Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians has become a cinematic constant. Every few years, someone seems to have his or her own version out for the screen, either theater or television. It's a great concept: a sort of body-countdown, if you will. A group of ten being brought down one by one by a mysterious killer, who may be one of the group, amidst a sea of paranoia and red herrings. The IMDB lists no less than six movies with this title, and countless others have used this theme. Identity joins one of the thematic groups, together with other movies like RSVP. How does it hold up with such well-trodden, if solid source material building its foundation?

The opening credits are a machine-gun blast of images from a psychologist's office. Gruesome images of murder victims mix with psychiatric evaluations and newspaper clippings detailing a serial killer's rise and fall. We're then introduced to our cast of corpses--er, characters, as their paths cross in a parade of coincidences. They all wind up together at a vacant motel, trapped by a flood on all sides (a figurative island in lieu of Christie's original literal island) They include a limo driver and his primadonna actress passenger (John Cusack and Rebecca DeMornay, respectively), a prostitute (The lovely Amanda Peet), a police officer transporting a killer (Ray Liotta and Jake "My Dad's Famous" Busey), a father (John McGinley) caring for his injured wife and near-mute son, a pair of newlyweds, and the skittish motel director. Whew! Of course, this massive cast of characters has to be thinned out a bit, so they begin to be cut down left and right, their corpses marked with the motel keyrings counting backwards from 10 to 1.

Where Identity attempts to give its source material a shot in the arm is by giving us one hell of a plot twist tying the killing spree in with the serial killer from the beginning. It's original and unexpected, but it seemed to lower the stakes for our group. Plus, this movie has almost TOO many plot twists. It became almost ridiculous as the movie became rather confusing as the audience is spun around like a top, forced to think on our feet. We're also treated to some of the grisliest killings I've seen in an R-rated release. I'm not one to shy from gore, but those who shrink at the red stuff should take a pass, as this is one HARD R.

Ahh, the digital age. It gives us some of the best audio and visual quality for those movies we love. Identity is no exception. Colors are clean and vibrant, black levels are pitch-dark, and everything is razor-sharp. Audio is in either French 3-channel surround or a marvelous English 5.1 that used the rear speakers wonderfully for all that ambient rainfall. Extras are plentiful and well thought out for the DVD. We're given director's commentary, deleted scenes (with or without commentary), storyboard comparisons, a television special on the making of the movie, filmographies, and a trailer. Coolest of all, though, is the optional branched version of Identity, reincorporating select scenes and tacking the alternate ending onto the movie. Very nice.

While it may not do one hundred percent justice to its source material, Identity still proved to be a nicely suspenseful thriller. It was refreshing to see John Cusack play a little rougher character, and all of the actors put in a top-notch job. Definitely one to curl up with on one of those rainy fall nights.