1408 movie adaption

[IrishWriter]

Ok only people from America or people who have managed to obtain the new 1408 movie somehow will be able to comment on this(and I guess people who have read the short story can say as they please, also).But I saw the new film today and I thought that it was a complete letdown compared to the trailer that I had seen months before.I just want to know what people thought of the film,and also what people thought of the short story from the collection, Everything's Eventual?Because I thought the story in the book was excellent and then watching the film kind of just brought the gear level down a little.I mean there were some good things in it but I just felt that it was a little unjustified,in that is any film adaption ever quite up to the task of making something of a remote copy?Especially Stephen King films.

So people,enlighten me!

[dustinzgirl]

I never read the short story, but I actually loved the movie. It was all psychology and suggestion, reminiscent of the old movies where nobody was really gutted, but you kept waiting (wanting) someone to be gutted...

after all,

It's an evil effin room.

[faerietalegoddess]

I've read the story many times and went to the movies to see the adaptation when it first came out, and I really wasn't a big fan of it.

It's sad that with Hollywood movies, there always has to be a plot and the protagonist must usually always have a tortured past and, of course, sometimes they have to slip in a sneaky little ending, just to try to get you thinking. Unfortunately, I don't think that style worked well for 1408.

Personally, I thought the story, as it was, would've made a great little film, without having to add in the rest of the fodder. The story was creepy enough and I think they could've found ways to keep the audience guessing just with the "Oh my gods, will he get out?!" factor, or the "Wow, what is this thing and why is it so evil?" thought process. But because of a story that just kept going on and on and on (sort of like this comment), I just felt that it was dragged out and when they got to the fake "it was only a dream!" portion, I was willing to suffocate myself in my popcorn. I also didn't think that it caught the psychological factor well enough...the Mike Enslin in the short story was completely terrorized by this thing in the room. And in the story, the thing in that room was a heck of a lot more evil than portrayed in the movie, in my opinion.

I'll stick with "The Shining", "The Stand", and "Secret Window" for my fill of Stephen King-based movies. They chose some great actors for the parts of Mike Enslin and the Hotel Manager, but it was just far too overblown a movie for something that was really a simple, but effectively scary, story.

[IrishWriter]

Not evil enough?Lord no,it WAS evil enough;the damned room let him have the impression that he had gotten out of the room for weeks,that he had only had the hallucination when he was overturned while surfing.But no,i was expecting something to really bite my ass off throughout the film, and the only part that scared the absolute excrement out of me was when you see O'Malley's head popping around the corner when Mike goes into the vents.I'm just naturally afraid of things like that,ever see The Descent?Watch that, you'll know what I mean.But the ending was good if you ask me, mainly because when he's looking at the woman he's got the whole..****-you-bitch-I told-you-what-I-heard-damn-you smile going on.But yeah,it could have been better.Books are better than tv,when are people going to realize that?

[Wiggum]

If they had done an absolute faithful adaptation of the story the movie would have been all of 20 minutes long.

I thought the movie was really good, especially since it was a PG-13 horror movie (which should be an oxymoron), and it was able to deliver a couple decent scares and a great atmosphere.

Cusack is pretty much on screen solo for 80% of it, and delivers a heck of a performance.

The scene with his daughter was heartbreaking. Him lighting his cigarette after he torches the room was perfect. And the ending with him playing the tape gave me chills.

Was it a great movie? No. But it was very, very good.

As far as theatrical adaptations of King works that have done a fine job: Shawshank Redemtion, Stand By Me, Delores Claiborne, Misery, The Shining, Needful Things, and my guilty pleasure The Dark Half

[Connavar]

Not The Green Mile? I thought it was a very good movie compared to how crappy 90% Sk other movies are.

[Wiggum]

I actually just watched The Green Mile for the first time recently, hence it wasn't on my mind.

Definitely on the list though.

[IrishWriter]

Seriously?Only for the first time?Where do you live?Mongolia?(This is a flavored amount of humor,just in case someone starts killing me for launching a personal attack.)

[dustinzgirl]

Just to go off topic, the green mile bored me to tears.

[IrishWriter]

Ah well that may be so but at least your outcome was fairly close to what everyone else experienced.But as someone once said when there was criticism,be gone evil one.And because you haven't specified whether it's the book or the film that sent you to tears of boredom,I'm going to go ahead and assume the book;that way my response is at least valid.(I think.)

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by Wiggum

I actually just watched The Green Mile for the first time recently, hence it wasn't on my mind.

Definitely on the list though.

Ah i see.

Did you think it was good?

[HoopyFrood]

I saw this film last night and wasn't all that impressed. Cusack was good and I quite enjoyed the beginning of the film...but damn, the room wasn't evil enough! It was too normal evil, with mad people lunging at him with sharp implements and 'replays' of people jumping out of the windows. What I love about the short story is how freaking crazy the ending is, with the voice on the telephone
(ten, this is ten, we have killed all your friends! Every friend is dead!)
and the melting walls and the all-round "what the hell is going on?!" Also I didn't like how they changed the ending. Enslin is supposed to set himself on fire! And what I especially love about the story is that parts of it is told through what you hear on the tape recording. I know they had to put a lot more in to the film, as Wiggum says, a true adaptation would've been very short, but I do wish they'd actually used more from the story! More evil telephone voice, more melting walls, more absolute craziness!

[IrishWriter]

Yeah the telephone voice was the main factor about the story that scared me, because it seemed to have come from nowhere.I went to see it again myself last night in the cinema, because I had already seen it in a friends house on CD, and it really wasn't what I thought it was going to be. I thought maybe it might have a little bit of an edge if I saw it in the cinema again, but it was pretty much the same let down that most of these adaptations are. But hey, not to worry,we can always place our hopes and dreams on The Mist. Hoopy knows,lol.