Identity (DVD)

On the surface Identity appears to be of the old school thriller - Ten strangers all converge on an isolated spot where they are picked off one by one. This is classic Agatha Christie?s Ten Little Niggers, (or more politically correct And Then There Were None or not quite politically correct Ten Little Indians) which has been adapted many times for film. But that?s where the similarity ends. The isolated location this time is a motel in the middle of nowhere, a storm raging outside which has blocked the roads and cut off all communication with the trapped people. Here we have the stock movie cliché characters, troubled ex-cop, tart with a heart, jittery ...

When 10 strangers, all travelling through the night, are caught in a wild storm they take shelter in a miles-from-anywhere motel. Thinking they're just there for the duration of the storm they make themselves comfortable and wait for the weather to ease. The weather is so bad that all communications are down and roads in and out of the motel are blocked, and here the fun starts! One by one the strangers start dying brutal and bloody deaths, seemingly cut down by someone in a manical frenzy. Immediately all fingers point to a killer who was in transit with cops, but when he too is murdered the captive travellers have to look elsewhere. As time goes on they ...

It is darkest night. There is a torrential rainstorm. Roads become flooded. Public phone lines are brought down. Cell phones cannot get signals. Ten strangers are forced to abandon their journeys and take refuge at a lonely motel run by a guy not shuffling a full deck. So far, so Hitchcock. The motel is next to an ancient Indian burial ground. It is spooky. So far, so Stephen King. One by one, the ten start to die ? each hideously murdered by an unknown, unseen assailant. Unless they stick together, there will be nobody left. Fortunately, however, at least one of the ten is a cop. So far, so Agatha Christie. ...