By Melissa Antoinette Garza
Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is a writer who debunks supposed paranormal activities found in hotels. He is disillusioned, depressed and discontent with life in general. His daughter had died of cancer a short time before, and controlled by grief he left his wife and delved himself into his work.
When he is invited to the Dolphin Hotel, he believes he has seen it all. He expects the workers to pull stunts to convince him that the strange activity is real, all the while he believes it is all staged. Even though he hears that the room in question, number 1408, was where over fifty people found their death, he remains insistent on staying. The manager, Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson), states that no one has lasted more than an hour and begs Mike to reconsider. He has seen what the room has done to others and doesn’t want to see it again. Still, Mike walks in, tape recorder in hand.
Of course, the room is actually haunted and strange things begin to occur immediately. The first is that the alarm radio plays music for no reason. The Carpenters’ hit, “It’s Only Just Begun,” begins and is heard continuously throughout. Now, this is something that is used often in horror movies. The repetition of music will play during the production to create an eerie atmosphere. It is usually a wise technique. THE RETURN (2006) for example chose Patsy Cline’s song “Sweet Dreams of You,” and it worked. Old songs have a tendency to be creepy when placed in the right setting. “It’s Only Just Begun,” is not one of those songs. The reason this song was chosen is easy. The clock also starts counting down from an hour, so it’s a way of relaying to the character Mike that he hasn’t seen anything yet. He’s still in store for a lot because the strangeness has just begun. Despite that well thought out implication, it still was a bad choice. The Carpenters can’t be scary. They’re too pop and bubble-gum to make one freeze in terror. It would be like playing, AEROSMITH’S, LOVE IN AN ELEVATOR, over and over again. You might find yourself singing along every time they play it, but you’re not going to get scared. This was a very important part of the movie. It is what began the pace and what should have caused nerves to stand on end, but it failed. WE GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE, by THE ANIMALS or even the recent song FUNERAL by the BAND OF HORSES would have helped stir some intensity where IT ONLY JUST BEGUN could not.
Things get worse for poor Mike. He sees his dead daughter, ghosts jump out of windows, he is transported to a hospital where his father is kept, and the entire place crumbles around him. At first he tries to ration everything away. He thinks that perhaps he was drugged and what he is seeing is no more than hallucinations. Soon, he realizes that it’s all real and he tries to get the hell out. It’s a tough hour for the guy. The problem is that it just isn’t scary. It was good to see that actual actors were used for the spirits instead of CGI weird gray blobs but there was still no anxiety felt. GHOST DAD (1990) provided more tense moments.
With the exception of the few scenes Jackson were in, Cusack carried the entire film; and he did well. He played the role believably and he did his best with what he had to work with. It’s just that what looked good on paper, didn’t play out as well on screen. Even the plot was a good one. It had a lot of potential. The actual scares were just missing. They tried, but it seems the makers didn’t exactly know what would be scary. In the end we are left with a well-acted movie and a decent plot that just couldn’t deliver.
Scared Stiff Rating: 5.5/10
