Here Honey, you hold the room key

Rating: 6/10 (28 April 2003)

Greetings again from the darkness. Highly anticipated "thriller" that for the most part, fails to deliver. More slasher than thriller. The psychological aspect held great promise and intrigue, but was handled poorly. Director James Mangold continues with his run of disappointing films, including "Kate & Leopold", "Girl, Interrupted" and "Cop Land". He does have some visual style, but lacks the ability to add substance to his work. Cusack and Liotta are strong in their roles, and Amanda Peet is surprisingly effective as the young dreamer. The always great Alfred Molina provides excellent work in relief, and an almost unrecognizable Rebecca DeMornay has a quick turn as a a woman who "used to be that actress". Gotta love those that can poke fun at themselves. Speaking of fun, many of the death scenes generate outloud laughter from the audience due to the unbelievable nature. Overall this film steals from the best - Psycho, The Omen, The Sixth Sense, Carrie, The Fury and Ten Little Indians. The problem is those were all very strong scripts that were filmed brilliantly, whereas "Identity" seems to avoid the one topic that could have provided the film with its own 'identity'. Focus on the internal battle of personalities could have been the key to setting this one apart. Instead, it is just another slasher with a nice cast.