Appeared in 1408
When I first read Steven King's short story 1408, I thought the Hotel Dolphin was going to be some sort of terrifying dolphin-run establishment where dolphins flop around the lobby, chugging sea bass martinis and planning their eventual takeover of humanity. Turns out it's nowhere near as frightening. In fact, the Hotel Dolphin is as shiny and eager to please as its namesake, as long as you stay far away from that one room. For what it lacks in size, room 1408 - the 13th room on the 13th floor in the 13th precinct of City 13 - makes up for in terror. It has all the whiz bang insanity of the Overlook Hotel jam-packed into one neat little suite, which is a sign that evil, like Apple products, is getting more and more manageable.
Paid skeptic Mike Enslin (John Cusack) finds out the hard way that 1408 doesn't pull any punches when it plays the old "bringing the dead daughter back to life" trick on him. More heartbreaking than scary. Chock it up to the evil in room 1408 being "Stephen King evil" - evil enough to drive you to suicide, but nowhere near evil enough to set you on fire personally.
