Good, scary, but with a perspective-altering twist

Rating: Null/10 (15 July 2003)

Identity
This film starts off well, and follows the usual horror who-dunnit format. Shown through a sequence of time jumping scenes Tarantino has now immortalised, a group of strangers end up in strange motel during a heavy storm. One by one they start to die in gruesome ways, and the only clue to thier deaths appears tobe the number of the room they are staying in. Cop Ray Liotta teams up with ex-cop turned Limo driver John Cusack to try and find the killer. A fairly good cast consisting of up-and-comers and a couple of stars past their heyday, the film is genuinely engrossing. You start to notice many things at the start that get you thinking, such as Ray Liotta's uncanningly bad police work, which is all important to the film. There is the cliche'd reference to an indian burial ground, and as the film moves on we start to cut to a doctor's meeting happening far away while the night of horror takes place. Here a Hannibal Lecter-like entrance from a mental patient gives the audience more food for thought. Other weird occurrances occur. For example, a convict Ray Liotta is watching escapes, only to mysteriously end up back where he started, much to his confusion. At this point you are thinking there must be a whopper of an explanation for all of this, and the excitement is rising. Which is why, you are left unfortunately disappointed. Just as things are getting interesting, the mood changes and a twist occurs that you don't quite expect. It is an intelligent twist, albeit a disappointing one. This is the reason you may have heard critics say the film would have run perfectly well without it. At this point things start to click, and the title of the film seems more clear than ever. You then return to the action with a completely different perspective, and ultimately the excitement has gone. Despite this, the ending is not that bad, and what was a spooky horror movie becomes more disturbing and thought-provoking. There are good performances from most of the cast, and the end product is a much better movie than recent hyped-up disappointments such as Jeepers Creepers or Ghost Ship. 7/10