I remember catching sight of The Two Dead Girls book in the grocery store. I bought the book, took it home and began to enjoy what would be my first experience reading serial novels. Paul Edgecomb runs the death row section of the Cold Mountain Penitentiary in the middle of the Depression. We are first drawn into Edgecomb’s life before the giant John Coffey walks onto The Mile.

Edgecomb is dealing with a particularly nasty bladder infection. His colleague’s friend is dying of a brain tumor. And if that wasn’t enough, he has to deal with a power-hungry prison guard who likes to blackmail him with his “connections” with the governor. This guard escorts John Coffey into the Death Row cell block, yelling, “Dead man walking! This is a dead man walking!”

Coffey shuffles into his cell, looking scared and bewildered. He cries a lot. The guards, with the exception of Percy the power-hungry, feel sorry for him. Then, one day, Coffey calls Edgecomb up to his cell. With great reluctance, Edgecomb complies. Coffey grabs the guard by the groin and proceeds to rid him of his bladder infection.

Mystified, Edgecomb sets out to find out exactly how Coffey wound up on Death Row. He learns that the case isn’t as cut and dried as everyone thinks. He also learns that Coffey’s gift can do great things (like bringing a dead mouse back to life), but with a price.

Frank Darabont did an excellent job of recreating the story almost precisely as it is written, and the cast couldn’t have been any better than it was. This isn’t a normal Hollywood movie, but a leisurely 3-hour story and a very good one. I didn’t know about the alternate ending when The Green Mile was reproduced as a full-length novel. After watching this movie, I found that I wanted more. So, I may just go out and buy that novel. I highly recommend the movie. Just make sure you can set aside a full three hours to watch it.

I disagree with David Germain’s “low rent” version of The Shining (see prior post). This movie stands alone on its own merits. While The Shining relied on gore and violence, 1408 is psychological horror at its best.

John Cusack performed beautifully as Mike Enslin, a troubled writer who writes books about haunted hotels despite the fact that he’s a skeptic of the paranormal. “Nothing would make me happier than to experience a paranormal event, to catch a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said to a meager group of fans.

He gets his wish, and then some, when he enters Room 1408 inside the Dolphin hotel. The special effects were very typical of a Stephen King movie. According to the hotel manager (played by Samuel L. Jackson), 56 people had died in that room. Yet, I saw only four of the ghosts.

The evil essence (or whatever you’d like to call it) picked Mike’s brain and tortured him with the memories of his deceased daughter and father. At first, he denies the ghosts as hallucinations, blaming the manager for poisoning the liquor he had taken up to his room. The hauntings escalate until he decides to check out. Only the room won’t let him.

His situation gets scarier and weirder as time goes on. In one scene, we think he’s escaped, only to watch him get plunged right back into that nightmarish room. The ending was a bit rushed and pat. That, I agreed with. Despite the weak ending, this was a good movie. I’m looking forward to adding the DVD to my Stephen King movie collection.

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.

Stephen King drew from his classic stories to make this made-for-TV film. It begins with parapsychology teacher, Joyce Reardon (Nancy Travis), giving a lecture to her students about Rose Red, a reputedly haunted mansion in Seattle. Just as she concludes this lecture, a student reporter challenges her about using university funds and equipment for her upcoming excursion, while her boss and arch nemesis, Professor Miller, watches from a room above the lecture hall.

The two professors get into a heated exchange before Steven Rimbauer, the last heir to the Rimbauer estate (Rose Red) and her lover, arrives. Knowing that Professor Miller is about to destroy her career, Reardon takes a gamble and continues with her project because she wants to prove to the faculty that the paranormal does exist. From the very beginning it is quite clear that she is obsessed with Rose Red, which she believes is the mother lode of haunted houses.

She hires six psychics to accompany her to this place to revive it from its “dead cell” state. One of them is autistic 15 year-old Annie Wheaton (Kimberly Brown), who is a powerhouse of telekinetic ability. Joyce is just as obsessed with the girl as she is with the house because she feels that Annie is the key to unlocking her proof and catapulting her into stardom. The professor is so blinded by her ambitions that she doesn’t see the danger until it is too late. What was supposed to be a weekend of catching spirits and voices on tape, turns out to be a fight for survival.

Rose Red is a very good movie on several levels, although it starts out slow. We’re forced to sit there and wait for Joyce Reardon to finish her lectures about the house and its owners. While interesting, it bordered on too much. I’d say that almost half of the first DVD was taken up by this.

Once the movie got going, I found myself riveted. The characters had a variety of psychic powers and quirks, plus their own motivations for embarking on this mission. It was their quirks that determined how they dealt with the environment they found themselves trapped in and if they survived.

The other qualm was the quality of the special effects, especially where the ghosts were concerned. In all my research about ghosts, I’ve never heard of an account where they appear as corpses. Solid or translucent versions of their former selves, yes, but not walking corpses. Because this was a made-for-TV movie, there isn’t a lot of gore, which is good because the movie had plenty of creepy elements, such as the way the house continued to change its geography.

While Rose Red is not all that original, it is definitely worth watching.