I Met a Man Who Wasn't There

Many thanks to Deborah Nam-Krane for asking me to participate in another blog hop. We're discussing plot twists once again, but this time, the BEST ones. I've decided to reach deep into the archives to talk about a film from 2003 called "Identity."

Full discolsure: The first time I decided to watch this movie, I knew nothing about it except that it starred John Cusack.To this day, that criteria still holds up if you're trying to get me to see a film. 

Me: Who's in it?

Anybody: John Cusack.

Me: I'm in.

So, I went blindly into this viewing experience and I'm not ashamed to say, I was blown away. It started out like a typical slasher/suspense movie - yawn. But then it handed me not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR major plot twists that I did NOT see coming.

Let's dig into the details. (I should shout "SPOILER ALERT," but let's be honest. You've had 12 years to give this one a go. If you haven't seen it by now, you probably weren't going to anyway, so just read on.)

As I said before, the film starts out in typical slasher/suspense style. A group of ten people who wouldn't normally cross each other's paths are stranded together at a roadside hotel with no outside communication due to torrential downpours and flooding. One by one, the guests are picked off by a violent killer, leaving the others to frantically figure out who's behind it and why.

Cusack's main character, Ed Dakota, takes charge of the situation alongside Officer Rhodes, who discovers the criminal he was transporting has escaped from his toilet/jail cell. 

Naturally, it is assumed at this point that the criminal is behind the body count. So they track him down and lock him up and leave the unreliable hotel clerk to keep an eye on him. Ah. Guess they can all relax and just wait for the storm to blow over, eh? Shew!

I mean, just look at him. Of course he's the killer.

Nope.  It's time for major plot twist number one, in which the poor convict is found having been forced to swallow a baseball bat. Yes. I said swallow a baseball bat. It's gruesome and I wouldn't recommend it unless you're on that Louisville Slugger diet plan that's sweeping the nation.

So, what should be a "whodunit" turns into an "eff this, I'm outta here" for a few characters whose sloppy exits become super sloppy causing their accidental deaths. Mild-mannered George, hysterical Ginny and mute little Timmy are all gone due to the chaos.  Those remaining get really confused when the dead bodies disappear and the killer's calling cards, numbered room keys counting down from 10, are found even at the scenes of the accidental deaths.

"That's not possible...we all saw what happened!" -Paris

Which leads, or rather pulls Ed right into plot twist number two.  In a search to determine what directly the crap is going on, Ed steps away from the others and finds himself transported to a courtroom, where it is revealed that all of the characters at the hotel are personalities that have been created in the mind of Malcom Rivers, a man who is the subject of an emergency hearing that could save him from execution.  The man's psychiatrist tasks Ed with ensuring that the personality that is killing off all of the others does not survive.

"WTF did you do to my face?!?"-Ed, seeing Malcom's reflection instead of his own in the window

While we're all still reeling from that kick in the nuts, Paris, one of the remaining personalities rummages her way through the glove compartment of the police car to bring us plot twist number three.  Rhodes isn't a cop at all. *GASP*  He's actually a prisoner who was being transported along with the bat boy. He murdered the real officer in an attempt to escape but didn't get very far because of the flooding. 

Ed comes back to the hotel, and is fatally shot while killing Rhodes, who we all now believe to be the violent personality behind it all, leaving sweet former prostitute Paris as the last known personality. Malcom Rivers is saved from execution. Paris drives off to her orange grove in Florida to live happily ever after.

Until...she digs up plot twist number four in her yard, a red room key.  She looks up to see little Timmy standing overhead to deliver his one and only line in the movie...

What the what?!?! Yeah. I totally did not see that one coming. And neither did the psychiatrist who winds up killed by Malcom who is now and will forever be controlled by Timmy, that mute little bastard.

You really do have to keep an eye on the quiet ones.

Thanks for reading! Please stop by Jami Deise's blog on December 1st to see what she what kind of twister gets to her.