The Tobe Hooper remake of the ‘78 “classic” immediately hits the highest level of interest that the original stirred in me by the mere presence of Angela Bettis, who I could happily watch for two hours waiting for a bus. That we see her early on doing her laundry, deliberately or not invoking memories of May, only pulls me in more. But that’s pretty much where the draw for me ends here, and it’s unlikely I’ll watch it again even for her.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with the movie – in fact, there are some really nice ideas. For one, the manner in which they use the source material – clinging to sketchy details but most importantly using the Bettis character as an outsider who witnesses the whole thing through the walls of her apartment in a spooky old Hollywood hotel. The first time she hears scary noises and reports them, it turns out to be some actors rehearsing, which makes the nailgun scene that follows, which I loved so much in the original, particularly riveting.

Unfortunately, it runs out of steam too quickly, and rather shoots itself in the foot in the end with occult nonsense the likes of which you’d expect to find in a dire 80s TV movie. The gore has nothing on the Seventies version, and really aside from Bettis there’s little reason to recommend it over the more haunting original.

There isn’t much to add on seeing the Theatrical Cut of this to what I wrote below of the Director’s Cut except that, to my surprise, this (only slightly shorter: about 8 minutes as opposed to 30 I expected below) cut makes what I already found to be a fantastic movie even better. All the daughter stuff is there. I’ve read some comments about pacing being altered here and there but overall I didn’t notice any differences except in the ending, which is just infinitely more satisfying, creepy and thought-provoking. Apparently neither this cut nor even just the alternate ending are available on DVD in the UK which sucks. So it goes without saying, pay the little extra – and another little extra (a whole £1 on PlayUsa) for both cuts – watch the director’s cut as a curiosity, by all means but personally I’ll be coming back to the Theatrical Cut from now on.

10th October, 2007:

Addendum: Just realised, for the record so all the talk about running times etc below makes sense lol, yet again I’ve accidentally managed to see the Director’s Cut first.

Wow I kind of knew that this would be good, as most Stephen King short story adaptations are, as most John Cusack movies are … but I have to say my excitement was dulled a little by what looked like an overlong running time for such a movie, at almost 2 hours rather than the expected 90 minutes.

What I found was that the extra 30 minutes were the most pleasantly surprising, heartbreaking backstory of Cusack’s character that at once makes us plain care a little more about his plight, but at the same time bridges the gap between two halves vastly varied in tone, all the while making the movie infinitely more powerful than it has any real right to be. While the first half of this movie is almost pure comedy, all the jumps and scares done very knowingly with one-line snarky responses from Cusack, who wholeheartedly revels in it, the second half is chill, nightmarish, and quite honestly the scariest thing I’ve seen in quite some time (I’m inclined to say since The Sixth Sense but looking back over old reviews I’m reminded of The Skeleton Key and the original Saw).

1408 is certainly up there with Secret Window, The Green Mile, Misery, if not quite rubbing shoulders with Carrie and The Shining. The visuals are stunning, Gabriel Yared’s score alternates perfectly between Elfman-esque thrill-enhancement and his usual dreamlike emotional stuff. But those aren’t the things that really made the movie for me. I’ve always loved John Cusack … like, really loved, he’s one of the great Js, Johnny, Josh, Jared, Joseph, mm-hm but I digress … but here, I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s by far his greatest performance. In a world post-Johnny being nominated for Jack Sparrow, I swear – okay, I believe – Cusack should get a nomination for this role, it’s just sucks you in to every twitch he makes. That the movie also manages to successfully work its way past a bone fide “Then he woke up and it was all a dream,” scene (incidentally, just about around the 80-90 minute mark where I originally thought the movie should’ve ended), and my stomach only sank for a nano-second before I was sucked into the nightmare again, is pure icing on the cake. Definitely one I’ll watch again and again.

“And Kleenex makes a very good hat!”

ROFL … okay, I’m done. I’ve decided what I wanna be in my next life if I have a next life. I absolutely must be Eloise, lol. I’m in love with her life. “Think pink! A better way of life!” I may have just been too shocked at the time by how much I loved it to realise just how good Christmastime was when I watched it last year, but I’m pretty sure this first movie is marginally better in all areas (I’ll maybe report back on that since YAY Disney Channel is showing Christmastime again later this month … I’ll be sure to record it this time). Julie Andrews is better as Nanny, that’s for sure, she seems more throaty and bogged down etc … but again, maybe I’m just misremembering Christmastime, like I said it was a shock to the system at the time.

Sofia Vassilieva’s energy is just as infectious as in the other movie, she can’t pass a prop without climbing on it or swinging on it or something. The apparently forthcoming Eloise in Paris won’t be the same without her (though I’m sure I’ll still go gaga over it … I mean … ELOISE … in PARIS … c’mon …) This movie, this world, this girl, it’s just a dream. Completely instant favourite, and I’ll be buying the books ASAP, I’m totally hooked now.