The shower curtain isn't much protection from crazed killers. Just ask Janet Leigh.

Must. Fight. Urge. To say . . .

Aw, screw it.

It was a dark and stormy night.

But, you know, it's okay, even though every other freakin' critic in America said it before me, because that cliché is a big part of what trippy little thriller Identity is all about. Not only is there a torrential downpour, the roads are washed out and ten travelers are stranded at a seedy motel in the middle of nowhere, complete with twitchy desk clerk. The phones won't work and one woman has been seriously injured in a car accident. And if that's not bad enough, it's not long before somebody starts murdering them one by one. Agatha Christie would be so proud.

And if that were all the movie had going for it, it would be a bad thing. Fortunately, in the hands of director James Mangold and screenwriter Michael Cooney, that sturdy but drab old premise gets a fresh coat of irony and a clever twist, which I'm not even going to hint at here. At the same time, the off-the-wall plot twists work in large part because they're set against such a familiar suspense movie backdrop. And besides, there's no denying that an isolated motel in a rainstorm is just plain creepy.

One of many shots from the movie of people staring at something with their mouths open.

So who's doing the killing? Is it John Cusack as the ex-cop turned chauffeur? How about Ray Liotta's high-strung policeman, or the psycho-killer prisoner (Jake Busey) he's transporting? Amanda Peet, as a Vegas call girl, seems a little suspicious. Or maybe it has something to do with the last-minute appeal of a death-row inmate that's in the process of being decided. All these characters are sketched out in just enough detail to make you wonder about them. The story plays out in hints and teases until you finally have enough information to start piecing the whole thing together.

That happened for me about halfway through the movie. It's a tribute to the filmmakers that even after that I was still intrigued by the story, still wanted to see how it would play out and how the characters would react. Identity's plot takes some big turns, but it's the little moments that keep you hanging on from one big twist to the next.

Gorilla Pants rating: 3.5 out of 4 bananas