1408 is a classical horror movie, and believe me, if it's thrills you're after, it will scare you to death – and leave you disturbed enough to hesitate for a long time before checking into a hotel room alone. Adapted from a short story by Stephen King and directed by Swedish filmmaker Mikael Hafstrom, 1408 is a good horror movie which is aimed to scare, not to spare (us from clichés). It stars John Cusack as disgruntled writer Mike Enslin, while life and career are going down the drain since the death of his daughter (yes, I did tell you it's not that original) and who's currently writing a book on...you guessed it, haunted hotel rooms. This is how he learns about room 1408 of the exclusive Dolphin Hotel in New York (and yes, 1+4+0+8 does equal 13 and yes again, the room is on the hotel's thirteenth floor) which sports no less than 56 dead former occupants. And this is where it all starts from.

Enslin is not original by background, but by attitude. There's so much disappointment and cynicism radiating from his demeanor, no wonder Samuel L. Jackson, who plays the mysterious manager of the hotel with the room with a view, finally agrees to allow him to check in. And of course, the spooky stuff begins...turning the film mostly into a one-man show that allows Cusack to show us the full measure of his talent, as we watch him move from skepticism to concern to alarm to fright to downright terror. And even with the spooky room throwing one punch after another at him, he still manages to keep the story as rooted to reality as it can get.

1408 is disturbingly peaceful at first and then disturbingly intense in making Cusack former occupant number 57. And although it's definitely not The Shining (starring Jack Nicholson, also adapted from a King novel), it's still as creatively thought-out and as deliberately classic as can be. In this case, creativity does not equal killing robots intent on world domination. This comeback to classical horror, with the unplugged alarm clock playing The Carpenters and ominously counting back from 60 minutes (which is, as we're told, the longest anyone has ever lasted alive in the room), bursting pictures, temperature changes and terrifying apparitions, can be enjoyed while on the edge of the seat without fear (pun intended) of getting bored at some point throughout it. A good movie, and Cusack is excellent and very convincing. In my opinion, definitely worth seeing!