mikael håfström's 1408 (2007)

in some senses 1408 is a valiant effort to reintroduce spooks and scares to the horror game, and in the few moments it really focuses, it does succeed; there's some tantalizing whiffs of mood and macabre austerity during the film's middle section (calling it a second act would misrepresent) and a moment or two of commendably casual terror. but it's also a clusmy adaptation of what seems like a fairly shallow King short story, padded out with pace-constricting grabs at structure and bogged down by a disserviceable slickness. there's probably a damn respectable scary movie to be made from the scraps of 1408, but Håfström's is sadly undone by Hollywood compromise.