Complete strangers stranded at a remote desert motel during a raging storm soon find themselves the target of a deranged murderer. As their numbers thin out, the travelers begin to turn on each other, as each tries to figure out who the killer is.
Writing
Tight Agatha Christie homage with a psychological gut-punch
Acting
Cusack anchors the chaos; Liotta simmers with secrets
Production
Motel set drips with neon-noir atmosphere
Director
James Mangold
John Cusack
Ed
Ray Liotta
Rhodes
Amanda Peet
Paris
John Hawkes
Larry
Alfred Molina
Doctor
Clea DuVall
Ginny
John C. McGinley
George
William Lee Scott
Lou
Jake Busey
Robert Maine
Pruitt Taylor Vince
Malcolm Rivers
Rebecca De Mornay
Caroline Suzanne
Carmen Argenziano
Defense Lawyer
Marshall Bell
District Attorney
Leila Kenzle
Alice
Matt Letscher
Assistant District Attorney
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
James Mangold pitched this as 'Ten Little Indians meets Psycho' and shot the motel scenes on the same Universal backlot used for the original Bates Motel.
The film arrived during a brief 2003 boom of 'unreliable narrator' twist thrillers alongside The Sixth Sense and The Others, but its DID reveal was controversial among mental health advocates even then.
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