto the street and that will save you the pain and suffering you'll have to endure in the room. But, no. He didn't give in. He didn't know the torture he'd endure in the room, anyhow. Well, the room gave him a chance, right?
So, now we're moving on to the emotional pain. Well, actually, did it show the home video of his daughter before he tried to get to the other room? I can't remember. I suppose it doesn't matter too much. Though, on a little side note, I thought that the layout of the floor showing "You are here" was absolutely hilarious. You're in the middle of nowhere! Mwhahaha! Also, seeing him go pyscho on the mini fridge was funny. Umm... and I guess that's all I have to say about that. Oh, right. Emotional torture.
The room was rude enough to make a picture explode on him, and make him think it was just a dream. He thought he had escaped! Ha! What a fool. He only comes to find out that the room was just playing a trick a him. Gotchya! I can't imagine how frustrating that would be if you thought you were out, and suddenly you're back in the torture chamber! The first time I saw this movie I thought that it was a little silly when he was just standing there yelling, "I WAS OUT!!!" over and over again, but when I really thought about it, I would have done the exact same thing. He was out of the room, and now he was back. Torture. No way out. Then, right when he was still trying to absorb the shock of still being in the room, they make him relive his own daughter's death. That was the height of all pain and misery. Though, I do have to admit that it felt a little too cliche to have the girl come up and say, "Don't you love me, Daddy?" It felt a little forced, but the overall effect was still there. The room dug in and found his most painful memory and made him relive it. Then when he's going beserk on the room for playing that stupid song again, it goes back and tells him he'll have to relive this lovely hour over again unless he decides to "check out." Clever. Very clever.
Then, this is my favorite part, we get to see the ending of "The Shining" that we never got to see in the original movie. He conquers the room and burns it! Burns it! Now, that was completely different from the book. In the book, the room won. He caught himself on fire under the influence of the room and ran out screaming. They did manage to include him grabbing the fireman and telling him "Don't go in the room." Awesome. Oh! That reminds me of the beginning of the movie. When Micheal was looking through the file of the people who were killed in 1408, and he read the line, "My brother was eaten by wolves on the Connecticut Turnpike." That didn't make any sense in the movie, but that was something that King had in his short story. Something that Mike told his recorder in his delirium. Though, that was something else that I was somewhat disappointed with in the movie. The whole effect of the room was completely different. In the book, Mike was sort of taken over by being in the room. It changed his thoughts and the room controlled him. He would mutter incoherent things like his brother being eaten by wolves, and it was scary to see him being taken over like that and there was nothing he could do to stop it, since it was in his mind. But, like I said, I still liked the way the movie adapted it. The room had a different effect on him that was also terrifying.
Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. It captured the pyschological fear behind Stephen King's novels that so many movie adaptations of his books fail to do. I feel that Stephen King would have liked 1408, even if it strayed from his original intention in the short story. I'd recommend it for fans of Stephen King books.
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The Lake House
Superman Returns
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Monster House
The Devil Wears Prada
Click
Talladega Nights
Stranger Than Fiction
The Last Mimzy
Spiderman 3
1408
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
August Rush
The Dark Knight
Surrogates
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