Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 1408 (2007)

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 06-24-2007, 06:49 PM:

The only thing that made this watchable for me was John Cusack's performance. The scares weren't scary, really more silly most of the time. Nice twists at the end though. What the hell was Samuel L. Jackson doing in this? Cha-ching!

1.5 stars out of 5, and that's only because JC was trying hard.

Regal 15 in Shelbyville, ok presentation but damn that's an ugly-looking print.

I got there early and decided to check out the open captioned showing of Ocean's 13, just to see if it was using the DTS system or whatever for the captions (because I am a dork). Boy was that show ever messed up. After FirstLook, the automation went haywire. Film started, masking changed, lights came down, there was picture, but then suddenly the sound went to non-sync and the masking changed back again and the house lights came up. FirstLook started running again on top of the film image. It looked like the film start was completely automated. Nobody was aware of the problem until it was reported.

(edited for a spelling correction)

[ 06-24-2007, 10:28 PM: Message edited by: David Stambaugh ]

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 07-11-2007, 09:53 AM:

PG-13 "horror" films are a complete waste of time.

I did not like this film at all.

Don't waste your time - you can't get it back.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-11-2007, 01:02 PM:

quote: Dennis Benjamin
PG-13 "horror" films are a complete waste of time.

That's not true.

The problem is Hollywood, in general, just doesn't know how to make horror movies worth a damn anymore -regardless of MPAA rating.

It is actually possible to make a scary movie without lots of bloody gore, on-screen graphic violence and swaying, naked tits (although that seems to be the standard for any "dying teenager movie").

Film makers need to pursue a sort of "back to basics" approach. They need to study Hitchcock. More basic than that, they need to study the concepts of building characters the audience will actually give a damn about and establishing dangerous conflicts for that character. When you care about the character, see that he is in danger and then not really know how he's going to get out of it alive -then you have something resembling dramatic tension. Very simple idea. And the vast majority of "horror" movies fail miserably in trying to deliver that.

When you have some cardboard cutout stereotype blood priss with breast implants stupidly getting herself into bad situations, the audience isn't going to be on her side. They're just waiting for the slasher to cut her to ribbons. The movie just ends up functioning like a damned porn video. Instead of waiting to see a couple of people screw, the viewer just waits for someone to get killed.

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 07-13-2007, 11:16 PM:

Just saw it...

Digital presentation, which, I must say, was pretty damn good looking..

That aside... the ending left me wondering why the hell I actually stayed in the theater the entire 2 hours..

2/5 stars..

Posted by Christian Appelt (Member # 1067) on 10-12-2007, 05:33 PM:

Saw at at the CineStar Metropolis #2, Frankfurt, Germany.

Presentation was good, but print had a thick lab scratch all through one reel. Lack of sharpness, the usual Super-35 cinematography plus bad dupe/release printing.

Horror films need style and simplicity. 1408 has only a decent actor to keep the audience awake, and it is not scary enough to impress even 13-year old girls.

Definitely not a movie to be seen on big screens, might be OK on TV. Choppy editing even in simple dialogue scenes, possibly to make it more exciting. Unnecessary camera movement always reminds me that I'm watching a movie.

I think the director should spend a night in room # 237 at the Overlook Hotel. [Smile]

Or at least watch some classic ghost movies like NIGHT OF THE DEMON and THE HAUNTING to learn how to use sound, or POLTERGEIST to observe how to keep an audience on their seat's edges.

Total waste of time.