A Smart, Cleverly Constructed Film.

Rating: 9/10 (24 November 2006)

"Identity" starts off telling the separate stories of ten strangers who coincidentally wind up stranded in the Nevada desert during a torrential rainstorm. Among them are a limo driver, a snobby actress, a police detective transporting a convict, a married couple and their young son, a prostitute, and many other assorted characters who happen to be in the same situation. They all, oddly enough, end up at a small little vacant motel in the desert to escape from the rainstorm, among them being the wife of the married couple who was hit by a car and severely injured. As the night goes on and the strangers begin to know each other a little better, someone begins killing them off one by one. They begin to suspect the convict is responsible for the brutal slayings, but the murders continue throughout the night and each of the strangers learn that they all hold a mysterious secret...
I don't want to give to much of the plot away so that's all I'll tell you, but trust me, you won't be disappointed with this film. I saw this movie back during it's theater release a few years ago, and I was blown away by it all. It's really a great film - not just a great horror film, but just as a film in general. The story to this film is amazing, I have to give some serious credit to the writers because it was so well done. This has to be one of the most original films of it's type, and for that it succeeds very well with me. As the film progresses toward the shocking conclusion, pieces of the puzzle begin to come together in a way that you wouldn't have even imagined before. There were some really scary sequences in the film also that were very well-directed, especially the bathroom attack on the Ginny character - scared the hell out of me. The performances in the film were also excellent, and the film boasts a fairly impressive cast - among them being John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, Alfred Molina, Clea DuVall, Rebecca DeMornay, and others. Each of the performances were great, the cast was perfect and played their characters very well.
The setting for this movie was perfect - the small, cheap little motel is a perfect backdrop for all of the gruesome happenings. In fact, it reminded me a little of the infamous Bates Motel in Hitchock's classic "Psycho", the similarities being that the motel was in the desert and the overall layout of it all. Is it a reference to "Psycho"? Possibly, I can't really say for sure though. Along with the all of the pluses mentioned above, the cinematography was really excellent, the film was shot very stylishly. Everything was very washed down, dark, and ominous, a perfect manner for this film to be presented in, giving it a much more mysterious feel.
The bottom line is, "Identity" is one of the smartest, cleverly constructed horror/thrillers in quite some time. It was creepy, mysterious, had me wondering throughout the entire movie, and the conclusion that tied everything together was a real shocker. Definitely give it a look, you'll be pleasantly surprised. 9/10.