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 from New York City's Dolphin Hotel warns him to stay away from the Dolphin Hotel’s room 1408, his curiosity piqued.

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 died in ghastly ways; 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 a night of pre “Kafka-esque” hell.

Once the room has Enslin in its clutches, it tortures him with visions of dead lodgers and accusing spirits from his own past. There are enough layers of reference to his visions that they could be hallucinations. Is it real? Is it all in his head? Even The Carpenters are in on the act, as the clock radio blares a taunting blast of "We've Only Just Begun."

Director Mikael Hafstrom (the foreign-language Academy Award nominee "Evil") effectively uses many images and noises done to death in the horror genre, bleeding walls and moaning spirits among them. He has a good grasp of building up the character study, giving the audience a nice feel of Enslin's testy personality before he's subjected to a barrage of nightmares.

Shot mostly on London soundstages, the claustrophobic film is more interested in film acting and bravura filmmaking - via slow camera moves and ponderous music - as opposed to throat-throttling shocks a la Saw and Hostel. And indeed, 1408 thrills sufficiently. While its visuals are state-of-the-art, the film at heart is refreshingly old school while never giving the appearance of being a techno wizard’s wet dream.