1408 goofs

When asked for the "Skull Rating" of the first hotel he is staying at, he initially awards it "six skulls". He then mutters "screw 'em, five skulls", although his lips actually form the words "fuck 'em, five skulls".

As Enslin dashes to the door only to find it locked, numerous sound effects come across as slightly out of sync. For instance, the sound of him grasping the door handle is audible just before his hand actually touches it.

In the scene where Mike unplugs the clock radio from the socket, the bottle of spirits he had been given vanishes from the table for several shots before later reappearing.

Mike looks down the street on several occasions. At 00:38:49 and again at 00:42:33 the same three cars can be seen travelling slowly along the road.

After being in the heating ducts, when Mike falls through the ceiling grille he is still drenched, but as he gets to his feet straight away he is almost dry.

The hunting painting above the bed depicts the horse rearing up a couple of scenes before Mike notices the changes in all the paintings.

A piece of chocolate lies on the pillow both immediately before and again after the "Blue Light Scan" sequence, yet it is absent whilst the scan takes place.

When Mike watches his alter-self hang himself in the mirror, the watch is on the right wrist of that alter-self (the stunt double), whereas Mike consistently wears his watch on his left wrist throughout the film. This cannot be put down merely to a reversed reflection, because the alter-self is actually positioned at right angles to him when he witnesses the hanging in the mirror.

When Mike Enslin enters room 1408, he switches on the two light switches nearest to him. The camera cuts away and, when it returns, only the centre switch has been flicked down.

After Mike discovers the bed has been turned down (and the toilet roll neatly arranged in the bathroom), he turns off the radio. The cognac is perched precariously on the edge of the table. As he tries to work out where the maid might be, the cognac has suddenly moved back.

The bloodstain on the door from Mike's left hand is inconsistent across shots.

While Mike is inspecting the room for the first time, he sets the uncorked bottle of cognac on the bedside table. When the radio comes on and he glances back from the window, the cork has inexplicably returned.

When Mike walks into the lobby, an establishing shot shows a woman with a pram and an Asian woman seated beside her. As the camera drops to ground level, Mike is seen walking past the woman with the pram, but the Asian woman has vanished.

Immediately after Mike's hand is crushed against the window, the pane is shut; yet moments later, when the telephone rings and he tries to leave the room (just before the key snaps), the window is visible open in the background.

When the room is first sealed by brickwork, the three principal pictures are already presented in their alternate versions. It isn't until later in the film, however, that a clear sequence shows them shifting from their original images into the alternate forms.

When Mike settles into the first hotel room, he takes care to place his unlit cigarette in the ashtray so it sits perfectly balanced, with neither end touching anything. After the cut and camera pull-back, the cigarette is noticeably leaning into the ashtray.

When Lily Enslin gets into the taxi, the medallion number shown in the exterior shot of her entering the vehicle differs from the one seen in the interior shot.

As Mike peers out of the window and the telephone begins to ring, a card is protruding from between the telephone base and the handset. When he leans over and lifts the handset, the card has disappeared.

Once Mike ties the bandanna over his wound and takes off his shirt, the song starts again and the digital clock radio displays 56:55, ticking down to 56:54. He then vaults over the bed and, in a burst of anger, rips the plug out of the socket. When he notices the countdown is still running, the display now reads 56:17, counting down to 56:16.

When the engineer has left and Mike sits on the bed, he tosses aside two chocolates even though he had already eaten one earlier.

When Mike picks up his mobile phone the home screen displays 18:48, yet the receptionist's computer monitor shows 19:36 when he reached the hotel lobby, and the electronic radio clock indicates roughly 20:00 when the Room first began tormenting him by playing the song after an engineer had come to repair the thermostat.

After Mike Enslin injures his hand, his pounding on the door leaves bloodstains. Later, when he wipes his face with his hands they appear clean, yet blood soon reappears on other objects he touches.

Gerald Olin, the Dolphin Hotel manager, tells writer Mike Enslin that he could "...take photographs in 1404, it has the exact same layout [as 1408]..." However, the evacuation diagram on the back of the hotel room's door shows that 1404's configuration is quite different from 1408's. Furthermore, the diagram exposes multiple mistakes in Enslin's described walk from the lifts to his room: the signage is incorrect (the room numbers on that side of the building do not reach as high as 1430) and the placement of rooms along his route is wrong (he makes too many right‑angle turns and there is no lift directly outside 1408).

When the fire sprinkler is triggered, Mike grabs a length of timber and is shown striking the sprinkler head to knock it off, after which the water ceases. That's not how fire-sprinkler systems function. Once a sprinkler has been activated, the only way to stop it is to shut off its water supply.

After Mike Enslin summons the engineer, he begins dictating into his micro-recorder. In the background his bedroom clock displays "20:03", which is due to the film having been shot in London. Later in the film the clock can be seen showing "8:07"

The width of the ledge outside seems to change when Mike Enslin is standing on it. In close-ups of his feet it appears that at most only half a foot can find purchase on the ledge, yet in wider shots Enslin's feet are entirely on the ledge with about an inch to spare. Given that the film centres on reality and Mike's (and, by extension, our) perception of it, this is likely deliberate — the ledge may actually be wide enough for his feet, but to his eyes it looks perilously narrow, thus intensifying his fear.

While Mike Enslin lies on the floor, his hand repeatedly slips in and out of the duvet. As this occurs with each cut and constitutes a conspicuous continuity error, it is almost certainly deliberate and employed for thematic effect. Moments later he alternates between lying flat and being propped up across shots, apparently without any visible movement.

Gerald Olin (the hotel manager) was adamant that no guest should ever be permitted to stay in room 1408. Although he insisted they 'light turn' the room once a month, the mini-bar was fully stocked (including snacks) in a room that was never meant to be occupied by paying guests.

When Mike contacts his wife via his laptop, it’s evident he’s running Windows XP (a blue taskbar with a green Start button); however, when the sprinklers are activated the Blue Screen of Death shown is of the Windows 98 variety: 'Windows' appears in white on a grey strip, the rest of the display is blue and the error message is centred. The XP-style BSOD is simply a slightly darker blue with white text aligned to the left.

As Mike clings to the brick wall, his nose is pressed into the "brick" and it gives way, revealing that it is fake. His hands also cause the brickwork to rustle on several occasions.

When Mike places the Bible on the table, the title "Holy Bible" is back-to-front, revealing that the image had been mirrored.

When Mike watches the figure hang himself with bed sheets in the mirror, it's plainly evident the person (a stunt double) is wearing a harness, as the sheets sit several inches behind his neck even as he bounces and comes to rest. It's also apparent a bungee cord was used, since the figure in the mirror springs back up roughly 2 feet.

When Mike Enslin spots himself and his wife at the hospital discussing their daughter's illness, the figure in the chair is unmistakably his double.