For those of you who haven’t heard about the movie yet, I’ll give you the gist. John Cusack plays a man who, after losing his daughter, becomes obsessed with debunking the paranormal. He receives a postcard from the Dolphin Hotel (which is notoriously haunted) with a message that reads, “Don’t enter 1408.”

Naturally, he does.

1408 was dubbed the “low rent of The Shining” by David Germain of Associated Press, but he said that the movie was saved by the stellar performances of John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. I’ve been anxiously awaiting to see this movie since I first saw the movie trailers back in January.

I’ve always been a sucker for ghost stories, especially movies with an intriguing plot. Below is the round-up of the movies that will be coming out this year. There might be more, but this is what I’ve seen to date.

February 2: The Messengers

A teenage girl and her toddler brother experience frightening paranormal phenomenon after their family moves into an old farmhouse out in the country. Based on the synopsis and the trailer, this movie looks pretty typical of Hollywood. Normally, I’d pass on it, but one of my girlfriends wants to see it.

March 23: Dead Silence

Jamie explores the creepy town of Ravens Fair after the brutal murder of his wife, and encounters the legend of Mary Shaw, a famous murdered ventriloquist whose presence is still felt. The lead suspect in his wife’s murder, Jamie is forced to dig deep into the town’s bloody past and uncovers the truth behind a curse that ended Lisa’s life and threatens to take his as well. While the special effects are good, the gore factor doesn’t appeal to me. Fans of Saw might enjoy this. See the trailer here.

July 13: Stephen King’s “1408″

After losing his daughter, a writer who debunks paranormal occurences (John Cusack) checks into The Dolphin Hotel’s most notorious room to experience the ghosts first-hand. I don’t know if this movie will compare with King’s original version of The Shining, but it looks like it has plenty of creepy weirdness. I’ll definitely go to see that one! Watch the trailer.

Synposis

The book begins by describing why the paranormal is worthy of scientific investigation and why belief in the paranormal has increased over the last 10 years. Next it reviews the areas of neuroscience, neurotheology, and quantum physics. These are relatively new areas to mainstream science and therefore can be unfamiliar even to the veteran paranormal investigator. The brief overview of each topic provides one with a general understanding of the topic and explains why they are important to paranormal research and how they may someday make the paranormal very normal.

About the Author

Bobbie Atristain founded CPRI in the Spring of 2000 with Matt Didier of The Toronto Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society. She currently writes for the print edition of Ghost! Magazine, the UK’s Mystery Mag and T.A.P.S. Para Magazine.

Available at Lulu!

Leslie Rule, daughter of best-selling crime author Ann Rule, grew up in a haunted house built on an Indian burial ground overlooking Puget Sound, where her lifelong fascination with the paranormal began. Her latest book covers stories of the restless dead, narrating the events surrounding their passing and telling of the rumored ghosts seen afterward.

“They are clamoring for attention now. In hotels and cafes and hospitals and schools and within private residences, they are trying to make us notice.”

Chapters include:

• The Ice Files. These old, unsolved cases of homicide have long gone cold, but they may be the key to the question of why certain places have been haunted for generations.
• Witch Hunt. This chapter exhumes the old stories of witch trials in Boston and Salem, placing them historically parrallel to a wave of hauntings reported in those locations.
• Victims of War. An old naval shipyard, Gettysberg and other sites related to war are explored as places where ghosts from past conflicts continue to linger in this world.