Rating: 3.5 Pulses

Rated PG-13

A bitter and cynical writer of top ten haunted places books, Mike Enslin’s wary and full of skepticism and daddy and dead baby issues. Enslin (Cusack) discovers the ultimate test in haunted hotel rooms in director Mikael Hafstrom’s eerie psychological thriller, 1408.

Trying to finish his latest compilation, he’s lured to the Dolphin Hotel in NYC by a mysterious and ominous postcard.

After a sharp-tongued battle of wits with hotel manager Gerald Olin (a dry and somber Jackson), Enslin coerces the man into letting him stay in the historic hotel’s ill-fated room 1408, home to over fifty brutal and disturbing deaths.

Convinced there’s no such thing as the supernatural, Enslin shrugs off Olin’s warnings as scare tactics and checks in for the night, armed with a bottle of cognac, a voice recorder and an assortment of paranormal investigation equipment.

When strange visions and occurrences begin to happen, he tries to play it cool. Convinced he’s been drugged or tricked, he tries to snap himself out of the fear but once unresolved issues from his past are facing him in the present, we know it’s going to take much more than his acerbic wit to make it through the night in room 1408.

Cusack carries most of the film on his own and a lesser actor than he could never pull it off, but he proves his skill and range here, running the gamut of emotions from cocky and sarcastic into a bitter sadness that turns into actual fear for his life.

Viewer beware, 1408 is based on a Stephen King short story from “Everything’s Eventual” (adapted for the screen by Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski) so you can expect a little crazy thrown into the mix as well.

While it doesn’t exactly feel fresh or new, the film is one of the better visualizations of King’s work and makes for an interesting diversion from the popcorn fluff currently residing at the multiplex with enough special effects to satisfy and an involving character worth investing a little time.