1408 - Movie Review

[Music] [Music] what's up oh hi Matt hi have you ever seen the room [ __ ] no good to know okay how have you been tired how are you tired but enjoying life yeah good I recently watched a movie called 1408 yeah so do I oh okay I see you only I see him right here yeah it's a complete coincidence actually that everything's eventual book which contains that short story is just sitting right there yeah that's a pretty good short story yeah I also put the blu-ray there out of complete coincidence as well complete coincidence cool do you want to talk about it maybe I'll do it alright cool 14:08 is directed by mikael håfström based off of the Stephen King short story of same title and stars John Cusack and samuel l jackson John Cusack plays Mike Enslin a paranormal D bunker of sorts he goes to hotel rooms or places that are supposedly haunted and writes novels about them and you can tell that he at maybe one point in time had a little faith maybe in this but has since lost that faith and no longer believes and kind of spends his time proving to people that these things don't really exist Samuel Jackson and John Cusack and I moved together that was good yeah they just flat-out bring it if Cusack and Sam Jackson mail it in Louie sucks mm-hmm but they provide authenticity for the audience was a short story from Stephen King did you read that yes I did how'd you like that right the short story starts with Mike Enslin arriving at the Dolphin Hotel like that's the opening there is no past there's no surfing scene there's nothing it's just he's at the hotel he's there to stay at the famed 1408 room for a night and half of the short story is actually the meeting scene between Samuel Jackson and John Cusack I felt like when I read it it's almost like the old Daniel thing and I finally got to get the room stuff which is really cool like the short stories are great it does some things better than the film actor like the film Asli obviously does things better than the short story like flushing out the whole experience something that was really great for the short story was the madness he even [ __ ] entered the room yet because the door is all like going yeah talking well I really really love the playing off of the cardiac arrest thing in the short story I like just the length of it it was a little bit more stretched out compared to the film and I really like just the whole building up of the mystique of this room compared to the film so even King did a great job he did yeah he actually listed this as one of his favorite adaptations he loved this movie and he understands that when you have a short story and it's supposed to be like this one singular creepy moment that you're going to have to put some more meat on the bones of that and we're going to get into some spoilers here if you've never seen 1408 the movie largely deals with grease and what someone goes through when you lose someone he lost his daughter in the past a very young age to illness and so it sort of falls in line with the fact that he is just trudging through this job he has as a writer there's a fan who comes to one of his book signings with his older book that he wrote that was a very personal story that meant something to him he has since got away from that and now just writes about how much ghosts probably don't exist and it's this really great way of building his character you see that he is like this weird guy who is catering to a crowd of people who want to know about the paranormal and with his new novel days writing but at the book signing he's like basically telling everyone that it's [ __ ] and there's like four people there who want to meet him and that's it yeah I thought that was kind of funny it's a great way to build his character you talked about how he's weird we were texting each other while watching the movie like John Cusack is great so you want to talk about how funny he was my favorite two lines are the one book clerk he's like whispering and he's signing like hey I want to see a guaranteed ghost we're going to go it goes guaranteed Orlando haunted mansion it took me a full second to be like wait what did he just say do you really just say that only [ __ ] that's funny yeah and the second one is careful to go No thank you I don't smoke oh this yeah that's in case nuclear war breaks out I gave it up a long time ago it's part habit part superstition you know writer thing you do drink don't you of course I just said I was a writer but it is really funny in this movie and one of my favorite moments in the movie it's this little moment in the elevator between Olin and end 'ln your usual young maid from El Salvador found ourselves locked to the bathrooms only there for a few moments but when we pulled her out she's dead no blind she taking a pair of scissors and gouge their eyes huh he's laughing a stir yes sir Cusack basically has to sell the entire film alone he's in this room and it's just the magnetism of his performance and I think he did a great job the great thing about this movie is it's literally him it's this room for like 90% of film and it's so riveting going back all the way back to your first bit of that monologue was we watch the commentary and that first scene with him with the bed and breakfast the earlier draft before these two guys came on to rewrite it there was actually going to be a false scare like I forget what it was like some kind of like dead baby but like I think the people run the bed and breakfast were faking it I like I'm glad I didn't do that because it shows that this guy has been put up with a bunch of [ __ ] that's been faked or he hasn't seen anything because he's not believer yeah any writes about it in the commentary that writers were talking about how they appreciated the first drafts but they didn't want that false scare there because that sort of puts the audience in this position where what they're seeing isn't real yeah and so they never a lie to us like when [ __ ] gets real in 1408 the room it's all really happening yeah that's great this film it's a great back and forth drama you have these things going on to him and then there's a lot of say spoilers get false ending and that's my favorite false ending probably maybe besides like alien or something when you know the this is for the director's cut which is signed note really weird this blu-ray is director's cut only so if you bought this blu-ray there's no there's three different endings which we can talk about but this the director's cut got all the extended footage for the most part and that you're going to see the director's cut ending even though apparently the director doesn't like the ending strange how that's just like the most readily available cut there is no theatrical blu-ray it's weird because I think the DVD had theatrical cut and maybe the alternate endings [Music] okay lasts more than it out various the end this film if you're expecting like to see a bunch of apparitions and [ __ ] you're not going to get that satisfaction here is really smart it's kind of like the babadook you might see some stuff but it's actually like there's some really deep [ __ ] here yeah and if you go into expecting like to see like a conjuring and I could be satisfied but if you want to see like a baba de perros smart type of thriller this is your movie right here if you go into 1408 the film thinking that it's about a haunted hotel room yes you're going to be disappointed because it's about a haunted man yes you know that's really what it's about this past life that he has been dealing with where his daughter died at such a young age him and his wife going through problems his dad apparently hates him and doesn't think that he's a good writer dad's in a nursing home and when you go into this room it just takes all of your most horrific things that could ever happen to you and puts that in front of you it makes you relive it it's not like ghosts are popping out of him that happens a few times yeah get your your normal horror movie stuff yeah there's an amazing doppelganger scene where he died and he sees like a reflection of himself they do these things it was like a tribute to the Marx Brothers this old Marx Brothers routine that's one of my favorite scares in the movie too when he turns around that crazy guy there a woman I don't know there's like what a nice or something yeah it's funny because in the commentary there was a shitty girl yeah I thought it was to buy furnaces like this former like mixed martial arts is like [ __ ] badass I think he's actually Q sex like personal trainer they easy to do because I thousand chick too yeah but it's like the claw hammer mecan't manniac or something the official title but I think my favorite like scare or sequences I always look forward to when I watch this movie is him going out the window and like hugging the wall and then seeing that because he wants to get in the other room but there's no window there's like some great [ __ ] yeah and in a strange way that's almost like a little homage to a Stephen King story called the ledge that's in an anthology movie called cat's eye that had Drew Barrymore in the 80s where this guy is forced on a bet to traverse a ledge all the way around the building and despite the extra things like the surfing the daughter backstory and all that kind of stuff that's included in this movie it's actually very faithful to the short story there's a lot of things that are direct quotes the phone saying things like this is five this is eight in the book this is 6 this is 6 when he is Fanning through öhlins folder and you see that text my brother was eaten by wolves on the Connecticut Turnpike it's such a weird [ __ ] creepy accent I know in the short story it's the last intelligible thing that Mike said into his recorder yeah the world story having that just in the notepad and having it be something it's a quick insert shot that you read well it kind of recreated the creepy sense of reading it in the book too and it's such a weird ass sentence and it works a lot in the movie something that's actually not technically in the book is in this movie as well because if you read in this King has an introduction to the 1408 short story and he talks about what inspired him to write it and in his introduction he's like hotel rooms are naturally creepy yes aren't they yeah I mean how many people have slept in that bed before how many of them were sick yeah hotel rooms are naturally creepy please don't you think we how many people sleep in that bed before you how many of them were sick how many of them lost their minds before I came here also I saw one of his films is really good it's called evil I think it's like Ostrom something Swedish I really liked it I really like this one but I think evils better really I've never seen it I think his style is like because I just saw baby driver baby it's like kind of Spielberg and Edgar Wright had a baby it's but it's kind of simple but it's very you know camera moving also so overall I enjoyed the direction here a couple nitpicks but what do you think I think it's really strong my only issue real issue with this movie is the Edit I can understand that they have a hard time with the fact that it's really just one guy in a room they only have a lot of people to cut to they don't have a lot of actors to cut - it's just Cusack in a room there's a lot of cool things to do with the room but sometimes it can be a little rapid-fire the editing and sometimes early on the editing of the dialogue can be slightly unnatural there's one specific scene at the book signing where the back-and-forth between himself and his fans just doesn't flow properly any questions where's the scariest place you've ever been scariest place I've ever been never heard that question before that's a joke well all these places have very colorful histories I would say if I had to pick a top one I would say Bar Harbor decided a grisly McTeague wedding night murder is such an intense place or maybe st. Cloud Minnesota where the crazed war Widow to her baby down a well we knows all have a lotta I mean it's thick there's thick what about poltergeists look I'm a good researcher and it's because it's edited so rapidly it's almost like they just really wanted to get to the room as quick as possible and then there are moments in the room where you can feel like it's a series of creepy events that just keep unfolding without a whole lot of narrative structure like one crazy thing will happen and then you're just thrown right into the next one like when the TV comes on and for the first time you see a home movie of his daughter yeah as soon as it shuts off he basically turns like this and sees the creepy ghosts walking out the window which by the way I love what they did with these ghosts they didn't just make him like weird apparitions they made them really sad and haunted and they made them look black and white almost like old film yeah which was really different and I had never seen that before but that's really my only major issue with the movie is the Edit can be a little rapid yeah I've noticed that same exact thing in the beginning I think it was for the better breakfast stuff and I think just the edge a little jarring but the rest of that I was okay the only things I had a couple mythix were like there's a flashback with the arguing with the wife and he's like screaming and yelling he's being very angry and then the next sentence was literally I'm a little good a cigarette it was like really cheery yeah it was fast I like what wait you were just like literally screaming and now your uncle Gesserit like and that's what I'm talking about that unnatural dialogue flow yeah sometimes occurs in the edit do you know what I think we should have done more we did everything all I did we should have helped her fight oh my god if they're telling her head full of these stories about heavens in a cloud and she lights up gonna get their cigarettes okay the sequence towards the end when he thinks he's out I think maybe goes on for five more minutes and should before the great bit where the post office workers for 1408 are ripping a wall away and you realize oh my god I'm still in this [ __ ] room I love that bit yeah so great I think I like everything in this except the ending I like the ending which one we can talk about that right now yes so this is the director's cut it's the ending with Sam Jackson getting the closure I think you get three different endings so Sam Jackson gets the closure in this one he's the guy with the tape recorder and plays it here's the little girls voice the other one was at the edge of boot cut which will the one we're of used to yeah probably the best Cusick that's the one of director likes a lot so Cusack gets the clothes or the wife's in a different room and he hears the voice and then and he's of course a lie and I like this the other one is alternate number one on this blue race also number two is it theatrical and this one's a director's so ultimate number one is with Tony Shalhoub yeah he gets the closure he doesn't have the tape recorder here the voice I really like this ending he gets the manuscript that was written in the false ending me too and the way it's edited together and the office is empty as the director pulls the camera all the way back and the doors closed and it's really creepy and the line that the dad says it's a callback to before as for shattering his death and that's my favorite ending I really like that one the fact the idea that the book was written and somehow has been put into the actual world yes I really like that idea what comes before that and yeah yeah I can be like talking to her in an office I could have had I can agree at that I did think if they somehow like could somehow mash up the free to make like the ideal ending that's also an issue is that they really couldn't figure out how to end this movie yeah there's a lot of theories about this movie and what it really means the symbolism behind it who sent the postcard that kind of thing what or who is Olin you know is he the devil is he like a gatekeeper to Hell or whatever the way that I sort of view his experience in the room is probably likened through Dante's Inferno which is mentioned in this movie when he's in the cold part like the freezing cold part he's like I'm in I'm in this circle what's a circle of Mayan right now and he's thinking about Dante's Inferno and there's the parts where it's really burning hot there's parts where it's really burning cold then he goes through grief and all kinds of things and there's also this theory that's developed about the stages of grief the five stages of grief oh you're in denial and your eventual acceptance of it that he goes through all stages of grief as well throughout this his experience in the room so in a strange way it's almost like despite how terrible his experience is for him it's cathartic as well yeah because he's working through his major life issues in this room yeah so it's kind of beautiful actually yeah I think I for my theory for who's not the postcard thing is mr. Olin I don't think mr. Owens the devil you could probably think that because there's alternate footage that when he or when the workers are tearing down the post office and he's watching it and I like there's mr. Olin randomly as like a apparition or something like I can see why people think is a double but I don't think he really I think the actual person I think it's the final shot of the elevator doors closing on him when they close on his head he just has this look like he knows something that he didn't say I don't think he's the devil necessarily I think he's probably just a really concerned guy yeah there's just some there's a look in his eye that seems to sell there's more there than you would okay so two things I want remember so the first thing will be of Sam Jackson I think they said it in interviews or something but in the short story it's a like a maybe British place plumpie short guy's name alcohol in that room you're gonna have that guy or are you going to have Sam Jack and say don't go in that [ __ ] ring okay yeah what's when are you going to be like oh [ __ ] I shouldn't go in that room it's Sam Jackson exactly so I'm being but um the second thing would be I think Olin sent the postcard so maybe he is the double as like a metaphor for getting Mike in the room but who else would have sent it and also all three endings have Olin Jackson pretty much like saying there so the theatrical and the alternate that he's got a drink in his hand he's in the office well dumbest and say exactly after the rooms destroyed so it's more clear in the director's cut where he has the box of [ __ ] for the wife he's all like a static he's all like tap he's like the room is fine you understand the room is finally closed down it was almost like it was meant to be he tried to get Mike in he knew Michaels gonna be adamant and I got the room shut down yeah so the directors cuts more clear the theatrical is a little more washed out which is what most people saw obviously when the theories were developed truly like the people who went see the movie that saw the edge go like Louise Olin you go into the director's cut oh it's okay he's a manager he's not he's not this or that the bill okay but it's funny to hear people who have seen different cuts because there's less sure there's different cut but there's some people just have the DVD some people just have the blu-ray and that's to follow the studio for not just releasing a definitive cut yeah hey it's on for date yeah 4k give something hopefully yeah speaking of olan he shows up at one point in the room as a little man in the minibar and it might be my favorite moment ever delivered by a Cusack in a movie he it's like every bit of this movie has been building to him completely losing his [ __ ] like he's he gets really nervous a lot and very anxious and he's constantly on edge once things really start happening but it's all building to that moment where he's just he's losing it how many experience have you broken what do you want cookies huh what do you want from me I walk my drag that is like top five movie freak-outs well yeah that doesn't like better than anything that ghost cage has ever done like in today so great because the moon it's actually warranted yes I'm not laughing at it yeah it's warranted yeah it's a great buildup of writing and directing and like I said ties back to the beginning when I said if he mails that [ __ ] in this movie is like nothing ah exactly right right right there is a nitpick I commonly hear about this movie from people and that's that olan says electronics do not work in this room yet he uses his laptop so like the best way that I can think to describe that beyond the fact that it could have been an oversight is that either the room wants him to use the laptop to get the wife to come to the room because at one point the laptop if the room like takes it over and presents a fake version of Mike to get his wife to come there yeah so that's kind of the way I think it is like it's not that the it's like this plot hole the room I think is basically it allows things to happen the room is this entity that allows whatever to happen and if the laptop working at that moment is what it wants that's going to happen yeah I agree hard times with you I don't agree with that criticism the only nitpick so to have his technical stuff like you said and which ending do I want that's not a problem Sam to stuff definitely my favorite scene in the movie and I don't know about you is probably the scene between Jackson and Cusack that long scene where they are going over the motions it's this great power struggle because he comes in there and he's like look I'm going to the room I got the law on my side you can't tell me I can't stay in this hotel room it's vacant like you got to give it to me and then all it's like no I'm going to bribe you with this amazing drink you're going to look at all of these pictures and it's also exceptionally acted between the two and they're just two playing back and forth so well and that's one of the things that works so well about once you get to the room is the setup is so good that when he opens the door and it's just like a normal room and the first actual scare that happens is the toilet paper and the chocolates yeah you're like oh [ __ ] like you're that for some reason was really amazing because they set it up so well they did it wasn't just like you know the window coming down on his hand or the crazy person with a hammer or they see an apparition right away yet it was like oh [ __ ] the chocolates are back and then he go he goes kind of crazy he's like did he toast me did he did he did he poison this drink and then he starts like sipping it and he's he's talking to the recorder so much and you really get the sense of who he is with no one else in this room and that's really good writing and acting yeah this film does a couple great moments there's a one I remember in particular about the direction like he's doing something he's like very paranoid and there's like a double snap zoom of it yes that was great another thing is like this is a hook it's [ __ ] awesome there's a vent and like he has like a newspaper or something he like kind of hits it and he kind of looks up he looks around his eyes dart and it hits it again dude again the scariest stuff about it has nothing to do with ghosts or demons or anything or the fact even that the room is evil its lines like when he sees his dad in the nursing home and his dad says I was [Music] you're looking at your future this crippled old man that's going to be you one day and it just sends chills down your spine when you think about that and that's the best type of King storytelling right there it's when he's able to tap into that primal fear that we have most of us aren't afraid of ghosts a lot of us are afraid of dying I think all alone in the nursing home yeah you know like that's the creepy [ __ ] that this movie explores like the really dark underlying griefs that you can have as a person I think it's gravity it's a great movie I love it I think it's great it's a very smart psychological thriller might be one of my favorites and I will classify this as torture porn very not like over-the-top soft [ __ ] but like mentally psychological torture porn I'm going to get 1408 and a - that's a pretty good score I'm gonna give this addition the director's cut an eight because of some technical stuff and I really like the ultimate number one ending with Tony Shalhoub in the main scope that one get the nine from me okay thank you very much for joining me in this review Matz I appreciate it please do check out matched channel it is in the description below and as always if you like this you can click right here and get second eyes oh my god well I'm gonna go get sued or something oh yeah let's go eat ha come on let's go oh yeah you're gonna come over just haha what a story Matt it's kind of late so I'm Elsa will be open but so you want to get food with me in a minute [ __ ] well I think about getting McDonald's I hate the doors locked [Music] sighs five everyone you've all you know where Chris went we have Chris here he will be watching Dragonball Evolution for the rest of his life we have a similar fate in store for you [Music] [Music] no I'm not watching a little no no no no okay Oh No [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Chris Stuckmann

Views: 658,511

Rating: 4.8970437 out of 5

Keywords: 1408, Movie Review, Stephen King, Chris Stuckmann, Matthew Brando, Short Story, Novel, Book, Everything's Eventual, Haunted, Hotel Room, Room, John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack, Tony Shalhoub, Mikael Håfström, Ghost, Evil, Entity, Paranormal, Scary, Horror, Sighting, Author, Scene, Clip, Trailer, Teaser, Ending, Alternate, Director's Cut, Theatrical, Original, Deleted

Id: 8FZI_qJquuA

Length: 30min 24sec (1824 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 21 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/kunth420]

I remember it being good when I was 12

[u/Kespen]

I hated it when I saw it in theaters. Now there's a 30 minute review of it. Welp.