Molotov Mike (1408)

It's currently Mother's Day weekend, so happy

Mother's Day to you and yours. Happy Mother's

Day to my wife, mother to our four children,

and happy Mother's Day to my mom, who once asked

me when I was eight years old if I wanted a little

brother or sister, and I responded with, hell

nah, because I wanted all the toys for myself.

But in celebration of this day, let me tell you

what's probably my favorite story regarding my

mother. And I promise you, this is a true story.

So about 14, 15 years ago, we went out to this

restaurant called Razzoo's. If you're in Texas,

you know what I'm talking about. It's like a

big chain, like a Cajun restaurant. There's like

19 locations in Texas. Apparently, there's one

in North Carolina. So if you live next to that

one, maybe you know what I'm talking about too.

But we went out. It's me, my mom, my cousins,

my aunts. It's the whole family, right? And we...

order like this hella sugary cocktail, like a

big bowl. It's like a gator punch bowl or swamp

bowl, some shit like that. My mom is a hella

lightweight, like the lightest of the lightweight.

So after about three sips, she was completely

trashed. So we finished things up, go outside

and she's like, I have to go to the bathroom,

but we're all like feeling buzzed or, you know,

tipsy, maybe a little bit drunk, some of us.

I, like, pick her up and, like, squeeze her or

something, like, just, like, playing around,

horseplay. And a little bit of pee comes out.

And she's like, oh, my goodness, I told you I

had to pee. Why'd you do that? And I was like,

oh, shit, my bad. We're laughing, whatever. But

my cousin, Tee, apparently laughed a little bit

too hard, so my mom starts chasing him around.

And, like, this Razzoo's is located in the middle

of this outdoor kind of mall setup. And so there's

a lot of space to run. And he's trying to, like,

dodge back and forth, trying to juke her and

shit. And he ends up juking himself and he slips

and falls on the ground. And she pounces, bro.

She sits right on his chest and proceeds to pee

a little bit more. And so he's like, hey, are

you peeing on me? And she just gets up and just

runs away giggling. And there's like a wet spot

on his chest. So that is my mother. And if you

ever wondered where my unhinged commentary came

from, well, now I guess you have a little bit

of an idea. So happy Mother's Day, mom. Love

you. Thanks for letting me keep all the toys

to myself. But anyway, I'm Brandon O. This is

Terrorific, and we're chopping up 2007's 1408.

Welcome back to the place where it's perpetually

spooky season. This is your first time here.

This season is all about breaking down the horror

film adaptations of my personal favorite author,

the horror goat himself, Stephen King. Be sure

you're following at Terrific Podcast on IG because

leading up to each new episode, I'm posting a

response box on my story for you to guess what

movie that episode will cover. And if you guess

correctly, I'll shout you out by name in that

episode. Now, the hint for this episode was aquatic

mammal, which was a reference to the name of

the hotel in 1408, the Dolphin Hotel. Now, guesses

that I got back were quite varied. They included

things like the Creepshow 2 segment, The Raft,

which I had never even heard of. So y 'all apparently

need to take over for me because I'm slacking

on my Stephen King knowledge. Other responses

were Tusk. Dangerous Animals, The Meg, Orca,

Shark Tales, and Godzilla. I'm pretty sure none

of these relate to Stephen King, but maybe that's

my fault for not reminding people about the theme

for this season. But also we may need a little

bit of a refresher on what constitutes a mammal

because Godzilla and sharks, uh, I don't think

they qualify. as mammals but anyway after i got

these responses back i was like all right i need

to have like a second hint so this time i said

the aquatic mammal is not an actual animal i

also had to remind folks that we are talking

about stephen king adaptations here because clearly

we went off the rails a little bit so this next

batch of responses included the mist it bag of

bones and secret window So, you know, kind of

getting a little bit closer, especially that

secret window guess. I mean, we have like an

isolated author type of shit, pretty similar

to 1408 in some regard. And I guess a lot of

Stephen King characters do involve like isolated

authors doing crazy shit. But I then provided

a third hint, which was a dolphin emoji and a

hotel bell emoji. And from this, we did get a

correct guess. So shout out to Kat, host of the

Call Her Kat podcast for guessing correctly with

1408. And Kat's latest episode of her podcast

is titled From Firefighter to Healer, Rewiring

Trauma and Purpose, where she interviews Ashley

Dillard, a former firefighter and paramedic turned

licensed counselor, hypnotherapist and podcast

host. All about her journey out of emergency

services and into trauma -informed care for first

responders, military members, and families. Wow,

that sounds like some really meaningful and impactful

work. Respect. Meanwhile, I'm over here doing

things like making jokes about some murderous

magician's demonic cloak having a taste for cream

pies. But we all have our roles to play. And

I wouldn't normally do this, but since it is

Mother's Day weekend, I will acknowledge that

my mother is very determined to get her shout

out. So she's always submitting guesses and she's

always very wrong, but she tries so hard. She

really, really wants that shout out. So Pet Cemetery

is like her constant guess. And eventually it's

going to be right. Maybe. Wink, wink. But I'll

give her a shout out anyway. I had to give her

some extra clues. I think I told her Dolphin

Hotel like straight up eventually. And so she

went to Google and then found out that it was

1408 I was talking about. So, you know, not exactly

the most legitimate guess here, but I'll give

you a shout out anyway. So congrats, mom. You

made it. And keep guessing Pet Sematary, OK?

Eventually, you know, even a stop clock. is right

twice per day. But let's get to it. So 1408 is

based on Stephen King's short story of the same

name, first published in the 1999 audiobook Blood

and Smoke. Later in 2002, it was published in

written form in Everything's Eventual, which

is a collection of 11 short stories and three

novellas. And I think I mentioned in the first

episode of this season that Everything's Eventual

was one of the first works of Stephen King that

I read as a youngster. Maybe even the first.

So because of that, I knew I definitely wanted

to talk about 1408 at some point this season.

Because it was a good ass story. But how does

the adaptation compare? So the film was directed

by Mikael Hofstrom, whose horror credits also

include 2011's The Right, starring Anthony Hopkins

as an exorcist. 1408's screenplay was written

by Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander, and Larry...

Karaszewski. Greenberg's horror writing credits

include 2002's Reign of Fire. I don't know if

this counts as horror, but to me, dragons are

pretty fucking scary, so I'm going to count it.

As well as 2019's Pet Sematary. Alexander and

Karaszewski are frequent collaborators, mostly

outside of the horror space, but Alexander does

have a writing credit on The Trap, which is a

1991 anthology segment in Tales from the Crypt.

1408 stars John Cusack as Mike Inslin, with Samuel

L. Jackson as Gerald Olin, and Mary McCormack

as Lily Inslin being the main supporting roles.

At the box office, the film grossed $132 million

worldwide against a budget of $25 million, so

relatively successful. It holds an average rating

of 3 .2 on Letterboxd, and I rated it a 2 .5

myself. I liked it more when I first watched

it, you know, damn near 20 years ago. But like

visually, things didn't really age the best.

But the film opens with Mike driving in his car

through a torrential downpour, eventually arriving

at an inn that's supposedly haunted. And he decides

to stay the night in the room with the most reported

paranormal activity. So Mike is an author. who

goes around staying in haunted locations in an

effort to prove the existence of ghosts, spirits,

the afterlife, etc. Well, Bro is about to fuck

around and find out, but first he goes to a book

signing event, and he's the author of these best

-selling ghost survival guides, so 10 Haunted

Hotels, 10 Haunted Graveyards, 10 Haunted Lighthouses

are some of his previous titles. But most importantly,

he is a skeptic. He says he's never seen a ghost

and thinks they're a cheap tactic desperate hotels

use when bookings begin to decline. And as he

says this during this book signing, people are

just kind of like, uh, what the fuck is wrong

with this guy? But he also says that he wants

to see one so he could have proof there's an

afterlife. And as he says this, there's kind

of like this. morose kind of feeling or tone

to his body language and and face but one of

the fans brings a copy of mike's first book the

long road home for him to sign and ask if he'll

write something like it again and he says no

that was a different guy now he's all jaded and

cynical and shit And this fan mentions the relationship

between the father and son in the novel and how

it feels so authentic. She asks Mike if it's

true and he says no, but he doesn't really give

the vibe that he's being completely truthful

when he says that. Mike returns to his home in

LA, ends up going surfing. He lives like beachside,

which, you know, perks of being an author, I

guess. And he's sitting on his board and he looks

up at a plane that's pulling an ad banner and

he's distracted and ends up getting smacked by

this big ass wave. And he gets submerged and

eventually washes up on shore, coughing up water

like. no one pulls him out of the water i want

to emphasize that fact he just washes up on shore

on his own and that's when fellow beachgoers

run up to him and be like hey are you all right

mister so just keep that little tidbit in mind

but nearly drowning is apparently no big deal

because mike just continues on his merry way

starts to run some errands goes to the post office

to check his mail And he's received a postcard

from the Dolphin Hotel in NYC. It's not addressed

from anyone, no signature. All it does is warn

him to not enter room 1408. He writes a note

to himself on the postcard saying that the digits

in 1408 add up to the number 13, which of course

in folklore and superstition is a highly unlucky

and ominous number. Mike calls the Dolphin to

reserve 1408 and he's told the room is unavailable.

But Mike's like, wait, I didn't even say which

date. And he proceeds to rattle off times like

that weekend, unavailable, next week, unavailable,

next month, unavailable, and even next summer,

which also is unavailable. And eventually the

front desk person just hangs up the phone. So

Mike does not. want to take no for an answer

so he's ignoring various red flags such as the

fact that he got a random postcard in the mail

telling him not to enter a place and all he wants

to do is enter that place. Interesting decision

making here Mike. He begins conducting research

and it turns up news articles of multiple suicides

occurring inside of 1408 dating all the way back

to the 1930s. And as always, if you or anyone

you know is struggling with thoughts of self

-harm or suicide, please call or text 988. You

are not alone. You do not have to suffer in silence.

Please talk to somebody. Please reach out for

help. Mike calls his publisher, who's played

by Tony Shalhoub, to assist with circumventing

the uncooperative front desk booking agent person,

whatever. And the publishing company's in -house

counsel found some federal civil rights law that

says if the room isn't occupied, they have to

let him stay in it or they have grounds for litigation.

So the publisher asked Mike if he's sure he wants

to go to the hotel. Quote unquote, given everything

that happened. And he also asked if Mike's going

to visit someone named Lily or tell her that

he's in the city. And Mike says no, because he

doesn't want to impose. So Mike arrives at the

Dolphin to check in and his reservation has a

message on it saying to alert management before

checking the guest in. And so manager Gerald

Olin pulls up, who was played by Samuel L. Jackson

with hair. Very jarring visual here as a bald

man myself seeing my fellow bald brethren with

the full head of hair. I was like, yo, traitor.

But he comes up to greet Mike and he tries to

bribe him with like Knicks tickets and other

shit. Even a free upgrade to the penthouse suite

with the condition that Mike does not stay in

1408. But Mike is insistent. So they head to

Olin's office for a private chat. And there Olin

tries to bribe him again, this time with an $800

bottle of whiskey. Bro, imagine being offered

Knicks tickets, probably Broadway tickets, a

free penthouse upgrade in the middle of downtown

New York City, plus an $800 bottle of premium

whiskey. All in exchange for not staying in a

haunted hotel room. Bro, I would not stay in

a haunted hotel room for free. But Mike apparently

is built differently because he says he plans

to stay overnight per usual. And Olin tells him

that no one has ever lasted longer than one single

hour. During Olin's time as manager, there have

been four deaths in 1408. After the last one,

he forbade any guests from booking 1408 ever

again. But Mike's aware of these four deaths,

knowledge that he acquired during his research.

So the last person was a manic depressive orthodontist

who apparently slit his wrist and turned himself

into a eunuch. A .K .A. he cut off his own balls.

Wow. And Mike recounts Ballas Bobby's tale all

flippantly. He's clearly not taking it that seriously,

not really buying that that has anything to do

with any kind of ghostly or paranormal activity.

And so Olin's like, all right, but how about

a little bit more? In the 95 years of the Dolphin

Hotel's operation, it's seen seven jumpers, five

hangings, four ODs, three mutilations. and two

stranglings what kind of fucked up 12 days of

christmas is this bullshit but mike again knowing

all this through his research continues to act

flippantly and dismissively and that's when olin's

like okay but what about the 22 natural deaths

that have occurred in 1408 and mike's like uh

Natural deaths? This is news to him. And Olin's

like, yeah, that's right, bitch, because the

papers don't run those boring ass stories. They

only want the sensationalism. And so that brings

the total death count in 1408 up to 56 people.

And these causes of these natural deaths include

heart attack, stroke, and even someone who drowned

in a bowl of chicken noodle soup. dog dog death

by campbell's is crazy and it's even crazier

that this wasn't enough to deter mike so olin's

final offer is to give mike access to all files

in the history of 1408 to put into his book again

just on the condition that he does not stay in

the room so he'll get access to photos from the

scenes like coroner's records plus still like

the nicks tickets the penthouse suite upgrade

and the 800 bottle of whiskey and mike is insistent

still so olin gives him the files anyway in hopes

they'll scare him into not staying and this shit

is like grisly bro like one of the victims slit

his own throat then tried to stitch it back together

with the sewing needle before he bled out mike

is looking at photos of this occurrence this

this aftermath he's looking at photos of other

just macabre happenings to people and it's still

not enough to turn him off from staying in this

room which really drives home the point that

mike's internal motivation is based on what has

to be desperation and it's desperation that seems

to be driven by something that's not you know

tied to money or financial rewards it seems to

be powered by grief because he seems depressed

he seems just like he's kind of going through

the motions of life and this kind of depression

this kind of grief you know who did he lose and

all then mentions that he's read some of mike's

work and calls it the cynicism of an intelligent

and talented man who doesn't believe in anything

or anyone but himself He mentions in Long Road

Home and how the father was a real bastard. So

at this point, I was thinking that Mike is the

dad in this book. And so whatever the relationship

between the father and the son was, and that

the father was a bastard, maybe if the son ended

up passing somehow, Mike is now living with this

regret. and guilt and he is desperate to find

proof of the afterlife in hopes that he can communicate

with his son and apologize for whatever took

place between them but mike confirms olin's diagnosis

of him he is indeed a man who doesn't believe

in anything or anyone He confirms that he's an

atheist, saying that if ghosts and ghouls did

exist, there's no God to protect us from them.

Olin finally relents and gives Mike the key to

1408. And they hop in the elevator to head on

up to the room. Mike comments on the key's appearance.

It's not a card. It's like an antique legitimate

key. And Olin says that's because the electronics,

including room card readers, do not work in room

1408. Olin also mentions that the hotel's owners

were superstitious about having a 13th floor

so they don't list it. So as they go up in the

elevator we see it going from floor 12 to floor

14. So 1408 whose digits add up to the number

13 is in reality on the 13th floor. So it's ominous

all around bro. But Mike is concerned about the

rooms. condition he thinks it might be unkempt

but olin's like yo bro like don't offend me here

we are professionals at the end of the day So

once a month, they give the room a light turn.

Olin supervises and the maids work in pairs,

but only for 10 minutes in and out with the door

left open. Because a few years ago, a maid got

locked in the bathroom for a few moments. And

during that time, she took a pair of scissors

and gouged her eyes out while laughing hysterically.

But I guess Mike's eyeballs come equipped with

like. scissor repellent or some shit because

he's like, fuck it, bro, YOLO, and steps off

the elevator to head towards the room. And he

looks back and notices that Olin is still on

the elevator because Olin is smart. He tells

him that he does not go any further beyond this

point when it comes to 1408, which does beg the

question. How exactly is he supervising these

monthly light turns if he never leaves the elevator?

Because Mike has to like walk around the corner

and all this shit to get to the room. Anyway,

he takes that trusty bottle of $800 whiskey and

it's like, all right, I'm gonna set up shop.

And as he's about to enter his room, he sees

a woman pushing a like an old school stroller

into the room next door. And this seemingly minor

detail will come into play. later but once inside

the room things seem hella ordinary just looks

like a regular hotel suite mike pulls out a bible

from the bedside nightstand and casually thumbs

through a few pages and the camera lingers on

a couple of these pages for like one second so

i paused it to look more closely at it and these

passages are samuel chapter 2 verses 11 and 12.

Mike tosses the bible back into the nightstand

drawer and when he does the letters on the cover

appear to be inverted. Mike then makes an offhand

comment while speaking into his tape recorder

about the dull paintings in the room and suggests

that their poor quality means that he's in the

seventh circle of hell. Now I have a theory about

what all of this means but it requires full context

of the plot to properly explain so we'll come

back to it at the end. Mike goes to look out

the window in the room and the clock radio by

the bed cuts on by itself and the song that's

playing is the Carpenters We've Only Just Begun

and it sounds creepy as fuck. Not only that,

there are also a couple of chocolates now sitting

on the pillow and Mike thinks that someone must

be in the room pranking him so he searches in

the closet, the bathroom, etc. And he doesn't

find anyone, but he does see that the toilet

paper roll has been folded all nicely like a

little bow is in the paper. And it's also abnormally

hot in this room. Like this man is sweating,

bro. The thermostat is appears to be broken and

it's stuck at 80 and climbing. So he calls down

to the front desk to have them send someone to

fix it. So while he waits for someone to arrive,

he walks around the room with the black light

and it lights up like Christmas. There are bloodstains

everywhere. And there's like every time he finds

a new bloodstain, they like briefly flash a prior

victim in that spot and show, you know, how they

died or whatever. So that was a pretty neat little

touch. Pretty creepy. Not long afterwards, someone

shows up to fix the thermostat, and this person

is played by Isaiah Whitlock Jr., R .I .P., best

known for playing Senator Clay Davis on the show

The Wire. And his iconic line is, which I still

say to this day, both vocally and textually.

This engineer refuses to enter the room. He instructs

Mike how to fix it from the threshold. Mike completes

the repair, which was as simple as just like

taking the faceplate off the thermostat and knocking

the little mercury tube inside. And so he turns

to thank the engineer and give him a tip and

notices that he's just gone without a word or

without a trace. Mike even goes out into the

hallway to try to see him like walking away and

no one's there. So question is, was this person

a ghost? Mike pours himself a glass of that $800

bottle of whiskey that Olin gave him and climbs

into bed with his shoes. on bro and this is completely

unhinged diabolical behavior i don't care if

you're staying in a hotel and the bed is not

technically yours having shoes anywhere close

to where you're going to be sleeping is crazy

behavior but as he lays there the clock radio

turns on by itself again playing that same song

and mike spills his drink all over the place

so not only does he have these crusty ass shoes

and all the dog turds and puddles that he walked

through in nyc for the day in his bed now he

also has whiskey just a whole mess all around

i need you to be better mike but the time on

the clock radio changes to a timer that counts

down from an hour while the song we've only just

begun continues to ominously play in really underlining

what's about to happen. So first Mike goes back

over to the window to take another peek outside

and as he's gazing down at the street below something

behind him Mike gets his attention so he turns

around and he's like holding on to the windowsill

so it shuts on his hand and cuts it pretty badly.

So he goes to the bathroom to rinse off all the

blood in the sink and while he's doing so it

suddenly changes to this high pressured scalding

hot water. And as he nurses these burns, the

clock radio starts playing its song again. We've

only just begun. And Mike rips the plug out of

the wall and the music stops, but the timer keeps

going. So now Mike's kind of like, OK, maybe

it's time to get the fuck out of here. So he

goes over to the door, puts the key into the

lock, but it breaks off and then it gets sucked

into the keyhole. Pretty awkward. Mike looks

through the peephole and sees an eye looking

back at him. What the fuck? No, thank you. He

goes back to the window to yell for help at the

passersby down on the street and bro tosses a

lamp out of the window to get their attention.

That seems a little bit extreme there, buddy.

Like hella dangerous. So Mike is trying to rationalize

all that's happening right now. And he lands

on the theory that Olin drugged him with that

$800 bottle of booze and or the chocolate that

was left on his pillow. So he's like, OK, I'm

cool. I just need to ride this out. But then

the TV turns on by itself and it's playing old

home movies of Mike with his wife, Lily, and

their daughter, Katie. who looks like she's maybe

about 10 years old. But the psychological assault

does not end there. Mike then starts seeing ghosts

of the previous occupants of the room jumping

out of the window. He hears the baby next door

crying at a crazy loud level. The volume increases

to like deafening levels until he throws a chair

at the wall to cease everything. He then walks

over to the bathroom and the bathroom is like

changed to kind of a hospital room style of bathroom.

And he sees his dad there. He's sitting in a

wheelchair talking to himself when he turns to

Mike and tells him, as you are, I was, as I am,

you will be. So at this point in the movie, we're

still trying to put the pieces together. But

based on this interaction or this hallucination

of. mike's dad it seems like he has a fear of

becoming his father so his first book the long

road home with that relationship between the

father and son and the father being a real bastard

maybe it isn't actually about mike and his kid

maybe mike is the child and his father was the

bastard and now he's afraid of becoming him as

he grows older especially since To this point

in the movie, we've only seen Mike by himself.

He doesn't appear to have a wife and child currently.

So where are they? How did things end? Was it

divorce or what? We're not quite sure. But based

on the profound look of sadness that appeared

on Mike's face whenever he was watching the home

movie with Lily and Katie, whatever went down

had to have been pretty bad. And all this stuff

has Mike's psyche really teetering on the edge.

He begins to question reality and he wonders

if he's just having an incredibly vivid nightmare.

And as he's thinking about this, the wall begins

to crack open and starts leaking this like doo

-doo looking fluid out of it. And this motherfucker

Mike touches it, bro. There is no way in hell.

I'd be touching some mysterious doo -doo water.

Like, that is insane. And in addition to just

being gross, it's also not smart. I mean, this

dude has a big -ass open wound on his hand from

when the window came and sliced it open, so why

are you going to be fondling this fecal fountain,

bro? That is an infection waiting to happen.

But then Mike gets the bright idea that he could

probably reach the room next door if he walks

outside the building on the ledge. Before he

ventures out, he counts the number of steps from

his room's window over to the wall. So once he

gets outside on the ledge and begins to shimmy

across, you know, looking down as he's 13 floors

up and... It's pretty nerve wracking stuff. I'm

not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I

am deathly, deathly afraid of heights. So this

scene had me stressing, bro. Absolutely stressing.

But Mike hits that number that he counted on

the inside. And when he does, he doesn't see

a window. No, he just sees more ledge that seems

to stretch on endlessly. So he turns around and

heads back towards his own window in 1408. And

as he makes it back, there is the specter of

a woman who was there waiting for him and takes

a swipe at him like a jump scare. And this causes

him to lurch backwards and he narrowly avoids

plummeting to the ground because he grabs onto

the ledge at the last second. The ghost lady

then climbs out of the window and takes a swan

dive so he's seen another prior victim meet her

grisly end. The window then starts closing so

he scrambles up quickly and climbs through at

the very last second before it slams shut so

this whole window ledge adventure doesn't seem

like it's going to be happening again. Mike goes

over to the peephole to take another look and

this time he sees a brick wall. He sees brick

outside of the window that he just climbed through

now too. So 1408 is making a very strong effort

to keep Mike confined because it has more fucked

up shit to show him. So the room changes scenery

again. This time Mike sees himself and Lily in

a doctor's office crying. And there's an intercom

message saying, you know, paging someone in oncology.

And they're talking about how they can get another

opinion. And then someone asked, what kind of

God would do this to a little girl? Then it cuts

to Katie laying in a hospital bed. So we can

intimate that Katie has been diagnosed with some

form of cancer. And although there still may

be some details missing, this pretty much gives

us all we need to assemble the overall picture.

Mike is an atheist because his daughter passed

away from cancer. Mike spends his time ghost

hunting, hoping to find proof of spirits and

or the afterlife in order to reassure himself

that maybe there's a chance he can contact or

see Katie. again. And that my friend is some

pretty heartbreaking shit but Mike can't afford

to dwell on the pain of loss because he still

has to contend with all that 1408 is throwing

at him. So now the thermostat moves the other

way and the room gets freezing cold. Mike tries

his cell phone and it has no signal so he pulls

his laptop out of his bag and he is able to get

a feeble connection. He video calls Lily and

she's like Mike, is that you? What? Because they

haven't spoken in a year. He's trying to tell

her that he's in danger and needs help. He tells

her to call the cops and send them to the Dolphin

Hotel. And she's like, wait, what the fuck? Like

you're in the city. You didn't say anything.

And she's upset. She says that he just walked

out and left her, didn't divorce her or anything.

She doesn't know what they are. They separated

or what? And now suddenly that he needs something

and needs her. He wants to call out of the blue.

Mike's next escape plan is to attempt to make

it to the room next door by crawling through

the air duct in the ceiling. And as he makes

his way through the duct, he is like above the

next room and he's peering down and sees the

lady in there with her baby. And she creepily

looks up at him, revealing herself to be just

a younger version of Lily holding baby Katie.

So Mike's like, all right. Fuck this and I'm

going to go somewhere else. He keeps crawling

until he's attacked by like this dusty ass ghoul

behind him. It like grabs his ankle. So he turns

and kicks it in the face and it kicks its jaw

off and its head. And this causes Mike to fall

through the ceiling and come crashing back down

into 1408. And this dude really needs a drink

at this point. So he goes over to the mini fridge,

opens it up and sees a miniature Olin in there.

And now the fridge is like his office in tiny

form. So he lectures Mike on how he's destroying

people's hope by not believing in anything. He

says that people want to believe in ghosts because

they want a prospect of something existing after

death. And the unspoken part about this statement

is that Mike himself wants to believe that there's

something that exists after death. He's destroying

other people's hope because his own hope has

been destroyed. Plus, I think this scene also

raises the question, is this mini version of

Olin just a projection of Room 1408? Or is Olin

somehow actually involved in or controlling all

of this stuff that's happening to Mike? But desperate

to try anything now, Mike grabs the Bible again

from the nightstand and opens it only to see

nothing but blank pages. And this cues the next

flashback. We see Mike and Lily at home with

Katie. They've set her up with like home palliative

care. So she's lying in bed with all of her monitors

and machines. Lily is sitting in bed with Katie

and they're looking at a Bible that's purple

for some reason. Katie asked why it's purple

and Lily says she doesn't know. It was a wedding

present from her grandmother who brought it back

from Hungary. And she tells Katie that someday

it'll be hers. But as soon as the words leave

her mouth, she gets this sad look on her face

as she realizes Katie's not going to have that

chance. So Katie asked if there are people where

she's going, which sparks this whole existential

conversation about if God will be in the next

place. Mike tells her that, yes, God will be

there. And Katie asked if he really believes

that. And Mike says yes again. But this leads

to regret as the scene then cuts to an argument

between Mike and Lily after Katie has passed

away. He's lashing out like kicking shit in the

room because he thinks they should have done

more to help Katie fight instead of reassuring

her so much about heaven and all that stuff.

So in addition to the regret, Mike must be feeling

like a shit ton of guilt as well because he flat

out lied to his daughter on what's essentially

her deathbed. He was trying to make her feel

comfortable and secure and whatnot, which, of

course, is the right thing to do for your child

as a parent. But a lie is a lie, or at least

what he thinks to be a lie. And so now he wants

to desperately be proven wrong. He wants there

to be a heaven. He wants there to be a God. He

doesn't want Katie. To just be in the ground

somewhere or just floating in some empty void

for all of eternity. However, as Mike ponders

all of this, he now finds himself covered in

snow. The temp in the room on the thermostat

is below zero. So Mike builds a fire from broken

chair legs and other pieces of furniture and

huddles up under some blankets that he pulled

from the bed. But he's hella frosty. And he hears

Lily's voice coming from the laptop again. So

he crawls over and she tells him that she's been

trying to reach him. She ended up calling the

cops and they're in 1408, but they're saying

that the room is completely empty. So Mike is

feeling hella defeated now and he's resigned

to his fate. But Lily tells him that she can

be there in 15 minutes. He turns to look at the

clock radio behind him and it reads like 14 minutes

and some change. So he's like, nah, don't come

by the time you get here. It'll be too late.

But before he can close the laptop, a doppelganger

of himself pops up on screen and begins speaking

to Lily. And doppelganger Mike has mad game,

bro. Like he was smooth with it. He's like, yeah,

come pull up, girl. I need you, girl. You're

someone I could always count on. Just come straight

to my room and let's talk about things. We can

talk about what happened between us. We can talk

about what happened with Katie. And Lily's like,

sploosh. Oh my goodness. I missed you too. I'll

be right there. And then she steps over the puddle

at her feet and heads that way. Doppelganger

Mike then like winks at real Mike like a complete

savage. And then the room starts to crumble and

like a thunderstorm is occurring and all the

artwork on the wall turns evil looking with people

like screaming in agony and all this crazy looking

shit. And there's a painting of a boat that's

sailing and the painting ruptures and ends up

flooding the entire room. Mike sinks and is about

to drown before a wave comes and washes him onto

shore. and he's back on the beach from the scene

that occurred earlier in the film. Mike passes

out and wakes up in the hospital with Lily standing

bedside. He thinks they're in NYC, but she tells

him, no, you're in LA. The hospital called her

since she's still listed as his next of kin,

so she flew in. He tells her all about 1408,

but they chalk it up to head trauma from his

surfing accident. He gets discharged and they

go back to the shore to get his car. And she

asked him why he left. And he tells her that

he left because every time he looked at her,

he saw Katie's face. And this starts up their

road to reconciliation. They go to dinner. They're

analyzing his 1408 dream. And they kind of flirt

a little bit before Lily seemingly a little bit

reluctantly shuts it down. This dude Mike is

like feeling revitalized though. He like cranks

out his next manuscript. He goes to the post

office to mail it. But he recognizes the desk

guy and some other like maintenance crew nearby

as hotel staff from the Dolphin. And that's when

he realizes that he's still in the room. The

maintenance crew then starts demolishing the

place. and reveals portions of 1408 and now all

that's done he's back in 1408 completely and

the room is somehow burnt to a crisp so mike

is completely losing his shit he thought he was

out clearly he isn't and so now he really can't

trust what's real then he sees katie begin walking

towards him through these burnt out ruins. Her

feet are all bloody from walking barefoot over

these splintered beams and whatnot. And Mike

himself was bleeding from his ears and his nose.

But Katie is like, Daddy, I missed you. I hope

you can stay. I wish you could stay. You, me,

and mommy, let's be together forever. And Mike's

like, we can be, honey. And they embrace. And

then she sadly collapses in his arms, seemingly

dead. At this point, the clock radio cuts on

again, which startles Mike into squeezing Katie's

body and it crumbles into ash. Man says, fuck

it and starts destroying the room. But the clock's

timer hits zero and he wakes up back again on

the floor of 1408 with everything seemingly how

it was at the beginning. The clock then resets

to 60 minutes and starts counting down again.

Mike is sitting by the window just looking completely

defeated, but also a little contemplative when

the phone rings. And he asks, yo, why don't you

just kill me? And the voice on the other end

says, all guests have free will. Choose to relive

this hour over and over again or take advantage

of the express checkout option. mike then walks

around and sees nooses hanging in the bedroom

and bathroom and holy moly that is some dark

ass shit the front desk voice on the phone then

tells mike that lily will be there in five minutes

and he's like nah we're not about to do all that

so apparently seeing the burnt out version of

1408 like inceptioned mike because he grabs that

800 bottle of whiskey And he makes a Molotov

cocktail out of it and decides to take 1408 down

with him. Throws that shit. Fire breaks out.

And then Mike's like, adios, motherfucker. And

he breaks like the big window to the room, which

causes the fire to really erupt. And he's ready

to go. But then the fire department breaks down

the door and rescues him. In the aftermath of

all of this, Mike has suffered some burn damage

and he has to use a cane to get around, but he

and Lily have successfully reconciled and they're

in the process of moving out of their home. She

brings over a box with stuff in it that was recovered

from the fire and she wants to toss it, but Mike

takes one thing out of it first, his tape recorder.

He presses play and we hear some of his, you

know, early observations about the room. Then

he fast forwards a little bit. And it plays back

that final scene whenever he was in the burnt

out ruins of 1408 when Katie's specter appeared.

And her voice is clear as day on the tape saying,

you know, mommy and daddy, I want us to stay

together forever, blah, blah, blah. And Lily

hears this and she's like, yo, and it's like

drops her box and can't even move. And it's just

completely stunned. And Mike just looks at her

and kind of smiles softly. end movie roll credits

and this was the theatrical ending apparently

there are three alternate endings as well but

i'm not going down that rabbit hole so if you

want to by all means feel free and if you do

let me know what they were like and how they

compare to this one but based on the theatrical

ending i think the overall kind of theme of this

film is how one navigates grief the hotel room

itself represents like these basically jail cell

being trapped in your grief having to be confronted

with these feelings and emotions that mike or

anyone was trying to run away from and not trying

to accept There is no way around grief. The only

way to overcome it is to go through it. And Mike

was able to do that. Came out on the other side.

Got his wife back. And they found peace knowing

that their daughter is out there somewhere. And

maybe they'll see her again when the time comes.

Yay. I think that's a great optimistic outlook

to have. But Mike wasn't exactly an optimist,

was he? He was very cynical. And a cynic is nothing

but a disappointed optimist. So let's talk about

theories that aren't quite so happy. So first

theory, Mike was dead for the vast majority of

the movie. He actually died in the surfing accident.

So recall whenever he washed up on shore, nobody

like pulled him out. He just happened to come

up on shore. I think the odds of that happening

and surviving are pretty low. Furthermore, I

think the Dolphin Hotel and more specifically

Room 1408 serve as the gates of hell. So when

Mike first entered the room and pulled out the

Bible from the nightstand and, you know, casually

thumbed through those few pages and tossed it

aside, when the letters were inverted, I think

this symbolized his entry into hell. But why

would Mike be in hell? So those pages in the

Bible that were visible, they were showing Samuel

chapter 2 verses 11 and 12. So the summary of

verse 11 is that King David, he's hanging out

in Jerusalem while his army is at war, and he

sees the wife of one of his soldiers, Bathsheba,

bathing. So he sends his aides to go fetch her

and uses his power as king to sleep with her.

Real shady shit, which this results in Bathsheba

becoming pregnant. Now Bathsheba's husband Uriah

was out on the front lines, so David calls him

home. in hopes that he'll sleep with Bathsheba,

therefore believing that the baby is his. But

Uriah apparently had something that David didn't,

which was honor, so he couldn't bring himself

to sleep comfortably at home while getting it

in, while his homies were out on the battlefield,

so he refuses to stay at his house. So David

then has to call an audible and he orders his

army commander to send Uriah to the most dangerous

part of the battlefield and then retreat, which

results in Uriah's death. This was all a plot

to murder him in an effort to cover up the adultery.

After the acceptable mourning period passes,

David then married Bathsheba, but the chapter

ends by saying that these actions were viewed

as evil. In the eyes of God. Which brings us

then to chapter 12. In that one, David is confronted

by Nathan the prophet about this whole situation.

And Nathan tells David a parable about a rich

man stealing a poor man's prized lamb. And holier

than thou, David is like, yo, that dude definitely

deserves death. And Nathan is like, bro, but

that dude is you. So David confesses his sin

and Nathan tells him that God will forgive him

and take away his sin but that the child born

from the affair will die. The child falls ill

and dies after a week or so. That brings me to

the theory that Mike and Lily's relationship

was initially an affair and Katie was the result.

And she contracted cancer and died as punishment

for their sins. Mr. New York Times bestseller,

a .k .a. King Mike. But while King David was

pious and stayed committed to God after the death

of the child, Mike, however, reacted by ceasing

to believe in God. And that is why he was sent

to hell after he died. Which brings me to my

next theory. Initially, I was thinking Olin was

the devil because there were those notes on Mike's

account saying that before anyone checks into

1408, please check with the manager first. But

now that I think about it, I think Olin actually

may have been God. So whenever they went to his

office and Olin was trying to convince Mike to

not stay in 1408. I think this was his like final

test to be like, demonstrate your faith in me.

Show me that you trust my word and listen to

what I'm asking you to do. And if so, I will

grant you passage into my eternal kingdom. But

since Mike declined or continued to not believe

in God, he was then banished to hell or he didn't

have a chance to alter his fate. However you

want to look at it. And my final theory is that

Mike's surfing accident wasn't really an accident.

I think Mike may have died by suicide. So whenever

Mike was walking around 1408 and he made that

offhand comment speaking into his tape recorder

about how the dull paintings in the room suggested

that he was in the seventh circle of hell. Well,

what is the seventh circle of hell exactly? Dante's

Inferno depicts the seventh circle of hell as

the circle of violence, where souls who committed

violent acts were punished in one of three rings.

There were those who committed violence against

others, those who committed violence against

themselves, and those who committed violence

against God, nature, or art. So on the surface,

I think Mike's comment about this being the seventh

circle of hell was him being an asshole. saying

that these painters committed violence against

art. And I think this also alludes to violence

against self though. So Mike's whole shtick was

trying to find evidence of ghosts so he could

believe his daughter was somewhere in the afterlife.

I think he got tired of waiting for this proof,

therefore reaching the conclusion that the quickest

way for him to get his answer would be to cause

his own death. But that would be some bleak ass

shit. So let's hope I'm completely wrong. And

in reality, Mike and Lily did live happily ever

after, relatively speaking. And yeah, that he's

not trapped in hell for all of eternity. Because

that sounds like it would probably suck. But

that's all for me. I'm out of here. Don't forget

to rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite.

podcast listening platform especially if that

favorite podcast listening platform happens to

be spotify or apple i'll see you in two weeks

for the next stephen king adaptation but in the

meantime remember always keep it spooky

Molotov Mike (1408)

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