Identity (2003) - Movie Review

Official Score = 3 Devils

One of the biggest sins I believe in the world of TV and movies is that sometimes A list actors from the 80s or the 90s will take a back seat to up and coming stars…

Ok, it is true that to keep an industry progressing you need to get rid of the old and replace it with the new… The only problem with that in the entertainment industry, is that a lot of times these A listers from the past still have the chops to really kick some ass in a way that some of the future A listers just honestly don’t have!

A great example of this is that there was a saying that I heard a few months ago that said that if Robert DeNiro was a fresh faced newbie to the world of acting that he would not have ended up being the legendary super star that he would go on to be!

Now that is the negative side of it, the plus side is the fact that some of these amazing A listers end up going the route of making some truly amazing B Horror and Science Fiction movies!

And you know what? That is just part of the reason why I found that I really enjoyed Identity (2003)!

A classic!

Starring: John Cusack (1408), Amanda Peet (The Whole Nine Yards), Ray Liotta (Hannibal), John Hawkes (I Know What You Did Last Summer), Alfred Molina (Raiders Of The Lost Ark), Clea Duvall (The Faculty), John C. McGinley (Scrubs), William Scott Lee (Nine Dead), Rebecca De Mornay (The Hand That Rocks The Cradle), Pruitt Taylor Smith (Constantine), Leila Kenzle (The Hot Chick) & Jake  Busey (The Frightners).

Identity, tells the story of how a group of people end up at a small rundown Motel on one dark and rainy night. They have all ended up coming here due to the fact that it was pouring rain outside and both sides of the road had been flooded out…

Now these people are from all walks of life…

Ed (John Cusack), Ginny (Clea Duvall), Rhoades (Ray Liotta) & Larry (John Hawkes) as they investigate what the hell is going on at the Motel in the middle of nowhere!

An ex-cop (turned limo driver) by the name of ‘Ed’ (John Cusack) who is driving a famous actress by the name of Caroline Suaznne (Rebecca De Mornay) back to Los Angeles ends up accidentally running over a mother by the name of, ‘Alice York’ (Leila Kenzle) who was on the road with her husband, ‘George’ (John C. McGinley), and son, ‘Timmy’ (played by: Brett Loehr).

Hurriedly trying to get the family to some place safe so that the family would be looked after Ed ends up at the old rundown motel where they end up meeting, ‘Larry’ (Hawkes) a kind innskeeper that just seems to want to help.

Anyway after he get the York family settled in to their room, Ed takes off in hopes of finding help, but while he is on the road he ends up meeting, ‘Paris’, (Peet) a former call girl who had just ended that career to go home to Florida in an effort to become an orange farmer, but at this point her car had just ended up failing her and she gets a ride from Ed (who drives his car in to the flooded section of the road!)

Ed & Paris as they investigate the happenings at that good ole Motel in the middle of nowhere!

After this happens Ed and Paris meet the recently married, ‘Ginny’ (DuVall), and, ‘Lou’ (Scott) and get a ride from them back to the Motel…

Once they get there though and everyone gets settled in, a Federal Officer by the name of, ‘Rhoades’ (Liotta) who is transporting a criminal by the name of, ‘Robert Maine’ (Busey) to Carson City shows up…

Unfortunately though, once they get there, these guests start being killed off one by one, and as they all begin to suspect each other, the survivor will ultimately find out something more than they bargained for that will ultimately give new perspective on the whole traumatic situation!

Rhoades with his Prisoner...

The truth is, is this movie is pretty awesome and worth it to watch… And since I have to admit that I really can’t say much wrong with it… If you are a collector like me, then I think that you might find that it may actually be worth owning… I thought so!

Nine Dead (2010) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_390" align="alignright" width="178"] Official Score = 1 Devil[/caption]

I have to admit it folks, I was and still am a little bit of a Melissa Joan Hart fan (Drive Me Crazy). Don’t get me wrong, I am very much a Horror and Science Fiction fan. But there are other facets of my interests when it comes to TV and Movies…

As a matter of fact, there was a time when I watched more comedy’s (whether they be slapstick, screwball, intelligent, or romantic comedies), and watching those genre’s was how I became a fan of Melissa Joan Hart’s work… I mean I had seen both of the TV shows that she had been involved with when I was a kid (Clarissa Explains It All & Sabrina The Teenaged Witch), and don’t worry folks, I was never interested in all that teeny bopper stuff…

The truth is, is that when I was in high school I had gotten real interested in teen comedies, (stuff like, the original American Pie series and 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) to name a few), and the movie that got me interested in her work being, Drive Me Crazy (1999)!

Since the release of that movie though I have not really followed her work very closely, so from seeing her in teeny bopper comedies and the like to going to kind of a hard core horror movie like, Nine Dead (2010) was kind of a fascinating transition!

Now this movie is a very complex story, and kind of an edge of your seat story of the mistakes that people make, when 9 people are taken captive by a deranged maniac and imprisoned inside of a cellar, and told that they, ‘have to find out what their connection is to each other’, and that he will come back every 10 minutes and kill someone until this unlikely band which includes a cop (played by: William Scott Lee), an Assistant D.A. (Played by Melissa Joan Hart), an Insurance Salesman (Played by: James C. Victor), a Priest, (played by: Marc Macaulay), a Chinese store owner (played by: Lucille Soong), A gang banger (played by: Edrick Browne), a low level Mafia Lieutenant, (played by: Chip Bent), a Pedophile (played by: Lawrence Turner), and an actor (played by: John Coates) find out what they have in common with each other...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="438"] The kidnapped and the kidnapper in, 'Nine Dead' (2010)![/caption]

In the end though, their only saving grace is to work together, because if they can find out why they have all been kidnapped and placed in the same room together, then the killer himself will set every one free and arrange to have himself placed under arrest!

I have to say though that the best part of this movie was mostly the story and the vision of Chris Shadley (Cloverfield)… What I mean by this is that I have seen William Scott Lee and Melissa Joan Hart in other work and they did a great job in that, but the truth is, is that they alone could not carry the film, and neither could the rest of the cast, (the type of racial and sexual stereotyping in this movie was a little to much for me.)

The special effects were nothing to great… good… bad they were what they were, and the story was kind of cool up to the ending, when it became convoluted and pointless…

All in all, this movie had potential, the only problem is that it just could not live up to that potential!

http://youtu.be/B0D9yqV3Aas