Curator Watchlist
A slick, rain-soaked whodunit with strong atmosphere, a committed cast, and a genuinely fun appetite for twists. It works best as a pulpy, self-aware thriller; it works less well if you want airtight logic or a finale that feels emotionally earned.
Where to watch: Buy
Fri · 1h 30m
Director: James Mangold
Starring: John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet
Complete strangers stranded at a remote desert motel during a raging storm soon find themselves the target of a deranged murderer. As their numbers thin out, the travelers begin to turn on each other, as each tries to figure out who the killer is.
James Mangold
John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet
A slick, rain-soaked whodunit with strong atmosphere, a committed cast, and a genuinely fun appetite for twists. It works best as a pulpy, self-aware thriller; it works less well if you want airtight logic or a finale that feels emotionally earned.
Identity is a rain-drenched motel thriller that understands the pleasures of a good setup: strangers, isolation, bad weather, and the creeping suspicion that everyone is hiding something. James Mangold keeps the pace tight and the mood grimy, and the cast sells the material with enough seriousness that the movie’s pulpy mechanics stay entertaining instead of collapsing under their own contrivance.
What makes it linger is the way it treats familiar slasher and mystery ingredients as a game of escalating misdirection. The film is most effective when it’s building dread and letting you sort through the red herrings; it’s less effective when the late-game logic starts to wobble. If you’re in the right mood, though, that wobble is part of the fun.
This is a movie for viewers who like their thrillers a little silly, a little nasty, and very committed to atmosphere. It’s not a masterpiece of plotting, but it is a sharply made, highly watchable genre ride with a memorable setting and a mean streak.
Benjamin Clarke (3.5★) · 2006 likes
Wettest film ever?
bree 🪐 (2.5★) · 1392 likes
the ending completely ruined it for me
SilentDawn (4.5★) · 1028 likes
Identity is one of the finest thrillers that I have ever seen, reveling in genre cliches but twisting those tropes on their head which combines for a silly and utterly delightful little movie. John Cusack and Ray Liotta bring fantastic performances to this twisty story, and they stay serious and focused when it comes to the material. Throughout the film, the main attribute that sticks out is the tight pacing and ominous atmosphere, culminating in a 90 minute film that
Dennis Duffy (2★) · 763 likes
Didn’t think this was very good but it does have multiple insane 3rd act twists, each one somehow stupider than the last.
brett (3.5★) · 668 likes
whores don’t get a second chance! 😡
A masterclass in paranoia, isolation, and distrust inside a sealed-off location.
The foundational stranded-group mystery, with the same pleasure of watching suspicion spread.
A storm-bound ensemble trapped in one place, where every conversation feels like a threat.
A mainstream twist thriller that rewards rewatching and careful attention to setup.
Moody, sinister, and built around a mystery that keeps curdling into something darker.
A benchmark for unreliable storytelling and the satisfaction of a final reframe.
Another atmospheric puzzle-box thriller that plays with perception and identity.
A tense, grim mystery that keeps its secrets tightly controlled until the end.
For viewers who want oppressive mood, grimy suspense, and a relentlessly bleak tone.
A late-90s/early-2000s procedural thriller with darkness, clues, and serial-killer dread.
A haunted, sealed-world mystery that thrives on atmosphere and delayed revelation.
A sleek paranoia thriller that keeps pulling the floor out from under the audience.
identity and fractured self, isolation, paranoia, whodunit mystery, storm-bound claustrophobia, psychological breakdown, twist ending, moral panic
psychological thriller, whodunit, claustrophobic setting, rainstorm, motel, ensemble cast, twist ending, 2000s thriller, gothic atmosphere, serial killer