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

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Rhodes: All right. You want a plan? Everybody want a plan? Here's the plan, okay? No one's gonna move. We're gonna stay here, like this, in this room until dawn. No one leaves, no-one moves. [Aims at Larry] And if he tries anything I'm gonna shoot him! And if there's something out there and it comes in here, I'm gonna shoot it! And if anyone of us tries anything, I'm gonna shoot 'em!
Ed: We get it!
Rhodes: Good.

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Trivia: The scene directly before the first victim, "the movie star", is killed she is talking to herself in the mirror. You can see her reflection and the reflection of the window behind her. If you pay close attention you can see that there is a silhouette in the curtains. Eventually the lightning flashes and you can see the face of the little boy in the silhouette looking into the window at her.

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Question: Could someone please tell me who was actually murdered? I understand that all the characters at the motel were personalities in the mind of Malcolm Rivers, and that the killer was Timmy, who was also one of Rivers' personalities. So if all the people at the motel were not real, why is Rivers about to be executed for murder, and how did the authorities have photos of the murdered people if there were no actual people murdered?

Answer: The actual, "real-life" killings happened before the events shown in the movie and are shown briefly in a flashback. The authorities knew that Malcolm had done it while believing to be one of his alternate personalities, but did not know which one, and had to be convinced that the killer personality was dead before changing his sentence to life imprisonment. Meanwhile, the killings we see in the motel during the movie, are Malcolm killing off his other personas, leaving in fact only - the killer.

Twotall

Answer: Since Timmy is the killer here, it would be correct to assume that he blew up the car and took Ginny away during the commotion and killed her in some way that isn't shown in film. Or else blowing up of the car becomes completely pointless and a classic like this won't show a scene that doesn't have a significance. So blowing up the car was actually a part of the plot to kill Ginny.

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