Before his direct-to-video days,John Cusackteamed up withSamuel L. Jacksonon one of the highest-ratedStephen Kingadaptations,1408. ThisMikael Håfström-directed movie from 2007is often overshadowed by the likes ofCarrieandThe Shining, but critics and audiences alike appreciated its inventive premise:What if a haunted house was just a single room?John Cusack stars as Mike Enslin, a jaded writer who investigates and reviews supposedly haunted places. When he learns of the haunted room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel, he insists on staying despite warnings from the manager, Olin (Jackson).
One of the more unusual ways1408builds tension is through sound and music – specifically,the Carpenters’ song “We’ve Only Just Begun.”It might be hard to imagine how such a catchy, positive song can be scary, but1408pulls it off brilliantly with several well-timed cues and audio distortions. For viewers paying close attention, the song also reveals the secret to the terrors of room 1408 long before things really start to go sideways.
A Carpenters Song Plays a Major Role in the Horror of ‘1408’
The terror behind1408builds slowly, for both Mike and the audience. When he first enters the haunted hotel room, Mike is thoroughly unimpressed, believing it to be like countless other impersonal hotel rooms. The thermostat is set too high, but that’s his main complaint. As he explores the room further, he tears a piece of toilet paper off the roll, sits down against the pillows on the bed, and opens the window to check the view — normal, everyday activities in a hotel room.
Unexpectedly, the clock radio in the bedroom blares out“We’ve Only Just Begun” by the Carpenters. At first, it seems like an amusing annoyance – Mike bangs his head on the window when the music startles him – but it quickly becomes apparent that the song is more than that. It draws Mike’s attention back to the bedroom where the bed has been turned down and complementary chocolates have appeared —afterMike had already been sitting on the bed. Even more unsettling, the toilet paper roll he’d touched earlier is nowneatly folded as if by a maid, even though no one has come into the room since he arrived.
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This is the first instance of “We’ve Only Just Begun” serving as a herald forthe horrible things Mike will experience in room 1408. The song booms out unpredictably multiple times, at one point signaling to Mike that the clock radio is now counting down from 60 minutes, seemingly turning the movie intoa horrific race against time. As Olin explained to Mike earlier, no one lasts more than an hour in the room. As the countdown begins, the skeptical Mike starts to realize it might be true after all.
‘1408’ Manipulates a Cheerful Song into Something Terrifying
There’s an inherent creepiness in taking an upbeat song like “We’ve Only Just Begun” andusing it as a backdrop for something scary. In fact,John Carpenterused the same song inIn the Mouth of Madness.1408goes a step further by not only making it a recurring theme but also using the outdated clock radio in the room to make the song just a little bit more unsettling. The sound quality of the radio is poor, and the song wavers a little in the middle, making it sound like it’s played from a warped record. It’s jarring to hearthe sour notes in a familiar song, and it serves to keep Mike and the audience on edge whenever it plays. During the most tragic scene of the film, afterMike has been psychologically torturedwith visions of his dead daughter, the distortion becomes even more obvious, making the song almost unintelligible. It suddenly slows down to a sluggish pace,lowering the pitch to a frightening droneas Mike watches the clock tick to zero, before speeding back up again.
“We’ve Only Just Begun” Is a Warning to John Cusack in More Ways Than One
In addition to getting Mike’s attention in1408, “We’ve Only Just Begun” also warns his character with its very title. As the film reaches its climax, the true nature of the room’s evil becomes apparent: it doesn’t keep its victims trapped for a single hour butrepeats the same terrible hour multiple times. As the countdown reaches zero, Mike suddenly wakes up in the room looking like it was when he first entered. The room is intact, nothing is out of place –it’s once again a normal hotel room,complete with 60 minutes still left on the clock.The room even explains what’s happening to Mike through the phone, explicitly telling him thathe will relive the same hellish hour over and over againuntil he chooses to “check out” (i.e., end his own life).This sudden time loop conceptmakes the choice of the Carpenters’ song even more brilliant.“We’ve Only Just Begun” is a bad omen from the very start,the title subtly telling Mike that however bad he thinks the room’s torments are, things will only continue to get worse.
1408is the dark horse of Stephen King adaptations, sometimes forgotten among the older classics, but it’s a solid creep fest for horror fans.John Cusack delivers one of his best performances, especially considering that he’s alone for much of the film. And when he’s with Samuel L. Jackson, even for his limited screen time, their chemistry is a blast to watch. It’s a sharp script that effectively builds tension as it goes for more psychological terror rather than jump scares or monsters.It’s worth checking out, even if you won’t be able to listen to that Carpenters song the same way again.
1408is available to stream on Starz in the U.S.
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