I so wanted to go see this movie but after reading the story and digesting the trailers I can see that Hollywood has worked their “magic” and turned a short, intense thriller into a formulaic poltergeist ghost story complete with cute little girl. There is no cute little girl in King’s short story. Moreover, there is NO GHOST in the short story! That is the biggest “swing and a miss” aspect of the movie as far as I can tell having seen the trailers. The inherent creepiness of the story is the simple fact that John Cusak’s character Mike doesn’t believe in ghosts but that doesn’t matter because whatever is in room 1408 isn’t a ghost. It would have had to be human at one point in time to be a ghost now. His disbelief in ghosts has made him vulnerable to something far more sinister than a mere ghost. Also, from the movie it looks like Mike doesn’t get out the room…ever. In the story, Mike does get out the room alive…barely. In summation, SAVE YOUR MONEY, READ THE SHORT STORY!

p.s.

What does 1408 add up to?

I've read most novels/short stories King has written (yes I'm a fan). Hollywood and TeeVee just can't translate King. The Shining is one of my favorite horror stories but even Jack Nicholson couldn't save the film version.

I'll probably pass on 1408.

I haven't read the short story yet but I plan to soon. I thought it was a good movie actually. And in response to a few of the other letter-writers, it's unclear as to whether or not he gets out of the room, there is no ghost, the "evil fucking room" as Samuel L. Jackson calls it, just creates a vision of the daughter , then killing her, to recreate the most painful experience of his life. And as for what does 1408 add up to? Basic math tell us that: 1 + 4 + 0 + 8 = 13. Also it's actually the 13th floor because many hotels list the 13th as the 14th, they mention it in the movie as well. I thought it was a good movie and I'd recommend seeing it, it was very creepy and just a really good scary film.