Identity

Identity (2003)

Ending / spoiler

(10 votes)

John Cusack is fictional, as are the others. Malcolm Rivers (The "host") suffers from multiple personality disorders and the characters in the motel were actually personalities. All of them have distinguishing characteristics which lead to the fact that they are just Malcolm's creations (eg. Same birth date, surnames are all also names of towns). In the end, the only person to leave the motel alive is Paris (Amanda Peet) as Ed (Cusack) and Rhodes (Liotta) shot each other to death. On their way to a mental institution, Malcolm has another vision, he sees Paris doing some gardening when Timmy (the little boy) appears with a door key with the number 'one' on it. We then realise he is the murderer as he was behind everyone's death in some way. Not only does Timmy kill Paris, but the personality takes control of Malcolm, who then strangles the doctor who is sitting in the seat in front of him. The car stops in the middle of nowhere.

Mele

Revealing mistake: When the guests open up the freezer containing the dead hotel clerk, it falls towards the camera, i.e. the viewer. Right before it changes to the reaction shot of all the guests, the corpse blinks. (00:52:50)

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Timothy York: Whores don't get a second chance.

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Trivia: The movie Ginny was talking about (10 people going to an island and being killed one by one) is "And Then There Were None/Ten Little Indians" (title depends on region). This seems to be the basis of the story (10 people/victims going to a motel and are killed one by one.)

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Question: When the prisoner is running away from the motel to escape, how does he end up back at the motel again?

Answer: The motel isn't real, and neither are any of the characters in its proximity. They are all aspects of Malcolm's personalities that are being killed off one by one in order to make sure his true murderous personality is vanquished. As such, the session by which Malcolm is being forced to do all this is designed so that all the personalities are stuck within the same place with no chance of leaving, which explains the bad storm, the road obstruction, etc.

Phaneron

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