When the postcard from the Dolphin Hotel in Manhattan arrives with the message, "Don't Enter 1408," writer Mike Enslin (John Cusack) knows what he has to do. Enter Room 1408.

	In "1408," John Cusack plays writer Mike Enslin, who ignores warnings about an "evil" room in the Dolphin Hotel. Click photo for larger image. '1408' Starring: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson. Director: Mikael Hafstrom. Rating: PG-13 for thematic material including disturbing sequences of violence and terror, frightening images and language. Web site: "1408"

But that's easier said than done when he calls for a reservation and is told -- without naming a date -- the room is unavailable. When he shows up in person, the manager (Samuel L. Jackson) takes him aside and tries to dissuade him over an $800 bottle of cognac.

No one has ever lasted more than an hour in that room, hotelier Gerald Olin insists, and besides, "I don't want you to check into 1408 because I don't want to clean up the mess." All told, 56 people who checked into 1408 didn't check out, either due to natural causes or suicide.

"It's an evil [expletive] room," the manager says in the plainest, most profane way.

But Enslin, a writer of books such as "10 Haunted Hotels," casts a jaundiced eye toward the thick file of photos and death reports about the room. "I know the ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties don't exist," Enslin says, and he doesn't buy into God or the afterlife, either.

So he checks into Room 1408 and wonders, "This is it? You gotta be kidding me." But the suite might as well have Stephen King's trademark "redrum" (murder backward, of course) scrawled on its walls as the writer starts to experience terrors, visions, ghosts and deadly encounters.

Or is it all in his head? Is he hallucinating or trapped in a nightmare? Did his inner demons simply check in at the same time? Or is the room really evil, as it tries to slice off his fingers, fry or freeze him and break his heart all over again.

"1408," directed by Mikael Hafstrom, is based on a King short story spun into a movie by writers Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.

In addition to addressing the innate oddity of the hotel industry -- it must make guests forget about the thousands of strangers who slept in the same bed, used the same bathroom and handled the same phone -- it capitalizes on the lore or lure of haunted houses.

But a ghost in the window on a brochure is one thing, a spectre nosediving to the street another. And while there are scenes and cast members who appear outside Room 1408, it's pretty much Cusack alone, and darned if he doesn't do a surprisingly good job.

He has to crawl inside Mike Enslin's spooked skull and drag us with him. It's an actor's greatest challenge or nightmare, and there's little camp here, no Jack Nicholson declaring, "Here's Johnny" as he swings an axe through a door. With its PG-13 rating, it also doesn't traffic in grisly, "Saw"-style torture, but it's still not suitable for young children.

"1408" has a couple of genuine jolts, but it should save the biggest and best for last, and it doesn't. In the press notes, the director says he shot alternate endings, held test screenings and picked the one "most satisfying not only for the audience, but for the character and for us."

Conclusion by committee. Bad idea, even if the others will appear on the eventual DVD. This final scene feels tacked on, but I liked the roller-coaster ride till then.