dapted from a Stephen King short story, 1408 has John Cusack giving a rigorous performance as Mike Enslin, a ghost debunker. He's a loner who travels the nation, visiting purportedly haunted sites and exposing them as hoaxes to lure gullible believers.

Mike Enslin is a once-promising novelist specializing in the haunted attractions of America. But he's been in a state of denial for ages — over murky memories of his dad, over adversity involving his wife (Mary McCormack) and their daughter (Jasmine Jessica Anthony), over his profession writing books about hotel ghosts that he does not believe in. When a cryptic postcard postcard from New York City's Dolphin Hotel warns "Don't enter 1408," the challenge to his disbelief is irresistible.

Enslin entices hotel manager Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson in what amounts to an extended cameo) into staying at the room. But first he must hear the lore of the 56 occupants of 1408 that have experienced "express checkout" by suicide, sudden disease or accident. One drowned in a bowl of chicken soup. It’s an “evil fucking room,” he says succinctly.

But the room is still open, and Enslin checks in for the worst night of his life.