1408 is a 2007 American psychological horror film directed by Mikael Håfström, based on Stephen King's 1999 short story of the same name. It stars John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, and is set in a fictionalised New York hotel — reflecting its status as one of the recurring paranormal-themed films associated with New York City.
Plot
Mike Enslin (Cusack) is the author of a series of bestselling guidebooks debunking supposedly haunted hotels, having never once found genuine evidence of the paranormal despite years of investigation. After receiving an anonymous postcard warning him not to enter Room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel, Enslin insists on booking the room over the strong objections of hotel manager Gerald Olin (Jackson), who reveals that more than fifty guests have died there over the decades. Once inside, Enslin's scepticism is systematically dismantled by escalating, increasingly personal supernatural phenomena, intertwined with his own unresolved grief over the earlier death of his daughter.
Production
The screenplay was written by Matt Greenberg, with revisions by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura on a $25 million budget. The film was shot with a heavily contained, largely single-location structure, built around Cusack's performance as the room itself becomes the film's central antagonist. Four different endings were produced for the film, varying by release and format.
Reception
1408 grossed approximately $133 million worldwide, and was well received critically, frequently cited as one of the stronger screen adaptations of King's work compared with some contemporaries. Critics praised Cusack's performance in carrying what is close to a one-man show for much of its runtime, and the film's psychological, character-driven approach to horror over reliance on effects.
Real-world inspiration
Stephen King's original short story, and the film, are often linked to a real reported haunting at the Hotel del Coronado in California, where a woman named Kate Morgan died in 1892 under suspicious circumstances after checking in alone under a false name. Paranormal investigator Christopher Chacon later conducted an equipment-based investigation of a room in the hotel's former maids' quarters — not Morgan's original room — recording a number of unexplained readings and one instance of a glass falling unaided, a case sometimes cited as a loose real-world parallel to the fictional Room 1408.