It’s another dark and stormy night in the middle of a wasteland full of murders, mystery and one cheap motel that only encourages the carnage.

“Identity” is a gripping horror/mystery movie that will have you laughing at times you shouldn’t.

The movie starts off showing a unique family that has a blown tire on the highway.

Then the movie cuts to a scene of an emergency midnight meeting about a prisoner who is going to be executed soon. A diary was found and is vital to proving his case of insanity.

Back to the action, John Cusack plays the limo driver that causes an accident with the family. Being distracted by his passenger, Cusack looks down for a brief moment only to hear the limo hit the mother of the family and throw her over the car.

After the accident, Cusack is the calmest of the bunch.

The father can utter only memorized phrases from safety manuals and the only child in the family, who has just witnessed the accident, is about as emotional as an ice cube. Cusack manages to get them all to the nearest motel.

Throughout the night random guests keep turning up at this dive – all of them having extraordinary reasons for stumbling on the place.

Meanwhile, talks of the prisoner’s sanity are slowly but surely becoming more in depth.

Ten rooms fill up, and eventually they dwindle down to the original vacancy as “Identity” claims its victims.

Ray Liotta, who starred in “Goodfellas,” plays a convict/cop who is jumpy and quite funny. Liotta makescomments that will have you laughing at very grisly situations.

Amanda Peet throws some spice into the movie by playing a hooker who is trying to clean up her act and go home but can’t because she trapped at this hotel.

The flick will keep you wondering how the people dying at the motel and the meeting determining a prisoners insanity are connected.

Seeming simple throughout the first half, “Identity” throws you for a spin in the last act. While never actually giving you the plot, you think you know the answer to the infamous “whodunit?” question. Then the spin is put in and it makes sense.

It’s not often when you have a movie that starts being clever and throws in the big plot twist and comes out in flying colors; “Identity” does this well. James Mangold, the director, incorporates the movie’s two separate viewpoints cleverly. Mangold keeps you interested while leading you down a dead end and walks you right back to the main road to follow the story.

What you have with “Identity” is a thinker-thriller, meaning it’s not the gore and violence that draws you in – though it helps – but it is the plot that keeps you interested.

That’s not to downplay all the horror, though. There are realistic looking uses of neck wounds, car accidents and a good stabbing scene. The gore of this movie doesn’t kill it, because you’re not snickering at how fake the effects look.

“Identity” is one of those movies that leaves you with a creeped-out feeling. This feeling is similar to one you might get when you’re sitting by yourself, at night, at a cheap motel – all while listening to the consistent sounds of rain hit an old tin overhang and the never ending buzz of a vending machine.