Identity

REVIEW
A good, solid suspense film, Identity is a nice melding of Agatha Christie, Hitchcock, gimmicky "twist" movie and slasher film. A group of strangers — stranded at an out-of-the-way motel during a ferocious rainstorm — are being picked off one by one by an unknown killer. Fine acting (especially by a well-cast Cusack) and nice turn-of-the-screw direction by Mangold complement Cooney's intelligent, clever screenplay for the first full hour, until its whopper of a twist is revealed. Here is where viewers will be divided into the "Oh, come ON!!" camp and the "Cool! Didn't see that coming!" crew. Amazingly, the film keeps going after this seemingly dead-end revelation — and keeps going strong, up until its other whopper in the final scene. Surrender yourself to the film, and you'll fully enjoy this tightly wound thriller — a gimmicky flick done right.