Identity

Ever heard the one about the 10 strangers who check into a hotel on a darkand stormy night only to be picked off one-by-one by a serial killer? Don'tlet appearances be deceiving?despite its urban legend-like, if somewhatcliched slasher-movie setup, Identity, much like its characters, harborsmore than a few surprises. The plot is admittedly simple: A clever seriesof backward narrative jumps shows how 10 strangers end up stranded, byseemingly random acts of fate, in a seedy roadside motel somewhere inNevada. Among them are the bitchy actress Caroline Argenziano (Rebecca DeMornay), and her limo driver, Ed (John Cusack), who accidentally hits thewife of troubled stepfather, George (John C. McGinley), whose young boy istraumatized by the incident. While seeking help for the injured woman, Johnruns into a young call girl, Paris (Amanda Peet), whose discarded high heelcaused the flat tire George was changing when the accident occurred andthey, in turn, encounter a young newlywed couple fresh from Vegas. Alsocoming in from the storm are a detective, Rhodes (Ray Liotta) and hischarge, convicted killer, Robert Maine (Jake Busey), en route to hisexecution. Maine's psychiatrist, far removed from thesoon-to-become-nightmarish motel, is pleading his patient's case in courton grounds of insanity. He is campaigning for a stay of execution and thefilm jumps several times to his progress, hinting that more is going onthan meets the eye.

Identity unfortunately gets off to a disappointing start. Although the filmmaintains a genuinely unsettling atmosphere of impending doom and mystery,it first appears to pursue a typical slasher premise. The not-too-brightcharacters?the actress first?venture outside to investigate a strangenoise, search for a missing companion, open a door at the wrong time, andrun into the arms of a killer. Although the killer does not show him orherself, Maine, who has been handcuffed to a pipe in the bathroom, isdiscovered missing. The plot begins to thicken when the murders continueafter the obvious red herring is found dead.

More intriguing, however, is a sequence of motel room keys, counting downfrom the number 10, found on each new victim's body. As the travelersdescend into increasing panic and paranoia, all of the bodies vanishwithout a trace, leaving only the numbered keys behind. To reveal any morewould be to venture into spoiler territory; what follows is completelyunexpected but, under the circumstances, quite plausible and surprisinglyoriginal. Several more twists follow the first big shocker, which casts thepreceding events in an entirely new light and explains the initiallydisappointing lack of character development.

These people are not here to bare their souls?they are more like chesspawns to be manipulated and moved into increasingly intense situations.Most of the murders, which is not the film's primary focus, happenoff-screen. The survivors' reactions receive more attention as theyscramble to stay alive while trying to decipher the increasingly bafflingseries of events. The real points of intrigue are the secrets some of themare hiding and the connection they all share; this explains theirconvergence on the motel and the reason they are being eliminated. Thekiller's identity might be difficult to accept if taken on anything otherthan a thematic level, on which the entire film must be interpreted.

Director James Mangold gets a solid performance from the talented cast ofB-movie and character actors, all of whom play their roles with conviction.John Hawkes is particularly fun to watch as Larry, the motel's sleazyowner. It's rare these days for a horror film to maintain much suspense oruse any imagination, but Identity delivers with a minimum of overt violenceand some good old-fashioned scare tactics. It relies largely on the elementof surprise and its cleverly-twisted plot to raise goose bumps and graymatter as well. This is the kind of film that requires attention to detailsand subtle clues, rewarding the savvy viewer.