Definitely Underrated
Watching 1408 (2007) I know some don't like this, as is to be expected with any film, but I find it to really improve with every viewing... it's subtle at times, creepy, mind-bending, and quite good I think. I've grown to really like it.
I actually think this movie is underrated, but it takes a few watches, there is some amount of subtly and nuance to this one.
The movie is about a cursed hotel room that slips in and out of our reality, dipping into a chaos universe... similar to what happens in the movie Grave Encounters.
Stephen King ... (short story)
Music by Gabriel Yared (Camille Claudel (1988), Vincent & Theo (1990), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999))
Fun Fact, the Cognac drank in the film 1408 (Stephen King), Les Cinquante Sept Décès 1939... the Brand does not exist. but, bear in mind, the name translates into "The 57 Deaths", and Enslin is told before he goes into the room that in total there have been 56 deaths so far...
I wonder why he turns to this page in the Bible casually, then tosses the book aside? His finger is pointing to a specific line as well.
II SAMUEL 11, Verse 10
About 38 minutes in, he goes to fix the painting which is now askew... and if you look behind him, you can see movement in white so it's clearly not his reflection... of what appears to be a maid fixing the bed...?
Another fun fact, Hauntings loosely based upon the Hollywood Roosevelt in Hollywood, California, the Miami Biltmore in Coral Gables, Florida, Rosario Resort on Orcas Island, Washington, the La Posada in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, California.
Food for thought...
"What do you want, Mr. Enslin? You sought this room. Oh, that's right. You don't believe in anything. You like shattering people's hopes. Why do you think people believe in ghosts? For fun? No. It's the prospect of something after death. How many spirits have you broken?"
~Mr. Enslin, 1408, Stephen King
One thing I truly love about the movie 1408 is that it shows a man who has been through such profound loss that while he is continually broken and struggling to be fine, he ultimately grows stronger with the destruction of each illusion... he becomes a true warrior and overcomes the darkness.... where so many have chosen suicide before him, and it is not out of lack of compassion I say this... not all of us have anything to hold onto, even a vice, an image, a reflection.... we hold on, clinging to our persona.... but there must be something deeper within... a desire to fight, not for the material, but for an idea, a dream, a promise, a light, not the light you see, but the light you are.
He saves a cigarette for the end of the world, to destroy evil even if it kills him... it won't take him, and he lights it in protest... brilliant movie.
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