Review: Identity
As I was going up the stairs,
I saw a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
I wish, I wish he'd go away.
So goes the refrain in Identity, a nifty little horror/thriller that kind of flew under the radar in our household. It was released in 2003, and though I thought it sounded interesting at the time, Geo had no interest in seeing it. Then we saw the trailer on Geo's new DVD of Let the Right One In (I think) and he thought it looked really interesting and with a really good cast.
A group of strangers, connected by the most coincidental and tenuous threads, find themselves stranded together in a remote motel (definitely inspired by the Bates Motel) during a torrential downpour. One such pair of people is a cop (Ray Liotta) transporting a serial murderer (Jake Busey) to trial. When the cop and convict arrive, people start dying, and their bodies disappear. John Cusak is the level-headed hired driver (driving a prima donna actress, Rebecca DeMornay, to . . . somewhere . . .) who tries to keep everyone calm and solve the killings.
Other faces you might recognize are Clea DuVall (from Ten Inch Hero), Leila Kenzle (Fran from Mad About You), and Alfred Molina (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Maverick, and a bunch of other stuff).
All in all, if you're looking for something creepy and atmospheric, but that keeps gore and language to a minimum, and has the best use of creepy shudder-inducing poetry* I've heard in a long time, pop yourself a bowl of popcorn and curl up with Identity.
*Seriously. It's the creepiest poem I've heard in a long time. I told Geo it reminded me of a really creepy, dark version of Shel Silverstein.
The actual text by Hughes Mearns, from what I can find without going to the library, goes like this:
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away...
When I came home last night at three
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall
I couldn’t see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don’t slam the door... (slam!)
Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away
Seriously. Is that not the creepiest thing you've read in ages?
I saw a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
I wish, I wish he'd go away.
So goes the refrain in Identity, a nifty little horror/thriller that kind of flew under the radar in our household. It was released in 2003, and though I thought it sounded interesting at the time, Geo had no interest in seeing it. Then we saw the trailer on Geo's new DVD of Let the Right One In (I think) and he thought it looked really interesting and with a really good cast.
A group of strangers, connected by the most coincidental and tenuous threads, find themselves stranded together in a remote motel (definitely inspired by the Bates Motel) during a torrential downpour. One such pair of people is a cop (Ray Liotta) transporting a serial murderer (Jake Busey) to trial. When the cop and convict arrive, people start dying, and their bodies disappear. John Cusak is the level-headed hired driver (driving a prima donna actress, Rebecca DeMornay, to . . . somewhere . . .) who tries to keep everyone calm and solve the killings.
Other faces you might recognize are Clea DuVall (from Ten Inch Hero), Leila Kenzle (Fran from Mad About You), and Alfred Molina (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Maverick, and a bunch of other stuff).
All in all, if you're looking for something creepy and atmospheric, but that keeps gore and language to a minimum, and has the best use of creepy shudder-inducing poetry* I've heard in a long time, pop yourself a bowl of popcorn and curl up with Identity.
*Seriously. It's the creepiest poem I've heard in a long time. I told Geo it reminded me of a really creepy, dark version of Shel Silverstein.
The actual text by Hughes Mearns, from what I can find without going to the library, goes like this:
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away...
When I came home last night at three
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall
I couldn’t see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don’t slam the door... (slam!)
Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away
Seriously. Is that not the creepiest thing you've read in ages?