1408 | 100 Movies Bucket List

 

This is one of the happiest surprises on the bucket list for me.

I absolutely love this film, but I'd never heard anybody else really talk about it so I didn't know it was popular or could be considered a classic. Of course it's a Stephen King novella, so it is known and loved, but it's not one of his most popular works.

We're in the final 20-or-so films now, and this is one that I was saving because I was so excited to see it again.

The bucket list has some great, interesting horrors, and this is definitely near the top of the list for me!

For a start, as a horror fan, having the job of going to different haunted locations to write about them and give them ratings seems so interesting! I'm surprised more horror movies haven't used this idea to explore different hauntings.

I love how the horror is set up. We're repeatedly told the history of this room and how scary it is, which can elicit a couple of responses from the audience. We're either waiting with baited, breath, excited to experience the room, or we're sceptical and (like the character) don't believe it could be as scary as claimed. With either reaction, you're watching the film closely waiting for something to happen, and when it does, you're locked in.

The pacing is great. The horrors of the room are teased out a little at a time, and you get to clearly watch the character's descent into paranoia.

It was also really interesting to use grief as a backdrop. It lets us understand the character's state of mind, but it also makes us as the audience a bit paranoid too. Is everything he's seeing real? Is he only seeing some of these things because of his state of mind? Is the room really haunted? 

The acting is great. John Cusack plays the role so well and adds so much to this character. But the supporting cast do a great job of supporting and adding to the story.

Overall, I'm really glad this was on the bucket list - I never would have expected it, but it makes complete sense. It's a great horror movie that's definitely worth watching!