We’ve Only Just Begun-1408 and The Shining Similarities

Similar to 1408, The Shining connects the dots between psychological terror, originality, and dependency. In both, male authors turn to the shadows.

The hotel is a recurring symbol in King’s writing. In his short story 1922, the main character hides out in a hotel room, waiting for a supernatural end to his life. The Shining’s infamously haunted Overlook Hotel, specifically Room 217 (room 237 in the film).

There is a clear horror potential at the hotel. A prison is a confined, usually out-of-the-way place. The identical doors, corridors, and blind corners only add to the feeling of being trapped and helpless.
Enslin is forced to face his past when he stays at New York’s Dolphin Hotel. Even though this space has a reputation for paranormal activity, it also provides a harsh approach to therapeutic love and emotional closure.

Who exactly invites Enslin is unknown. Instead, he receives a postcard warning him not to visit room 1408 (supposedly the thirteenth such invitation). Given the similarities to Stephen King’s The Shining, the hotel may be behind this eerie mailing. Regardless, the postcard is a plot device with one and only one purpose: to get Enslin into room 1408.

Mr. Olin, the hotel manager (Samuel L. Jackson), plays a less clear role. He uses a little black magic to get Enslin to spend the night… resembling Charles Grady/Delbert Grady, the devilish caretaker from “The Shining,” in a way. Olin informs him that all 56 guests in room 1408 have perished within the first hour. Naturally, Enslin is interested.

Before Enslin has even entered the room, he has already been put on trial. The 14th floor loops back on itself, so he sees the same floor number twice, hinting at something bad to come. Once you step foot inside that room, time and space warp beyond recognition. A phantasmagoric cell, as the floor plan on the door, indicates. The implication, however, is that Enslin creates this prison in his mind. In the same way, he refuses to let himself get over his loss, he is unable to leave.
Enslin’s life is a revolving door, and so is his mentality. To make amends for his wrongdoings, he also habitually reenacts the past. The loss of his daughter is tragic, but he also feels terrible about deserting his wife Lily (Mary McCormack) and father (Len Cariou).
Room 217 in Stephen King’s The Shining is a riff on George Orwell’s famous Room 101. Similarly, Enslin keeps all of his most vulnerable thoughts and memories in his room 1408. Enslin also sees the ghosts of other visitors who have passed away there. The hotel room encourages suicide as a way out of suffering. It’s also possible that the room causes such severe mental distress that its occupants would rather die than stay there.  Those unfortunate enough to enter Room 1408 are also seemingly trapped in an endless time loop.

The Overlook hotel appears to be somewhat more “normal” in terms of space, but at the end, a picture of Jack from the 1920s appears, proving that time is also messed with there. In Room 1408, John Cusack’s protagonist is plagued by several traumatic memories, including the loss of his daughter, the death of his father, and the failure of his marriage (the result of his self-centeredness). While there are ghosts in The Shining, they are secondary to the central theme of domestic violence and abuse, which centres on Jack’s assaults on Danny and Wendy while he is drunk.

Room 1408 isn’t a one-way ride and death; it’s a choice between life and death. Enslin, who was once a talented writer, now despises what he does for a living. He is a cynic who pretends to believe in ghosts in order to sell cheap books about haunted motels. He doesn’t celebrate milestones in life like birthdays, friendships, or trips.
Enslin’s life outside the hotel is no better than the time loops he encounters in room 1408.

The room reflects Enslin’s existence back to him while also revealing the soulless reality of his life. Such as the time he yells for help through the window and finds himself staring back at him.

Enslin is remarkably similar to Jack Torrance, the protagonist of “The Shining.” The two men are both jaded authors.  Both authors, drawn in by the hotel’s bloody past, set their stories there. They are trapped and perish in a spectacular fire that extinguishes the evil’s origin. There’s also the cruel irony of getting exactly what you wished for.
After being tortured in room 1408, the cynical Enslin comes up with an idea for a story that’s good. Tragically, he stays in his room the entire time while typing up a manuscript about his life. Torrance is in a similar position, hoping for his literary breakthrough. When he finds a scrapbook detailing the hotel’s shady history, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot, but he’ll never get to share the tale. Similar intent can be found in the 1408 rendition of the Carpenters’ We’ve Only Just Begun. The song, about a young couple starting married life, is a mocking reference to the fun to be had when the room’s timer begins. It’s also the starting point for the film’s countdown, which takes place in real-time as Enslin’s hour ticks away.
Katie’s life was just getting started when she died, and the song comments on that. That’s why the room starts singing when Enslin holds her spirit and she dies in his arms for the second time.
The song ends up being an elegy for Enslin’s departure. Just like Olin said, he doesn’t last more than an hour in the room with the other guests. At the end of his life, he looks down at his grave and sees Katie’s next to it. After an hour, Enslin is given the option to quit or start over from the beginning of the hour.
Even though room 1408 could be a shocking deterioration into insanity and suffering of the mind, it could also be the key to freedom. There are only two outcomes for Enslin: victory over the room or defeat of his history. The second option appeals to him more, so he goes with that. With words like “I’ve lived the life of a selfish man, but I don’t have to die that way,” he frames his decision as a sacrifice made in defiance. Rather than risk seeing Lily hurt, he decides to end his own life. This is exactly what the room had in mind for him. Burn me alive, it says scrawled on the wall opposite the barred window. And he continues in that direction.