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You have reached a brief spoiler for the film 1408. If you would prefer to read the regular review, please click here.
First, a question...did I fall asleep and miss how is was that Mike's wife suddenly knew to come to the hotel? Was he really talking to her on his wireless computer in a hotel room we know doesn't allow electronics to function? That's what Gerald Olin tells us in explanation as to why the hotel room uses an old-fashioned key. And yet, the television seems to work? Or does it? If the room can control everything, it can control everything. In which case, it could probably disable the electronic door lock. In any case, regardless of the inconsistencies about whether electronic things can or cannot work, I want to know how Lily knew to show up? How'd she even know Mike was in the city?
Ok, second, the ending was a major let down. Apparently, Mike has decided to move back to New York? Lily wants to toss out his stuff that smells like smoke, but Mike wants a final look at the stuff. Who in their right mind wouldn't have thrown that out already? Back when he was recuperating. Ok, so he pulls out the microcassette recorder--do people still use these instead of iPods?--and plays back the tape--is a microcasette recorder an electronic device? just checking re earlier question--and Lily hears her dead daughter's voice on the tape. It's unmistakable. So what? Does this prove that Mike's experience was real? Was he really visited by the ghost of his daughter? Does that mean that everything that happened to him was real? Was it real? Were just the ghosts real? Who knows. The movie doesn't tell us. I guess we are just supposed to figure it out. [Note: I'm kind of tired of this answer to plot questions because I cannot tell if the writers are just being too lazy to figure out the mess they've created because they had no answer from the start, or if they really do have answers but think it's more fun for people to try to figure them out for themselves. If I believed they really had answers, I'd probably mind less. But, I try to think to myself, what if M. Night had done this with The Sixth Sense? Yeah, I don't think people would have been too happy. I know that it certainly would not have won Best Picture.]
Third, what's with the electronic, Disney's® Haunted Mansion ghosts? And, when both the lamp and the female ghost reached close to smashing into the ground, they electronically dissipated. Why? What's with this? Is this evidence for or against the idea that the room really does nothing, it just plays with your mind? Is that what the room is really doing? After all, the room looks perfectly fine in the end—prior to being Molotov cocktailed anyway. Of course, this begs the question, why wasn't the room able to stop Mike from torching it? How did Mike break its control? Or was he? Did he ever get out? Is he still there? The first break out scene where he wakes up again on the beach and then in the hospital in California leading to the only scene in the film that seemed really worthy of the film's hype—the Post Office break down that led him back into the room, proved the room was capable of conjuring incredible things in his mind. Or was it? Did it conjure this or did his mind conjure it to help him escape? One of the problems, clearly with this plot is that we are unable to separate what the room is doing to Mike from what he might be doing to himself. He obviously bears a lot of guilt and as yet to really deal with his grief over the loss of his child. The plot and film would have been stronger had there been more of a delineation between the capabilities of the room to torment vs. that of Mike's own mind. Which begs a question I've already asked but still bugs me. Who sent him the postcard about the room in the first place and why? Did his mind create the entire thing from the point of the surfboard accident to the very end? If so, what's up with the tape recorder of his daughter? Maddening.
Finally, aside from the annoying issue that we really don't know enough about Mike to really care that much about what happens to him, to be a complete story, as the room takes on the role of a character, needs to explain the motivation of Room 1408. What is the source of its malevolence? Why does it do all this to people? Why has it been allowed to do so for so long with no one getting to the bottom of it?
Ok, so I had this idea.
Suppose Gerard Olin is actually God, and his plan is to help Mike get past the grief and get on with his life. So, what better way than to put the guy who has chosen to devote the rest of his life to destroying the hope people have of an afterlife—the very thing that gave his own dying daughter some modicum of hope in during her final days—into a situation that will force him to (a) get out of his funk and move on, perhaps back to a capacity that is more worthy of his God-given talents, (b) hook back up with his wife, (c) get his face out of a bottle of alcohol which is obviously doing him no good, and (d) help him face all of the fears that are preventing him from doing this alone? In his little mini-fridge sequence, we do see tiny Gerald saying pretty much this same thing.
Is that the explanation?
I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this. Just add your comments below.
31 comments:
Yes, this movie leaves me frustrated too! So many unanswered questions, who did send the postcard? I like John C. but the movie could have been much better. Nothing tied any of the scenes together and we were not emotional invested in Mikes character to care. My husband believes that Room 1408 was the gateway to hell and Jackson's pitchfork was hidden somewhere in his office. The ending leaves me to believe it was real but was was real other than his daughter making a connection! ugh! I cannot expense my time or energy thinking about this.
first, i just saw the movie, and at the very ending moment they flash back to cuzack and he's in a blue room, as the movie showed 1408 most of the time... i was curious as to whether he was back in the room or not?
for the women on the phone said "Don't mind the alarms you'll never get out of this room alive..."
or something to that effect.
Don't forget the frequent mentions of Dante's circles of hell... Did he experience all the levels of hell? Was he experiencing a particular one because he was a non-believer?
its possible that cuzack died in the surfing accident, and he had to go through hell himself. the whole thing was the afterlife.
i dont know how to explain the laptop working when clearly it wasnt supposed to..but what i got from the ending was that mike opened the door for his wife and she got stuck in it as well but we dont realize until the last scene...and if the movie continued the walls of the apartment would break down to the hotel room, because nobody gets out. which would explain the electronic ghost crying, because there still stuck in the room or it was just giving mike ideas of killing himself. though the room was supposedly unstoppable the clue on the brick wall "burn me alive" could of just been a hint on how to destroy it and get out, but altematly still have the disappointment of being in the room forever.
Mike probably killed himself and the surfing accident was not really accident.
Once, his wife asks him why he decided to surf while he did not do it for long. So he might have gone on water in hope to be killed.
Then the room 1408 is the punishment.
And it does not end in the end, I agree if the movie went on Mike would be in the room again.
The room 1408 collects suicide cases and torture them....
Just an idea...
Wow, I got to say, I've loved reading everyone's ideas on 1408 and what it was all about. Some of your suggestions are truly better than what was probably the real answer, which only Stephen King himself may know. Um, I hate to admit it, but I almost need to see it again to test out some of these hypotheses! Keep the good ideas and comments rolling in!
1. Assuming that the scene where Mike talks to his wife on the computer occurs in reality instead of his imagination, then it's logical to assume that the room allowed Mike to use the computer so that the room itself could persuade his wife to join him and become trapped as well. In the second scene with the laptop, a window appears on the computer that shows "Mike" talking to his wife and persuading her to come to the hotel. Obviously that wasn't really him. And she knew that Mike was in the city because he had previously told her so in the first scene involving the computer.
2. Clearly there were some inconsistencies in the storyline as to whether or not electronics worked in the room. Electronic door locks weren't installed, cell phones didn't work, etc. But like people have stated, the tv worked, the lights worked, the laptop worked. So maybe it only applies to electronics that the trapped person can use to get out of the room.
3. Yes, the ending was open ended, but only in the sense that it leaves us with two probable options. Either he's still trapped in the room and he'll continue to experience untold miseries until he decides to kill himself, or he actually did break free from the room during the fire and, as the ending scene showed, is now back with his wife with the tape recorder as solid evidence of his ordeal. The first option is more intriguing, but the second seems more likely given the "realness" of the ending scenes with the normal people running out of the hotel in panic, Samuel L congratulating Mike for getting out, and the movie ending with no sign of Mike actually being back in the room.
A third "ending", as someone previously suggested, could be that Mike was dying from his surfing accident and his imagination conjured up the rest of the movie as a subconscious guilt trip about his daughter's death. This doesn't seem to fit as well with the tone of the movie and the way it ended.
I believe that he died burnt... the room would tell you how he was going to die and the ending was his wifes hour in that same room... that was why he sarcasticaly smiled at the end.. I was not him in reality..
Well I guess I'm not really all that deep, ad into the plot of the movie, I just go with it. If you noticed at the end, the hotel manager was congratulating Mike. I'm sure it was him who sent the postcard, to lure him there, so that he could 'cure' the room of it's evil. Hence the bleeding letters at the end of the movie. Also, did you notice the Hotel Manager gave Mike everything he needed to destroy the room? He gave him the bottle, and he gave him the lighter I'm sure.
You asked how he could destroy the room? Maybe it's because he was acting with purely good thoughts. He said something about not always having to be a jealous person, not having to die that way...I'm sure that's the reason, because it couldn't stand up to pure righteousness.
The computer ended up working, but it also twisted what was happening. Mike didn't want his ex to go into the room, because he didn't want her to be harmed. But instead the computer edited it, so that she would go into the room. Perhaps that's what the plan was the entire time? To worry him more?
Really, there's a lot of things that you can't explain without actually talking to the author and asking. But how many of us will get the chance to do that?
Sometimes it's best to just let the imagination run wild, or not worry about it...Don't spoil a movie with worries about what you couldn't explain.
Well, heres what i personally think.
In the secon scene with him and his laptop, i think room also "created" his wife and tricking mike into thinking that his wife was on his way. If the room could controlwhat was on the screen like what happened to the second mike that smiled and winked, the room could also have created the screen of his wife. it couldve been a double-twist on mike because the room wanted him to think that his wife was coming. but in reality, his wife was still in her office at work.
if that was the case then him blowing up the room and him being back with his wife is also aonther trick played by the room. that means his wife never came and hes still in the room.
remember the part where he thinks hes out of the room and hes washed up on shore and in LA? well, that was all a trick by the room we all know, but when he wakes up in the new york hospital, couldnt the room be playing the same trick on him? the room is making him think that hes out of it but later on he finds out that hes still in it; that his wife never came to help him; and the voice he heard on hi recorder would make him believe that hes stil IN the room.
my guess is after that scene where he listnes to his daughters voice on the recorder, the walls of his apartment would break down like in the post office and he would still be in the room and he would have to relive the same hour over and over again.
remember, no one get out alive
I've read through all of the comments as of this point, and I do find some interesting, some a little bit out there, and some that I entirely agree with. I think people are looking far into it by assuming he died in the surfing accident. In fact, there appears to be no proof that he died at all, however one can let their mind wander. I believe that scene was irrelevent to the rest of the story and had it been left out, the movie would not have been all that different.
As an english major, you can look at a movie just as you can book, and this was based off a book, making it even easier. There are a lot of motifs in the book, such as time, images, etc. There are many symbols and such I could focus on, but I want to look soley at the clock radio. Notice how it kept playing the same song whenever it turned on, I'm surprised the protagonist didn't take note. The lyrics were something of "here it goes, this is the beginning..." and throughout the 60 minutes, it continues to play the BEGINNING of that song, sung by a female voice, however when he reaches the last thirty seconds, the song turns on again, but is now playing a different part of the song, what sounds like the ending, now sung by a male voice. And agan, the lyrics are along the lines of here it goes, this is the beginning..(or start, i dont remember the lyrics word by word.) Then the clock resets again, the room resets itself and the author puts the room on fire when he decides it can't have his wife. That song, and clock may be symbolic of the fact he DOES escape from the room, as we aren't given any solid evidence that he died in the fire. The lyrics could simply represent that he is about to enter a new phase of torture, or perhaps freedom from that darned room. Remember the lyrics, and when the song plays. A new sequence began each time. I believe what happened was real, and the room simply allowed the tape recorder to work (and yes, people do use tapes still, you can find me anyday with my WALKMAN.) as proof or further torture (mentally) if the protaganist escaped.
Maybe if they decide to have a conclusion (if they left things out from the book, which I have not read) we won't have to bust our areses like this.
well actually the song name is called "We've Only Just Begun" by the Carpenters.
and if you want to read the actual short story by stephen king you can find it in the short-story collection titled "Everything's Eventual". i recommend this collection to anybody who loves stepehn king or titles of similar genres.
Firstly, i believe the director has showed clearly the difference between imagination of mike and reality. The first time when he got out of the room, he himself was in all the scene that he imagined. But the second time when he got out of the room, there are 3 scenes which states that he has escaped. 1st, is his wife arriving to the scene and there is a jam. 2nd, are people running out of the hotel and 3rd is Samuel L congratulating Mike for getting out. Which all 3 scenes doesn't involve mike and things that he cant probably had imagined.
And lastly, the symbolic melting of the numbers 1408 shows that the room was destroyed.
Secondly, so how did his wife manage to find out that he is in NY. My guess is that the room allowed him to contact his wife so that the room could be able to use it against him later on. The room tried to prompt him to kill himself so that the room will stop. Because his death would have been the only way to attract the attention and Samuel L will explain everything to his wife to stop her from entering the room.
Thirdly, the director was just trying to be funny with the ending which is different from the book. The shock face of his wife shows that she doesn't believe the crap the Mike was saying until she heard her daughter's voice. The arrogant expression on Mike's face was saying something like "see, I told you that i really saw her"
The only question i have for the movie is regarding what his wife said on the computer on the 2nd event;"where are you... The cops are in room 1408. The room's empty." If the video footage was really his wife, will u be so dumb to go down to 1408 to visit your ex husband if you had realized your husband was playing a prank on you who claims that he is having trouble in 1408 and made you call the cops. Maybe she still loves him...
So for the whole one hour, Mike was totally in another dimension whereby the cops cant even find him. Only until after Mike burned the room and break the curse did the fireman able to rescue him.
Some interesting thoughts i got from a comment i read that maybe Samuel L was god.(maybe the director chose him because he acted as god before) If you notice, the alcohol that was given to Mike was dated 1939. Its same as the year of the hotel opening and also the year of the first death.
Firstly, i believe the director has showed clearly the difference between imagination of mike and reality. The first time when he got out of the room, he himself was in all the scene that he imagined. But the second time when he got out of the room, there are 3 scenes which states that he has escaped. 1st, is his wife arriving to the scene and there is a jam. 2nd, are people running out of the hotel and 3rd is Samuel L congratulating Mike for getting out. Which all 3 scenes doesn't involve mike and things that he cant probably had imagined.
And lastly, the symbolic melting of the numbers 1408 shows that the room was destroyed.
Secondly, so how did his wife manage to find out that he is in NY. My guess is that the room allowed him to contact his wife so that the room could be able to use it against him later on. The room tried to prompt him to kill himself so that the room will stop. Because his death would have been the only way to attract the attention and Samuel L will explain everything to his wife to stop her from entering the room.
Thirdly, the director was just trying to be funny with the ending which is different from the book. The shock face of his wife shows that she doesn't believe the crap the Mike was saying until she heard her daughter's voice. The arrogant expression on Mike's face was saying something like "see, I told you that i really saw her"
The only question i have for the movie is regarding what his wife said on the computer on the 2nd event;"where are you... The cops are in room 1408. The room's empty." If the video footage was really his wife, will u be so dumb to go down to 1408 to visit your ex husband if you had realized your husband was playing a prank on you who claims that he is having trouble in 1408 and made you call the cops. Maybe she still loves him...
So for the whole one hour, Mike was totally in another dimension whereby the cops cant even find him. Only until after Mike burned the room and break the curse did the fireman able to rescue him.
Some interesting thoughts i got from a comment i read that maybe Samuel L was god.(maybe the director chose him because he acted as god before) If you notice, the alcohol that was given to Mike was dated 1939. Its same as the year of the hotel opening and also the year of the first death. And by the way, who in the right mind will continue to sit in his office congratulating Mike when the fire alarm had went off and there is a fire in the hotel.
I just finished watchin' the movie.
I have two possible thoughts about the end.
first, he is still trapped in the room and lives the hour over and over again (because the alcohol is poisoned or somethin') until he kills himself.
second thought, he made it out of the room and his daughter's voice IS real. The voice he taped on the cassette times ago when his daughter was alive. While he was trippin' from that alcohol he overtaped parts of the cassette (and the voice) but not everything because we see him runnin' fast forward a few times during the movie.
lex (German)
First of all there are two endings.
In the directors cut the main character dies.
In the film he survives. Hence, he definetly survived, why otherwise there should be produced two endings (see butterfly effect).
Moreover, the room did not wanted Mike to burn it down. Do you remeber that the room switched on the sprinklers? Mike replied that the room should give it up, because it won´t work. Liquide is not easily to extinguish by water. The room had to let Mike free because it wanted that the firemen come to extinguish the fire. That was the only way for Mike to brake free. That´s also why Mike told the firemen not to go into the room, as he did not want them to kill the fire. (the room saved him, to save itself)
I also think, that the evil room wanted Mike to contact her wife, thus it could get a new victim. The Manager has forbitten to give this room to a guest. It is very difficult for the room to implicate a new victim into the room. I did not read the book but in a cinema review I read that the director changed the number of death people from 42 to 56 as he wanted to make it more horrifying. But actually he wanted something else: there were already 56 victims, Mike would be number 57 and his wife victim number 58. 5 plus 8 make 13!!! Well, who played silent hill- the dark room will have noticed it immediately, as it is the same procedure in this ps game.
The only question that drives me crazy is, who wrote "Burn me alive" at the wall. It couldn´t be the hotel manager as the writing was at the wall, and the wall was in another dimesion. It could have been the daughter, but somehow I doubt this. At least, I come to the conclusion that it has to be the room itself who gave this advice. But why? Was it because the room was suicieded? I also doubt this.
Due to the beach I think, they just put in this scene with the surfing accident to make a connection with the room later on. Moreover, you could be sure at the end when he was in hospital the second time, that he is back for real because he asked questions to his wife who replies them in each scene differently, eg "where are we?" First answer: in LA; Second answer: in NY.
All in all, it´s a very tricky film! There should be more of this films.
Do you remember the when the heater breaks and he calls the front desk to have it fixed? The voice asks him if he would like to check out. That could be significant. Also as he is going to the room but still in the hallway, we see a woman with a baby. However later when Michael climbs the vents we see that the woman is actually his wife and and the baby is his daughter.
Here is my take which hasn't been discussed yet. Its actually quite simple though. As the hotel manager said earlier in the movie, the room is just EVIL. Therefore, it wanted to manipulate Mike into killing himself. What was Mike's weakness, his daughter so the Evil used his daughter to take him to the point of suicide. At the end it appears Mike won over Evil and escaped the room but did he? In the final scene he plays the recorder and he hears his daughters voice saying something about all of them being together. To me, the look that Mike made after hearing that was his way of saying I know what I need to do. I think what we didnt see is Mike commiting an murder suicide so they could all be together. See, the evil won after all.
In the version I watched, John Cusack doesn't get out of the room alive at the end - he dies, and the film finishes with his funeral, being buried in the plot next to his daughter's grave. Sam Jackson tries to give Cusack's wife a box of his possesions, including the tape recorder, but she doesn't want them. Jackson gets in his car and plays the tape recorder, hears the daughter's voice and looks freaked out, and sees a vision of a burned Cusack in the rear view mirror, smiling at him. The vision disappears and Jackson drives off.
The final scene shows Cusack back in the burnt out room as an apparition - his daughter calls out 'Daddy, Daddy' and he nonchalantly says 'yes, of course' and walks towards the door, fading away to nothing. Roll credits.
I haven't read the book, so I don't know which ending is more faithful to it. In the ending I saw the wife is definitely alive and well, and Cusack is definitely dead (although he may still be a ghost in the room.)
Samuel L. Jackson was not GOD. In fact he is quite the opposite...In the movie when Cuzack says that he has lived a selfish life, is true: he cannot let go of his daughter, or drinking, and just get back with his wife. Thus he is being selfish. Remember>> everyone who killed themselves in the room were not preventing anyone else from dying when they did so, thus they were selfish. When cusack torched the room at the end, he had past the devils test and gets to live. The devil being Samuel Jackson. I dont think he was god though simply because god would not "administer" those kinds of tests.
well i guess you ppl did not see the movie in a different perspective.Let me just give you one clue about that he was already busy dying or dreaming ..etc.
Even before he went into the room,did you not see the lady with the pram,which by the way was a old pram with big wheels,This clue clearly show that all that was not real.He saw this pram twice and it was an old pram,So there is some thing you should think about.Watch the movie and see the pram is old school.
I thought the movie was sort of a davinci code sort of movie but nothing scary..the whole movie, I was waiting to be scared and the only times I was apparently "scared" were when the guy with the hammer was behind Mike or coming at him..I watched the movie a second time to try to get something out of it. I don't think Mike died when he was surfing. But as many times as I watched the movie, it just doesn't make sense. The scenes dont go together.Although it was interesting being in Mike's shoes, there's no windows, no door, no way out...
okay..the movie..very bad..
I've just seen the movie, the one in wich cusack does not die...or does him? anyway, there are few weird things nobody seems to have noticed: when cusack enters the hotel, please take a look at people's outfits...are they travelling back in time? then he reches the 14th floor, he goes round for the first time and everything looks clean (he even meets a maid) and for the second time, there is some creepy food and the lady with the baby....what is that all about? does it make any sense? is he going back in time as well? any explanation for this?
Okay here's my theory:
Many of you may remember Cusack's references to Dante's Circles of Hell. In the tape recorder he says that he wonders if he is in the ninth circle of hell as this is where there is complete lack of light and thus heat as well. I've read a few interesting comments and they have been extremely helpful in building this argument so thank you. When Cusack gets distracted while surfing and hit by the wave for the first time he drowns. Due to his lack of faith, produced by the death of his daughter, according to the laws of hell he must now go to the first circle of hell. Essentially the hotel is the representation of hell through Cusack's perception. The bottle of liquor the manager gives to Cusack is the same year that the hotel was established, hinting that Samuel L. has been the manager since the Hotel's creation and hence could suggest that Samuel L. is in fact Satan, he "manages" hell, but it doesn't make him the creator as God is. I'm not sure if the room was supposed to be a test or not for Cusack, Samuel L.'s behaviour suggests that he is not telling Cusack the full story, he clearly knows more than what he is telling. When Cusack reaches the threshold of hell, represented by the room, he begins to gradually move further and further away from reality. The temperature thingy on the wall indicates how far Cusack is in hell. The room is intially hot indicating that he is now beginning to travel deeper into hell as the room gets colder. As the film progresses here their are some fairly logical explanations and indications that support this theory. Firstly when Cusack has only been in the room for a few minutes he requests an engineer to fix the temperature thingy, when the engineer arrives at the door he refuses to enter suggesting that the hotel staff are well aware of the room's power. As the film goes on Cusack desperately tries to escape. He moves further away from reality when he can no longer see people in the building across the road, only his reflection, this elevates into things such as the other windows disappearing on the hotel, leaving 1408 as the only room, brick walls then suddenly appear in front of the windows once again reinforcing Cusack's futile position of attempting to escape, and finally he tries to escape through the vents which don't seem to lead anywhere other than towards more mental torture for Cusack. By this stage Cusack has now travel deep into hell and further away from the human world and reality. The map on the door now only shows room 1408 and Cusack's reflection in mirrors has disappeared. He's pretty screwed by this stage really.
The scene where he tries to contact his wife has several theories behind it. Firstly the room could be trying to trick Cusack's wife into entering the room with him, but seeing as that he is so far away from reality and is own perception of reality, the room is simply tring to trick him altogether. Giving him hope only to break that hope later on, torturing and tormenting him further. Cusack's wife notes that Cusack's webcam footage is blurry further suggesting that his existence as a human is fading fast. After a few more scenes of torture and trickery on the room's behalf, Cusack becomes aware that the only chance he has of escaping the room is if he destroys it. The room however gives him a choice given to him by a hotel operator over the phone. He can either stay in hell forever, torturing his soul or he can commit suicide. All the people who stayed in the room before Cusack committed suicide and their ghosts suggest that Cusack will join these people as spirits, renouncing his qualities and traits as a human and the become one with the room, essentially confirming his eternal imprisonment in hell for his sins. When Cusack destroys the hotel room he also accepts that he will go down with it. At this point he now believes in what he has seen, he comes to terms with his faith and is congratulated by Samuel L. (Satan) for his triumphant victory in conquering his selfish ways. He demonstrated this through his willingness to protect his wife from the room by sacrificing himself. When the numbers on the door begin to melt this further reinforces the room's destruction. This however does not suggest that hell has been destroyed, the room was Cusack's personal perception of hell, the visions of his daughter can only be used as torture for Cusack alone.
Now the ending is a little ambiguous and the explanation is either going to be very complicated or very simple. The simple being that after escaping the room, Cusack proves his once renounced belief in the supernatural to his wife with the voice recording of their daughter. However the stare that Cusack gives at the end of the film looks disturbing and grim suggesting a far more complicated twist.
Yeah so that's it.
wow
you is smart
you rite gudly movie
cooldude out
____________
has anyone else noticed that both times when he washes up on the beach he has psycho 1 written on the arm of his wet suit? a clue maybe?
Here's my thoughts. My first reaction was that this is a thriller version of "Groundhog's Day"...with a slight glimpse of the movie "Momento". Murray repeats everything daily (Cusak-hourly, according to the room). The same damn radio scenario is used in Groundhog's Day. Bill Murray uses what he learns daily to get himself out of Pennsylvania. John Cusak is just doing this with a room! In the movie Momento, Guy Pearce has to leave himself clues or little messages all over the place because of his short term memory condition. In correlation, Cusak would have written himself the postcard. He would have written the words "burn me alive" on the brick wall. He had to relive the near drowning experience as a part of each hour that continues to happen in the room. He only thinks he has succeeded by burning the room PREVIOUSLY. Does anyone recall how he found himself back in the room, among ashes, a burnt out shell of a room (this was after the post office scene). He torched the room at some point earlier. His wife is now stuck in the room with him. He types the book so quickly because he's written this same book MANY times. He smiles at his wife, because he knows they're about to find themselves back in that room. This could go on and on...as it did in the other movies.
My second thought is that Cusak is probably institutionalized (his own father tried to tell him he is sitting in a mental hospital!). He probably tried to commit suicide during his depression over the loss of his daughter. If you recall, he went "out for cigarettes" and never came back. His wife didn't know he was back in town? (He never left town.) She knows exactly where he is, which is why she had the police go to the room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel...and he wasn't there. Samuel Jackson is probably this institution's administrator. Jackson knows Cusak is suicidal. They speak about the "natural" deaths that have occured in Cusak's room. Maybe Cusak tried to drown himself in his own soup...and only remembers it (or justifies it) as being a surfing accident. He sees the same mental people everywhere. Cusak sees this "room" as his personal hell (Dante). He's in a looney ward and even asks his "lawyers" to try and find some loophole to get him out (rather than in). The lawyers almost looked as though they were mocking him when he called them. I think this whole movie is about him trying to get out of an assylym. Jackson probably gave him his daily meds (drugs) not alcohol. He's locked in his room for his own safety. He wakes up in a real hospital after two suicide attempts. He thought about hanging himself. Now he sets fire to his room. He has issues. He sees his little room with brick walls, no windows and no escape. His way of coping with the death of his daughter "opened the door" to this bizarre nighmare that he alone created in his mind.
I got something totally different out of the ending. Right before John C. set the room on fire, the "evil being" on the phone said it would kill his wife, loved ones, and friends...AND that he would not get out alive DESPITE the sirens. What I believe IS that the evil being took John C.'s soul in the fire, and the evil itself escaped using John's body. It then planned on targeting John's wife just as it said. When John plays the tape of their dead daughters voice, he looks at his wife with a kind of evil smirk. This leads me to believe that the evil spirit is inside Johns body. MAYBE I AM OVERTHINKING IT THOUGH!!! LOL
Wow ! So many hypothesis just for a movie played by actors... This film was shit as all the stories by Stephen King....Voila !
Everyone on here is asking who sent the postcard??? When Mike (John C.) talks to the guy at the newspaper/publishing place he says 1408 whats up with it and the guy at the paper is like "Yeah Yeah I know" and then goes on talking about him staying in the room and that they would get everything set up for him. I think it would be safe to say the guy at the newspaper sent it the way that he lightly laughed about it. Ohhh and by the way... watching it right now!!!
Sept 13, 2009 1:58pm EST. Its sunday and nothing else on. 2nd time I have watched it today.
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