Theories to ending of 1408--Loopholes?

Question

I am very confused about the ending of 1408. I have five theories, but a ton of loopholes and questions about each one.

1) Mike gets out of 1408, burns/destroys the spirit of the room, lives with his wife, and has proof of what happened in the room via the tape recording.

2) Mike is still in 1408--this is just another sick break to "real-life" to make him even more insane.

3) Mike is in 1408 but now his wife is also in the room.

4) Mike is dead, but the wife is in the room and her own hell.

5) When Mike burned the room, the "evil" left the room and entered him that's why the evil smile at the end.

I have a bunch of loopholes because it was often hard to decifer reality from Mike's reality/nightmare. The newspaper article--which the only real evidence to the outside world--changes to the man being killed by a bridge. And when mike is in the room he says there are two windows and then he rewinds and he said there were none! Who sent the postcard? I'll post more!

Also, when the wife is coming to the hotel. She first is on the computer again saying that the police are in 1408 and no one is there--why would she still come?
Nothing else hurts or damages the room permanently. He slams the chairs and furniture but it doesn't damage it--why would the fire be any different? Except that everything he used to light the fire HE brought into the room. Maybe that was the only way it could be destroyed?
Maybe the evil mike (the one on the computer) lured her into the room or he survived in the end.
I thought the manager said electronics wouldn't work, yet the computer had to have if the wife was actually coming to the hotel.
Back to the tape recorder--when it corrected Mike's old works (about the windows to fit "reality") then wouldn't it fix the daughters voice to not be there if he was out? The tape recorded seemed to go with whatever was presently happening--so is he still in the room and now that the wife can also hear it she is too?

Answer 1

He finally gets out of the room by lighting it on fire with a Molotov cocktail and attempting to burn the hotel down. Firemen rescue him and he goes home with his ex wife.

At the very very end, he plays his microcassette recording, and hears his dead daughters voice from the room. His wife hears it too, so we know he isn't hallucinating again.

Did that help?

Answer 2

I believe Mike got out of the room, is alive, and that he gave his grim little smile when the tape recorder played his daughter's voice because that proves he wasn't crazy and that he didn't imagine the whole thing. I vote for your theory #1.

The wife never made it to the room! She got downstairs, ground leve, after people were already being evacuated due to the fire and looked up in time to see the windows blow out but, no, she's not in the room and never got there.

As for who sent the postcard, that's a question that bugs me. I even bought the Stephen King book of short stories with 1408 in it to see if that would shed light on things.

I even saw the movie a 2nd time to get a clue and now I think it was a lady who was at his book signing when he was making it clear that he really doesn't believe in ghosts.

At least that's my theory.

Answer 3

I think your first theory is correct. Mike has proof via the tape recording that something exists after life. This is the gift his daughter has given him: something to believe in again. His reconciliation with his wife is a standard Hollywood happy ending, and not essential to the plot.