Toned Down and Cranked Up Rethinking of Sybil.

Rating: 9/10 (1 October 2003)

I'll warn you right now, I'm telling the whole story, so if you don't want to know the ending, the twist and the inside details, then don't read this!!!
I normally don't tell the whole story like this, but this movie is such a psychological mind game that I have total respect for it, and feel the need to share.
Malcolm Rivers has been convicted of six murders. They show you the details and give you the basic information via news clippings and the like in the very beginning of the movie during the opening credits, so pay attention. He is clinically insane, and only twenty-four hours from his execution. The governor's office has granted him a last minute hearing by a judge who is none too happy to have been called out of bed in the middle of the night to hear a case upon which he has already ruled.
Meanwhile, the cast of characters is introduced. It is pouring down rain, the phones are down, a prisoner in transport has escaped and a woman lies dying in the room off the motel office. There is friction from the very beginning, as one character causes an accident while another character runs over the wife of yet another character. And this is only the beginning.
As the characters develop, you begin to get a feel for who they are and what they have been through; the development is really quite good.
One by one, the motel visitors are found dead and one by one, your list of suspects begins to narrow.
Jake Busey (the escaped prisoner) runs and runs away from the hotel, but when he spies a structure lying off in the distance, he crashes in to discover he's BACK at the hotel! A metaphor for John Lennon's "Nothing is Real" theory. Jack Busey is really very good. They don't give him near enough work, in my opinion. He's every bit as good as his daddy.
The survivors must determine the common factor which has led them all to the hotel. Amanda Peet begins this process, and it takes a while before the others join in. Meanwhile, they are trying as hard as they can to determine what is happening and why; who is killing these people off.
As the guests realize that they all have the same birth day, you pan to Malcolm Rivers's hearing where you discover that he is a multiple personality with several distinct personalities.
His personalities ARE the guests of the hotel. As each personality is exposed to Rivers's base identity, the alternate personality is "murdered" in his own mind.
The whole movie is a working metaphor for what is going on in Malcolm's mind. This part is presented as a "twist," and it definitely takes you by surprise.
The writing and direction are absolutely brilliant. Awesomely presented and believably portrayed by all involved. This is a genuine work of art.
But as everything seems to be winding down and the sidewalks are rolling up, you discover that the personality who committed the murders has indeed NOT been "killed."
You don't discover until the end of the movie, what is going on or why. It was possibly one of the best psychological thrillers I have ever seen. It rates up there with "The Game," and "Fallen."
I can't bring myself to tell you which personality is the murderer. But it will blow you away! This was a total masterpiece of psychology, horror and suspense.
I give it an 8.6/10 from...
The Fiend :.