Essential Authors: Stephen King

No matter how many times I watch this film, I am deeply affected in a way that few movies can. It infuses the perfect blend of suspense, emotion, comedy, friendship, despair, hope, and... redemption in a world that at first seems so devoid of anything positive. Freeman and Robbins play convicted murderers in performances that define both of their careers.

A creepy atmospheric novella about what isolation and fear can do to people. The book was really more about the people and relationships than about what was "out there" or how they would survive, and since Darabont is the master of this, this should be a very strong horror movie.

After seeing the film, I am torn. Darabont mastered the relationships and character development in his previous films, and he comes through here. And as long as he stayed inside the grocery store his film was engrossing and involving.
But out of that confined metaphor for global human fear was a mess. The opening scenes were rushed, character motivation sprang up from nowhere (granted King's novella was first-person, but you have to grow from something). Darabont was also too determined to show everything where King understood that the deeper penetration of the fear of the piece came from the unknown- he had the soldier explain the origins of the mist instead of leaving it at the realistic speculative level, he gave perspective to The Monster at the end instead of letting its foot or leg define the bounds of your imagination, and most unforgivable, he made the end finite instead of leaving the possibility of hope in the courageous should he spent so much time developing.

I understand the motivation for the end and respect Darabont's decision- it actually comes right out of King's own text, and was King's ultimate ending though. King just couldn't take the story to the finite conclusion since he wrote the piece in first person. Would he have if he could? I don't know, but King recognized the power of strong souls, possible doom, and lingering, however doubtful, hope.

That said, the cast was phenomenal, especially Harden, who turned a caricature into a tangible, identifiable, terrifying presence.

"It's an evil f***ing room." Only if that one memorable line described its subject. '1408' is pure Stephen King done by somebody who doesn't understand King's gift for building suspense and rewarding with payoff.
The atmosphere was perfect, Cusack was wonderful- his wit and cynicism was great, and the setup was palpable. But once the door locked and Karen Carpenter started singing, and the phone rang, and the clock started counting down, and the suspense was intoxicating, the movie dove into wacked out territory that abandoned its audience, didn't connect, and didn't make any sense. Thrill us psychologically like 'The Mist,' haunt us with reason like 'The Shining,' but don't expect much by throwing us in a room with every horror trick and no substance and expect much from us.
All atmosphere, little substance here.