October 27, 2025 • 40 mins
The primary focus of this podcast episode revolves around an in-depth analysis of the film "Identity," a psychological thriller that intricately explores themes of dissociative identity disorder. Set against the backdrop of a tempestuous rainstorm in a remote Nevada motel, the narrative unfolds as ten strangers find themselves ensnared in a deadly game of survival, with each character becoming increasingly aware of the mysterious forces at play. As we dissect the performances, particularly John Cusack's portrayal, we examine the film's capacity to evoke tension and provoke profound questions about identity and morality. Our discussion delves into the intricacies of the plot, the chilling twists, and the emotional weight carried by the characters, culminating in a reflection on the film's unsettling atmosphere. Ultimately, we arrive at a consensus regarding the film's merits, rating it with a nuanced perspective that acknowledges its emotional impact and storytelling prowess.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Mother.
Raining in Phoenix today.
Know how many days a year itrains in Phoenix?
Like four.
And it just so happens that onthe day I watch Identity, which starts
off in rainstorm before allhell breaks loose.
(00:25):
Welcome to the what's up EveryPodcast where we fashion ourselves
cinematic judge and Jerry.
My name is J.J. crowder.
I'm here with my co host, Alec Burgess.
Let's get it.
We appreciate you tuning in.
Go ahead, hit that.
Follow subscribe like bellnotification buttons.
Hit them all.
It'll let you know when you'renew, when our new episodes come out.
Of course, we can just tellyou they come out every Monday, but
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(00:49):
Yeah.
Also tell help us grow thepodcast by telling a friend, family
member, co.
Worker, not convicted murderer.
Don't tell convicted murdererabout us, please.
Please don't tell convicted murderers.
Don't tell anybody that.
You know, that might be likemost of the people in this movie.
Yeah, we can do without them.
Yeah, we'll pass.
(01:09):
For the sake of Alec, we'll pass.
Like, thank you.
I'd probably get along with afew of them, but we'll.
I'm the problem child now.
Yeah.
For the sake of Alex sanity.
Let's.
Let's not tell too many ofthem, but we definitely want your
friends, family members, coworkers, and we appreciate you hanging
out with us.
Also, go check out Patreon.
We have lots of content there,lots of fun.
(01:31):
You can vote on movies, youcan vote on topics, you can provide
us topics that we can then putmovies in that you can vote on.
So.
And all that's free.
And then we do have some tierswhere you get some extra content.
Even full bonus episodes arein there.
And then a few lucky patronsget to tell us what movies to watch
on a quarterly basis, nomatter how shitty or wonderful they
(01:52):
may be.
And we've had a pretty goodmix of both, I think.
But yeah, yeah, it's been somewonky ass movies in those.
The wonky ones are the wonkiest.
Yeah, they've been, they'vebeen weird, some of them downright
scarring.
But look, we're on the finalepisode of October, John Cusack's
(02:13):
month and it's Identity.
It was released April 25, 2003.
It was written by MichaelCooney and it was directed by James
Mangold, the James Mango.
I think this is one of hisfirst movies that he ever directed.
And it stars John Cusack, RayLiotta, Amanda Pete, John Hawks,
Alfred Molina, Clea duvall,John C. McGinley, William Lee Scott.
(02:36):
I'll be going for a minute.
This is.
There's a big cast.
Jake Busey, Pruitt TaylorVince, Rebecca De Mornay, Matt Laisher
and Holmes Osborne.
Don't forget about Brett Lohr, though.
Though he was a child.
He's not anymore.
Yeah.
It's about a few peoplesharing it.
At a desolate.
Desolate Nevada motel during anasty rainstorm, ten strangers become
(02:58):
acquainted with each otherwhen they realize they're being killed
off one by one.
That was a much bettersynopsis than the last movie we did.
Yeah, very accurate.
This is again my movie.
And again, it's dualistic for me.
One, absolutely to mess withmy co hosts, both Matson and Alec.
(03:19):
Because Matson, if he'd stuckaround, which he's not with us anymore
for now, his wife would havekilled him if he was watching this.
Because she's like, got thisthough at the same time, when you
get down to the crux of whatthis movie is about, she would have
ended up being intrigued.
Cause she's a psychologist,psychiatrist, one of the two, and
(03:40):
she's a child psychiatrist.
So maybe she would have beenmad at me about the whole child thing.
Anyway, I also did it becausewe're in October and I needed to
fuck with Alec.
And thankfully it got voted onand so we watched it.
But on the flip side of this,the other piece of it is I enjoy
this movie.
I think this cast isabsolutely stacked.
(04:01):
And as weird as this movie isat times, and at times how predictable
it is in a lot of ways, italso has a pretty fun little bit
of a twist.
And it's also like, it's.
It's tense.
Especially the first time youwatch it.
If you don't know what's goingon, you're like, what the is happening?
And I'll say, yeah.
And then.
And it's.
It's an intense movie.
Like, it's pretty.
(04:22):
Like, you talk about thriller.
It's.
It's.
Yeah, it's a little tense inmoments and creepy.
And they keep you like, whatthe are we doing here?
Anyway, so I like it, but Ithink this to me on the flip side.
So we just.
Last week we talked about peakromantic comedy.
Cusack.
(04:42):
I think this is peak dramatic Cusack.
Like, I love this.
I love Cusack in this film.
I love how dark and broody andserious and yet Cusack, he is like,
he's still John Cusack, buthe's this darker, more serious, but
(05:03):
still that like, kind ofweird, odd, strange guy.
But you can't help somethingAbout Q Sec.
To me, it's in every film thatI think really shines is you can't
help but trust this dude and you.
You root for him.
And that's why I've never seen.
I don't.
And maybe he has.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Even as an assassin in twomovies, like, you're like, let's
(05:24):
go, John Cusack.
Like, you can't help it.
Like, he's just that guy.
Right?
And.
But this movie, I really likethat he gets to stretch those drama
chops and like, it's a veryserious movie and it's a very serious
part.
It's not his quirkiness and.
And weird comes out in a verydark and very interesting way versus,
you know, the.
(05:44):
The dichotomy of what wewatched last week with.
With Serendipity, where it'svery goofy and silly and.
And fun that way.
This is.
This is not silly and goofyand fun.
It's very serious and verydark and very disturbing in a lot
of ways.
And he plays it wonderfully.
Like, this is one of myfavorite Cusack movies, not because
(06:05):
the movie itself's amazing,but because to me, he just kills
it.
So that was one of thereasons, like, the main reasons that
I picked it to get voted for.
For us.
And I was glad it got chosen.
And I know this was your firsttime seeing this, so I'm interested
to hear, besides you hatingme, what you thought so little.
Little background, right?
So I pick movies to watch kindof based on.
(06:27):
I know you're not supposed todo this, but I will judge a book
by its cover.
Sure.
So you can see the logo downthere, right?
I ain't watching a moviethat's got a level like that.
Yeah.
You're scrolling throughNetflix and you see like, you know,
John Cusack's face withblurred background, and there's clearly
ominous tones.
I. I scroll past that and I'llgo watch something fun and exciting.
Lightning.
(06:48):
And then on top of that, I amreally influenced when I watch a
movie and based on how I feelon my surroundings.
Right.
I've had a bad string of luckwhere, you know, at opportune moments,
the door knocks or the powergoes out or something along those
lines, some outside force kindof, you know, affects how I feel
(07:09):
about the movie.
On the flip side, I also tendto look for things in movies where
I can be like, haha, fake, I'mgood, or haha, lie.
That would never happen.
And so watch this, right?
And motherfucking raining inPhoenix today.
Now how many days a year itrains in Phoenix?
(07:30):
Like four.
And it just so happens that onthe day I watch Identity, you, which
starts off in rainstorm,before all hell breaks loose, driving
on the 202, lube going, youknow, in very little visibility,
going, geez, you know, if Iwas on the road, this be a nice spot
(07:51):
to pull over from a motel, no?
So that huge effect on myviewing of Identity and my overall
feeling and, oh, boy, it got me.
I mean, I will say I. I alwayslove a movie with Ray Liotta in it.
Oh, yeah, A little man crush there.
He's phenomenal.
(08:11):
And this movie is a greatpsychological thriller.
Bad part about this movie, Ihate kids.
Despise little bastards.
And the ones that.
The ones recently that havegotten me, that JJ's made me watch,
all involve some kind oftwisted, demented child that is the
(08:35):
cause of all the problems.
And.
Holy.
I will have some troublesleeping tonight.
Yeah, tomorrow night and thenight after that.
But it.
It is.
It's good.
We'll say that it's good, but,oh, boy, did I hate it.
And I've been jumping aroundcorners, shadows, and I had to go
(08:57):
a little more background.
I work for a company thatdeals with kids, right?
Indoor fun parks.
I've been.
I've been around little shitsall day to day, you know, just.
And I. I've been working onstuff and some technical stuff, so
I'm not paying attention, right?
And we all know kids, they'lljust like, come over, climb on top
of you, be like, yeah, belike, hey, what are you doing, Dude?
(09:18):
I've had so many where I'mjust like, yeah, I'm like, ready
to go like 17ft of space around.
Love it.
Love it.
Because you never know.
Yeah.
Never know.
Yeah.
Especially in movies.
(09:38):
Never trust a kid I don't know.
Especially in horror movies.
And here's the problem.
They did a good job making youtrust this one.
And I think, yes, I think whatreally got me, I remember watching
this the first time because I,you know, me, I love horror movies.
I love John Cusack.
I'm obsessed with Amanda Pete.
I love Ray Liotta.
So, like, I was sold on this movie.
(10:01):
The instant I saw the preview,I was like, oh, I'm seeing that.
And I remember going to thetheater and being like, oh, this
poor kid, man.
Like, of all the people to bestuck and that.
Like, you just watch your momget run down by a car, she's bleeding
all over the place.
Now you're watching DeadBodies you're watching.
It's wild.
The.
This kid goes through and thenthe best part I think is he doesn't
(10:24):
say a word the whole moviebecause he doesn't talk, he doesn't
have to deliver lines.
He doesn't have to bebelievable because you're just looking
at him as this traumatizedchild that was traumatized before
this all happened and now it'sjust been compounded.
Right.
So it's like, how do I evensuspect that this kid's up.
(10:45):
Yeah.
He's like part of thebackground or the scenery.
Yeah.
Like they did a very good job.
And I'll tell you, like the, Imean, straight from the get go.
Right.
Because the first, you know, spoiler.
The first killing.
Right.
You have just severed head.
Yeah.
And not a single part of mewas like, oh, you know, who's responsible
(11:05):
for that?
Little kid.
Yeah, a little kid.
A little five year old.
He's the one who did it.
Yeah.
And so, and especially as youget further along and you start to
learn more about the peopleinvolved, kid gets further and further
from your, you know, like justoff the radar, not even there.
(11:26):
It almost even becomes aforgotten character, like less than
the background in the scene.
And so it's just a very goodjob of keeping it under wraps and
not telegraphing where they'regoing and keeping the story and keeping
you on your toes the whole time.
And no.
Oh, I, I know it is.
So, so, so, so.
(11:47):
And every single time, youknow, then it's like they get ticked
off the list.
Ticked off the list.
Ticked off the list.
And then you start wonderingwho could it be?
Like it, you know, does it endup being it?
And take off the list.
Take off the list.
So they did, they did a reallygood job with that.
And you know, despite theexistential bear terror I was feeling,
(12:08):
you know, I was, I wasentranced with the, the story from
start to finish on it.
Yeah.
And I think like, so therecomes a certain point.
And let me ask you this beforeI get into this point.
Did you figure out the.
I know it's not.
It's dissociative identity story?
Did.
(12:28):
Now did you figure that out orwhen did you figure it out or did
that.
Because your existential dreadkept your brain from firing on all
cylinders.
So what I was, when I waswatching, I was honed in on the actual
story that they're showing you.
Yeah.
And so I was also looking for connections.
When they're looking forconnections and trying to piece together
(12:49):
like who's the Main architectthat put all these people in this
place or who's the causebehind it.
Right.
Because there's.
There's frequently that kindof trope.
And so I'm looking.
Maybe they're connected somehow.
Maybe there's multiple peopleworking together.
Right.
Maybe it's a screen thing.
There's two killers.
Yeah.
Or something along those lineswhere, you know, there's.
There's always a connection.
Always a connection.
And then when you figure outthat this is all just, like, going
(13:14):
on in brain and it's beingnarrated while as.
That was just like, oh, mymind blown.
I was shocked.
And I was sitting there going,damn, they got line and sinker.
I was buying it all.
Especially when they get tothe point where, you know, this big,
(13:35):
like, reviewer, it's like, oh,well, my birthday's next week.
Right.
And you think, oh, that's stupid.
And then so is mine.
So is mine.
So is mine.
You get this idea like, oh,hang on a second.
Yeah.
You know, maybe this twistedkiller, because we obviously know
twisted killer has a thing forpeople and tracked them all down
and did all this weird voodooor something like that.
But.
No.
(13:56):
Yeah.
It's just that it's the sameidentity or different identities
within the same person.
And so all these details match up.
And so I thought it wasextremely well done.
If I hadn't been peeing mypants, I probably would appreciated
it a little bit more.
But, you know, it is what it is.
Yeah.
I mean, that means it did its job.
I.
So I. I'll be honest.
I figured it out pretty.
(14:17):
I don't want to say pretty early.
It was probably about halfway.
So what triggered me was thevery first question I had is like,
why are we in two separate places?
Why are we having this.
This trial?
Not trial, but this hearing,this midnight hearing, first day
of execution.
And then what is.
So where.
Where is the overlap in these stories?
Right?
So then my brain, I can't helpit, I start going down the road of.
(14:42):
To your point, is there asecond killer that this guy was involved
with?
He's crazy.
They pinned it all on himbecause he was easy to do it to.
Right.
That was my initial thought.
Right.
And then I was like, what gotme though, is when Ray Liotta's character
tries to leave or not.
When the.
The dude tries to run away andthen circles back, the.
(15:02):
The criminal guy and he'slike, what's his face?
Crazy guy's son.
Anyway, the.
The guy that was the criminalin it, when he runs away and he loops
around and he thinks he's runaway on the other side, and all of
a sudden, he's back at the hotel.
I was like, no, no, no, no,no, no, no.
That's not real.
Like, you can't get that twisted.
This is a fucking bright neon sign.
(15:23):
Like, this guy's not circlingback like that.
At least not that quickly.
So I was like, there'ssomething wrong with this whole scenario.
And so then my brain started,and then it finally clicked when
the birthday came up.
I went, oh, God damn it.
This is all the guy.
They're all personalities, andthey're winding it down, and that's
(15:45):
where I was.
And then the numbers clickedin, and it's a countdown of all the
different personalities.
The keys and the.
I was like, okay.
Oh, I got it.
But what with me is.
I was like, okay, so now it's easy.
And I got comfortable becauseI went, it's gotta be.
It's either Leota's characteror it's Paris.
And it's just this sneaky sonof a thing where she's like this
(16:07):
cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, andshe's playing it well.
And in my head, I'm like,okay, it's obvious he can't stand
his mom because she was ahooker or she was a sex worker.
Let me back that up.
My bad.
She was a sex worker.
And he had this bias towards the.
The actual guy we see in his.
In.
When he's talking to the.
(16:27):
At the Earl.
Those overlapping discussionsearly on that he couldn't stand the
fact that his mother was a prostitute.
Okay.
So I was like, oh, she's gonnabe the.
Because the villain in hismind's got to be, what?
A prostitute.
So I was thinking, it'sAmanda, Pete.
It's.
And she's the next biggest.
Besides Leota, who's now deador working on being dead.
I was like, it's got to be Paris.
(16:48):
So that's where I was going.
Then those sons of.
Got me with that little slap it.
When he comes out of there inFlorida, when you're all like, yeah,
doing oranges.
And all of a sudden, he picksup that rake thing.
I'm like, oh, no.
And he's.
And he was terrifying, like,smacking that at the.
(17:12):
What a great addition to that.
But that's where, like, Ithought I was super smart.
I was like, oh, I figured this out.
Multiple personality disorder.
And then I went, oh, thesesons of.
They got me on this kid.
And that.
The fact that it ends on thatline of whores don't get A second
chance.
I was like, oh, no, this kid's up.
And then the vans.
(17:34):
Yeah.
What a up ending this movie has.
But I love it.
I love it.
So I'm glad you walked methrough that, because it's.
It's great to see where ourminds diverge.
Yeah.
Right.
Because you.
You see the.
The guy leaving and comingback, and that flags you as being
like, oh, this thing's fake.
When I.
When that happened, I waslike, oh, it's a ploy.
(17:56):
Like, he's playing.
He's playing a con.
Or it's.
It's a move for him so he canget the fear and the tension up and
everything going on.
Yeah.
What kind of crazy is gonnajust wander off in the middle of
the night after someone elsedid it and said, they circle back.
Like, you're gonna stay in the light.
And so that's where my mind went.
So you're already thinking.
It's.
(18:16):
You're already in your mind.
You're like, oh, it's fake.
There's something else goingon here.
Yeah.
I'm sitting there going, dude,this guy's an idiot.
He's giving away his entire plan.
I love, too, what they do to,like, really obfuscate, like, what's
going on too.
Like, they have the random ass.
The freaking weirdo chickthat's, like, freaking the out.
(18:38):
And then all of a sudden, thisrandom ass that, if you're paying
attention, you see thebrochure that talks about the burial
ground.
But, like, I.
And when it first came up, Iwas like, what was like, you're going
supernatural with this.
Like, why would you do that?
And so it threw me off for a minute.
But again, it's genius,because we want to be like, oh, God,
(18:59):
really?
You're gonna go with theburial ground?
But it distracts you for,like, five minutes, right?
Going, ah, they're not gonnado that.
And, no, they didn't.
Yeah.
They scream.
Yeah.
They throw all sorts of little out.
And it's.
You know, and it'sinteresting, too.
Like, the other piece, goingback to the fact that it's a kid.
(19:19):
Like, you think about the waythat the criminal dude died.
Busey's character died.
That little kid is not shovingthat bat all the way down that man's
throat.
So I'm like, there's no wayit's the kid.
When you see.
Because, I mean, that thingwas in his gullet.
Like, that wasn't kind of He.
That thing was almost touchinghis balls, it was so far down his
throat.
(19:39):
So I was like, there's no waythat little kid could do that.
But then when you.
And so it's wonderful the waythat the structure can distract you
from what the truth of thisstory is, even though it's all right
in front of your face.
Like, if you go back and watchit again, which I know you won't,
but because I've watched thisso many times, like, I start to see,
and I'm like, God damn it, howdid I not see that?
(20:00):
Right?
Because once you know, thefact that they're.
None of them are real, they're.
They're having this basicallytwisted multiple personality fantasy
of, like, narrowing down toone identity versus the 10, you start
to realize it doesn't matterif he's a little kid.
Like, what's gonna happen isgonna happen because the personality
(20:24):
and the.
And these personalities are aspowerful as they want to be because
technically, they're a figmentof this man's psyche.
Right?
Like, you don't have to besome big burly ass to stick a baseball
bat down a dude's throat.
That's why when the bodiesstart disappearing.
That's the other thing thatgot me.
The body started disappearing.
I'm like, wait, what the fuckis happening right now?
And then what?
(20:44):
That's the other thing thattriggered me.
When the birthday thing cameup, I was like, oh, they're disappearing
because they're not real.
I was like, it's not real.
And it's so genius, the littlebread crumbs that they give you that
if you can do it.
And I, like, said the factthat there's so many, like, twists
and turns to the movie, dude.
And some of the jump scares.
(21:04):
You had to have peed yourselfa couple times.
Just six or seven.
It's fine.
Yeah.
Like I look like when she'slocked in the bathroom, the one I
always thought of when I waswatching it with you.
And she's in the bathroom,and, like, he goes quiet and she
goes out to the door, and allof a sudden he bangs on it again.
Had to have gotten you.
Oh, yeah, no, I jumped about4ft up off the couch.
Yeah.
Or even when the mom got hitearly on, like, she stepped.
(21:27):
Yeah, it just comes out of nowhere.
So they did.
They did a good job there.
I hated every single one ofthem, but they did a good job with
it.
And so I can appreciate thegame while hating the player.
Yeah, Yeah, I love it.
Well, and then I have thequestion, too.
So here's a question for you.
This is philosophical.
They don't ever give you an answer?
Is the dude in the freezeranother personality?
(21:51):
Oh, like a dormant one?
Yeah.
Was he.
Was it one or.
Yeah, misused one.
That's.
Was he.
Was that the first eliminationof a personality?
Mm.
Right.
Yeah.
I could definitely see itbeing so because this is a movie
(22:12):
and you kind of touched on alittle bit, but with the hints and
the clues and the breadcrumbsthat they're leaving, like, especially
since once you figure outthat, like, this is all taking to
place someone's mind, right.
This is.
This is a movie where you haveto watch it and every single detail
or background thing can't betaken as.
Oh, we're filling space on set.
Yeah, right.
They.
They were.
They were putting thought intowhat they're putting.
(22:32):
What they're showing.
So the fact that they areshowing freezer boy has to.
Has to at least lean towardsthe fact that this is a personality.
Either the first elimination,but if the body's still there.
I also wonder if maybe it's adormant one or not yet foreign personality
(22:52):
or, you know, if they.
They're capped at like 10.
Right.
Whatever.
And so now that they're downto one, if it's gonna start, you
know, those pieces have to befilled, let's say.
Yeah.
And so this is the next numbertwo, or whatever you might be.
And so it's a.
It's a personality.
And loading or downloading.
I don't know how it works.
Yeah, I don't either.
(23:13):
But it's often one of those things.
Every time I see it, I'm like,what's the other than distraction?
Right?
Because then it puts the.
There's.
There's this like.
Well, now you have to becurious about what's his face because
he.
We don't know if he killedthat guy or not.
He says it was.
He was just.
He found him dead in a banquet.
Popeye.
Like, very specific.
(23:34):
But who knows, right?
Like, we don't know.
Maybe again, he's.
We know that the.
The actual person has beengoing through treatment for a very
long time.
Long enough that they figured out.
And he's had conversationsthat the doctors had conversations
with Ed.
So it's like did.
Is the first bringing to thislocation of collecting these guys?
(23:57):
Did that take place betweenthese first two?
Right.
The hotel, the motel runner,owner, whatever.
And what's his face that comesin the.
The weirdo.
Because he obviously wouldhave been a stronger personality
too, because he had some ofthat twisted I don't like prostitutes
piece.
Right.
And so it's like, man, maybehe's part.
(24:19):
He may not be as twisted asthe kid as.
But he's still up like.
And did he kill the.
So it's something.
There's a lot to this movie.
There's a lot.
While you're talking, I wasactually as.
Id popped my head.
I wonder if freezer boy islike the original personality.
Yeah.
So again, I don't know how did works.
(24:40):
I don't either.
Right over my head.
I'm an idiot.
I don't deal with psyche.
I'm a psychopath, but I don't,you know, mess around with any of
it.
But if there.
There's got to be an original personality.
Right.
And then these otherpersonalities form.
So I wonder if the reason whyhe's frozen in stasis and still around
is because he's the actualcore personality.
(25:01):
And as long as the othersexist, then he continues to exist,
if that makes any sense.
What if that's his actual personality?
That's his personality that'sstuck because he's bald.
He's a big dude.
Oh, dude.
As long as the others exist,like he's still there, but he's not
(25:21):
being used because the othershave taken up all the space or all
the available gigabytes withinthe brain.
I've never been.
I've never put that popped inmy head when you were talking about.
I never.
Because that's another thingwe never see.
We never see the guy's actual personality.
He's always someone else orone of these personalities, at least
(25:44):
when we see it.
Right.
So that's a son of a bitch.
Maybe that's not one thatreally matches him.
Yeah.
And maybe that's.
I mean, it's a good pointtowards the.
The.
The mental health.
Real problem of maybe hisactual personality was killed off
by these person, you know,long time ago.
Right.
(26:04):
Like, and.
And it works with the dialogue too.
He's like, I forgot all about him.
I put him in the freezerbecause it was hot.
And then I just kept goinglike, dude, that's.
That's an extra layer.
I didn't even.
Woofty.
Well done.
You up?
This movie's up.
Yeah, no, it is, but it's up.
It's kind of a cool up.
(26:26):
Oh, I love it.
I love the idea.
And I'll be honest, like,there's some places where, like,
I want a little bit more.
But I think again, it's anhour and a half long, so it's very
streamlined, it moves very quickly.
And again, there's some partswhere I'm like, ah, Geez, that's
hard.
But at the end of the day,when you get to the resolution and
the.
Understand that instant thatQSAC pops up in the.
The trial piece or like thehearing piece, like you're.
(26:49):
Everything goes.
It doesn't matter how offkilter or unrealistic or any of that
it is because we know it'staking place in his head and it's
not real.
So I have to all of a suddengo, well, I can't judge based on
what the reality of a certainsituation would be because there
is no reality in thissituation from a certain point of
(27:10):
view.
Right.
Like, because it's all takingplace in his head.
It's basically a fantasy inhis mind.
So I'm like, I wanna hate,like how weird.
But here it goes and it messeswith you.
And I think it's also on aserious side.
Less about the movie.
Like, again, I know nothingabout DID other than what I've had
(27:31):
conversations.
I don't remember what we did.
I don't even know if you werein on it at that point.
But we did another show thattalked about did and Taylor came
on.
Matson's wife came on andtalked about DID a little bit from
her perspective.
And I don't remember what it was.
I think I might have beenthere, but I wouldn't have.
I wouldn't have kept up with it.
(27:52):
Sure.
And I can.
I can only remember the conversation.
I can't remember what all shesaid about it.
But I say all that to say likeit's an interesting like storytelling
perspective or.
And not even that.
It's like an interestingoutlook or take maybe on DID and
(28:13):
what that might like might be.
Right.
It was moon night.
It was moon.
It was moon night.
It was.
I knew.
And that's why I said show,not movie.
It was moon night.
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which I'm still mad about.
That we haven't gotten.
I know.
Remind me after we're donerecording and.
Because there's.
Yeah.
Anyway, I have interestingthought on that one.
(28:35):
But yeah, so like I.
It's a very interesting.
And again, I don't know howmuch reality.
I don't know if that's eventhe treatment, if that's a real thing
where we try to eliminatepersonalities or, you know, whatever
it is.
But God damn, is it an interesting.
It makes for an interestingconversation or think piece.
Right.
Like where you're like, couldyou do that?
Could you eliminate down toone or two of the.
(28:58):
The gentle ones, the ones thataren't a problem or Ones that don't
create issues for that.
This person.
And maybe that's.
Or can you eliminate it downto where it's just their base personality?
Or is that.
That split that crackpermanent to some level?
Right.
It's.
I don't know enough about it.
I like speculating much more.
(29:19):
Yeah, it's probably a lot moreboring than I'd like to admit, but.
Exactly.
The movie makes it aninteresting conversation.
That's why the movie doesn'texplain it.
Because then it lets her goingto think about it and.
Yeah.
Draw our own conclusions.
So my last thought, and theone thing that really gets me with
this movie is that moment when.
When Cusack pulls up into the.
(29:39):
Like, his performance as the.
That cuts away from them beingin the rain.
He's trying to figure it out.
He's starting to piecetogether that there's something weird
going on.
And he does.
Can't explain it.
And then he finds himself inthe actual spotlight, if you will,
of the personalities.
And it's like, holy.
(30:03):
The performance he gives on inthat moment where he looks in the
mirror and he like, loses it.
Like, what'd you do to my face?
Like.
And then it cuts from the.
From Cusack to the other.
The actual actor.
That's the guy, dude, thatscene with me on.
Because I cannot even fathomwhat that would be like.
And then you have to wonder,okay, again, from a DID Perspective
(30:26):
that I don't know enough about it.
Does that personality, thiscreated personality have, like, where
is the line drawn with howthat impacts this as a human being?
Or, you know, how much empathycan I have for someone that's a personality
(30:47):
versus a person?
But that personality is at itscore a part of this person.
Right?
So, like, how much.
How much some empathy.
Right.
Like, how do I not.
And so what really gets me ishow much that draws on me.
That moment where I feelhorrifically uncomfortable for this
person.
(31:08):
Whether it's the personality,the real guy, like, whatever it is.
I have just this immenseamount of skin crawl where I'm like.
I can't even fathom what thatwould be like.
Where you just pop up everyonce in a while as part of a personality.
And then you look at you, youhave a vision of what you look like
and who you are.
And then you see somethingdifferent and you become aware.
(31:29):
And that's another question.
Could a personality becomeaware that they're just a person?
Fuck.
It just makes me ask so many questions.
But I love that scene.
The w. The acting in thatscene is unreal from everybody Involved
even the judge whose facegoes, what the.
So, yeah, I love that whole scene.
(31:50):
No, you bring up a good pointbecause it's, it is a, it is a mind
on extraordinary,extraordinarily high levels.
Yeah.
Because there's levels uponlevels and there's not enough kind
of common knowledge about it.
Right.
Like I, I couldn't picture adifferent personality.
Right.
You know, versus like I know Ihave mood swings in a way where it's
(32:14):
like, hey, you know, aroundand find out or come correct or get
corrected or, you know,there's, there's different things
there.
I interact with peopledifferently based on, you know, how
they interact with me andthings like that.
And I can change, you know,the how people perceive me.
But that's all conscious.
(32:34):
Yeah, right.
It's, it's not like the, the,the fighter part of me goes to sleep
and doesn't remember anythingwhile the, the more gracious or whatever
person takes over in a situation.
Like I'm still conscious ofthe whole process and I remember
or it's a conscious decisionthat I'm making.
(32:54):
So to not be in the driver'sseat or to have this battle going
on in the background is terrifying.
And then to top it off, right, you.
Because a big part of thiswhole movie is like, you know, are
the personalities that areleft, you know, the violent ones
or are they the more, youknow, amicable ones?
(33:15):
And like in that situation,there's no way to tell.
Yeah, right.
Except that we all know if itcomes down to a fight, the violent
one is gonna win.
And then it just becomes, canthey, you know, adapt enough to give
out this vibe there thatthey're not the violent one?
Right.
Can they pull this catch 22 orpull this, pull this off long enough
(33:40):
to, you know, convinceeverybody of the ruse?
And so that's where it turnsinto that, you know, real kind of
tricky situation.
Because how do you know assomeone who's having to judge or
you know, decide, hey, is thisguy going to get the, the death penalty
or is he gonna go into apsychiatric place?
(34:01):
Right.
And you know, we, we obviouslyknow the violent personality took
over and you know, it wasn'tthe personality we're expecting.
And so then it leaves you verykind of open ended.
But that inner battle, like Ican't even fathom because everything
I do is a conscious decisionthat I'm going to do it.
And I couldn't imagine someoneelse in the driver's seat of this.
(34:24):
Yeah, it's terrifying, isn't it?
That's one of Those, Those.
Those disorders or like, yeah,whatever you want to call it, that
I would just be like, I. I'mso glad.
Like, I'm.
I'm leaving any kind of 25square mile radius.
Yeah, I'm out of there.
(34:45):
I can't even think.
That's just unfathomable to me.
So, interesting movie.
Should we rate it?
Do it.
All right.
My movie again, I'm gonna givethis one a four.
I'm gonna give it a four,because is it where it's really good?
It's unreal.
Good.
(35:05):
There are moments where I'mlike, okay, this was unnecessary,
or they're trying too hard.
And I think, again, I go backto, like, I could have done without
the whole trying to, like,have the weird burial ground thing.
Like, I think that just asmuch as I'm like, yeah, I get what
they're trying to do and throwyou off and add all sorts of like,
well, is this a horror movie?
Is this a ghost movie?
Is this trying to keep you offthe scent?
(35:28):
Like, I think they did alittle too much.
And sometimes I get annoyed byit while I'm watching it.
I'm like, okay, just take meback to the cool people dying and
then the really interestingstorytelling that you're giving me.
But that's my really only gripe.
I think the acting is reallygood, and when you get a cast like
this together, of course it'sgoing to be good.
And I think the premise of itis wildly interesting and it makes
(35:50):
for some really good conversations.
Like, we.
I mean, it's probably one ofthe most interesting conversations
we've had in a long time abouta movie because of the.
The topic and what it is andwhat this whole thing turns out to
be.
And, man, there's some goodscares, and it just kind of keeps
you on the edge of your toesand trying to figure things out.
The whole hour and a halfyou're watching it for the most part,
so.
(36:11):
And it's just emotionally destructive.
Like, you're like, jesus, whatis happening with all the crazy?
So I like it.
Not a perfect movie, but it's good.
And I'll watch this one againanytime, unlike yourself.
But, yeah, so four for me.
Yeah.
So I will not be watching this again.
But I think if it wasn't as.
(36:33):
Because it's intriguing.
The source material is awesome.
Yeah, like, that's appealingto me, but it comes with the, you
know, the outer.
On my first watch, I havethese outer forces working on it.
So it's like, already in mymind is never going to happen ever
again.
But I'm going to give it athree and a half.
I agree.
(36:53):
I agree with like the burialground stuff and leaving some stuff
off, but I wouldn't like cutit out.
I would replace it almost.
And again, this is coming fromsomeone has no idea how did works.
But I would replace it withhaving a little bit more, you know,
personality team up or likenot as a group necessarily trying
to figure it out, but findingconnections between two of them that
(37:16):
are more so than everybody else.
And so you kind of get almostlike this team kind of thing going
or, you know, to almost likegain up on another personality and
so you can tick off more orpeople that you wouldn't think.
So you keep this hidden everywhere.
And I could even change thestory to be like, hey, we got to
protect the kid.
Right.
(37:36):
Not realizing that the kid'sthe one who's pulling all the strings.
Yeah.
And so have that kind of asanother distraction.
Oh, that's fine.
And as we're going on so there.
There's little things likethat that I would have changed.
And then of course in thisscary movie.
Yeah.
But it's a good one and it's.
It tingles your brain andmakes you think so it's.
(37:57):
It's definitely not like a,oh, I'm gonna put on identity because
I just want to watch something.
No, no, no.
Yeah.
This is one where you gotwatch and pay attention to it to
get the full experience.
But yeah, three and a half for me.
I think it was a good movie.
I like it.
I'm glad you liked it.
Maybe one day I'll make youwatching again.
(38:18):
Happy Halloween.
And with that, Alec, tellpeople where they can find us.
Happy to.
All right.
Like JJ said, it's Halloween.
Ish.
So this has been week four ofJohn Q. Sack's month with October
movies.
And this is wrapping up JohnCusack month and October movies.
Next month we'll have a brandnew topic, brand new movies for November.
(38:41):
So looking forward to that.
Let us know in the commentsbelow what you guys thought of.
Our rating of identity cameout to be 375, which we don't do.
So round up four out of five.
So let us know if you agree,disagree, and why.
Best place to find us and seeour smiling faces is on YouTube at.
(39:02):
What's our version?
Best place to find us outsideof that is on Patreon.
What's our verdict?
Reviews?
We have 600 ish.
It's getting close up there.
If it's not there already,extra bonus episodes, content, bloopers,
outtakes.
Matson talking about stupidwhen he was still around.
(39:23):
It's wonderful.
That is behind a teeny littlebit of paywall.
So if you guys want to supportthe podcast, we do appreciate it.
It helps keep the lights on.
And so with that.
Oh, look at that.
With that, that's the bestplace to get involved with all the
content.
We do have votes, so getinvolved with the content selection
through monthly votes andmovie votes.
And the voting part of it isabsolutely free.
(39:45):
So you can just join up, get alittle bit of influence on what we're
watching, and go from there.
Special thanks to our currentpatrons, Charles and or CB And Rick
Rich.
You guys are amazing.
And with that, I'll kick itback to the Colossus of clout, the
king of Crash.
A jj.
Yes, sir.
(40:05):
Thank you.
Alec.
Yeah, go check us out.
We have a lot of fun.
It's a little weird, butthat's what we are.
It's a lot of weird.
Yeah.
So, yeah, as always, weappreciate you tuning in.
We'll catch you on the next one.
Cinematic.
Sam.
Mother.
Raining in Phoenix today.
Know how many days a year itrains in Phoenix?
Like four.
And it just so happens that onthe day I watch Identity, which starts
off in rainstorm before allhell breaks loose.
(00:25):
Welcome to the what's up EveryPodcast where we fashion ourselves
cinematic judge and Jerry.
My name is J.J. crowder.
I'm here with my co host, Alec Burgess.
Let's get it.
We appreciate you tuning in.
Go ahead, hit that.
Follow subscribe like bellnotification buttons.
Hit them all.
It'll let you know when you'renew, when our new episodes come out.
Of course, we can just tellyou they come out every Monday, but
we still want you to hit that stuff.
(00:49):
Yeah.
Also tell help us grow thepodcast by telling a friend, family
member, co.
Worker, not convicted murderer.
Don't tell convicted murdererabout us, please.
Please don't tell convicted murderers.
Don't tell anybody that.
You know, that might be likemost of the people in this movie.
Yeah, we can do without them.
Yeah, we'll pass.
(01:09):
For the sake of Alec, we'll pass.
Like, thank you.
I'd probably get along with afew of them, but we'll.
I'm the problem child now.
Yeah.
For the sake of Alex sanity.
Let's.
Let's not tell too many ofthem, but we definitely want your
friends, family members, coworkers, and we appreciate you hanging
out with us.
Also, go check out Patreon.
We have lots of content there,lots of fun.
(01:31):
You can vote on movies, youcan vote on topics, you can provide
us topics that we can then putmovies in that you can vote on.
So.
And all that's free.
And then we do have some tierswhere you get some extra content.
Even full bonus episodes arein there.
And then a few lucky patronsget to tell us what movies to watch
on a quarterly basis, nomatter how shitty or wonderful they
(01:52):
may be.
And we've had a pretty goodmix of both, I think.
But yeah, yeah, it's been somewonky ass movies in those.
The wonky ones are the wonkiest.
Yeah, they've been, they'vebeen weird, some of them downright
scarring.
But look, we're on the finalepisode of October, John Cusack's
(02:13):
month and it's Identity.
It was released April 25, 2003.
It was written by MichaelCooney and it was directed by James
Mangold, the James Mango.
I think this is one of hisfirst movies that he ever directed.
And it stars John Cusack, RayLiotta, Amanda Pete, John Hawks,
Alfred Molina, Clea duvall,John C. McGinley, William Lee Scott.
(02:36):
I'll be going for a minute.
This is.
There's a big cast.
Jake Busey, Pruitt TaylorVince, Rebecca De Mornay, Matt Laisher
and Holmes Osborne.
Don't forget about Brett Lohr, though.
Though he was a child.
He's not anymore.
Yeah.
It's about a few peoplesharing it.
At a desolate.
Desolate Nevada motel during anasty rainstorm, ten strangers become
(02:58):
acquainted with each otherwhen they realize they're being killed
off one by one.
That was a much bettersynopsis than the last movie we did.
Yeah, very accurate.
This is again my movie.
And again, it's dualistic for me.
One, absolutely to mess withmy co hosts, both Matson and Alec.
(03:19):
Because Matson, if he'd stuckaround, which he's not with us anymore
for now, his wife would havekilled him if he was watching this.
Because she's like, got thisthough at the same time, when you
get down to the crux of whatthis movie is about, she would have
ended up being intrigued.
Cause she's a psychologist,psychiatrist, one of the two, and
(03:40):
she's a child psychiatrist.
So maybe she would have beenmad at me about the whole child thing.
Anyway, I also did it becausewe're in October and I needed to
fuck with Alec.
And thankfully it got voted onand so we watched it.
But on the flip side of this,the other piece of it is I enjoy
this movie.
I think this cast isabsolutely stacked.
(04:01):
And as weird as this movie isat times, and at times how predictable
it is in a lot of ways, italso has a pretty fun little bit
of a twist.
And it's also like, it's.
It's tense.
Especially the first time youwatch it.
If you don't know what's goingon, you're like, what the is happening?
And I'll say, yeah.
And then.
And it's.
It's an intense movie.
Like, it's pretty.
(04:22):
Like, you talk about thriller.
It's.
It's.
Yeah, it's a little tense inmoments and creepy.
And they keep you like, whatthe are we doing here?
Anyway, so I like it, but Ithink this to me on the flip side.
So we just.
Last week we talked about peakromantic comedy.
Cusack.
(04:42):
I think this is peak dramatic Cusack.
Like, I love this.
I love Cusack in this film.
I love how dark and broody andserious and yet Cusack, he is like,
he's still John Cusack, buthe's this darker, more serious, but
(05:03):
still that like, kind ofweird, odd, strange guy.
But you can't help somethingAbout Q Sec.
To me, it's in every film thatI think really shines is you can't
help but trust this dude and you.
You root for him.
And that's why I've never seen.
I don't.
And maybe he has.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Even as an assassin in twomovies, like, you're like, let's
(05:24):
go, John Cusack.
Like, you can't help it.
Like, he's just that guy.
Right?
And.
But this movie, I really likethat he gets to stretch those drama
chops and like, it's a veryserious movie and it's a very serious
part.
It's not his quirkiness and.
And weird comes out in a verydark and very interesting way versus,
you know, the.
(05:44):
The dichotomy of what wewatched last week with.
With Serendipity, where it'svery goofy and silly and.
And fun that way.
This is.
This is not silly and goofyand fun.
It's very serious and verydark and very disturbing in a lot
of ways.
And he plays it wonderfully.
Like, this is one of myfavorite Cusack movies, not because
(06:05):
the movie itself's amazing,but because to me, he just kills
it.
So that was one of thereasons, like, the main reasons that
I picked it to get voted for.
For us.
And I was glad it got chosen.
And I know this was your firsttime seeing this, so I'm interested
to hear, besides you hatingme, what you thought so little.
Little background, right?
So I pick movies to watch kindof based on.
(06:27):
I know you're not supposed todo this, but I will judge a book
by its cover.
Sure.
So you can see the logo downthere, right?
I ain't watching a moviethat's got a level like that.
Yeah.
You're scrolling throughNetflix and you see like, you know,
John Cusack's face withblurred background, and there's clearly
ominous tones.
I. I scroll past that and I'llgo watch something fun and exciting.
Lightning.
(06:48):
And then on top of that, I amreally influenced when I watch a
movie and based on how I feelon my surroundings.
Right.
I've had a bad string of luckwhere, you know, at opportune moments,
the door knocks or the powergoes out or something along those
lines, some outside force kindof, you know, affects how I feel
(07:09):
about the movie.
On the flip side, I also tendto look for things in movies where
I can be like, haha, fake, I'mgood, or haha, lie.
That would never happen.
And so watch this, right?
And motherfucking raining inPhoenix today.
Now how many days a year itrains in Phoenix?
(07:30):
Like four.
And it just so happens that onthe day I watch Identity, you, which
starts off in rainstorm,before all hell breaks loose, driving
on the 202, lube going, youknow, in very little visibility,
going, geez, you know, if Iwas on the road, this be a nice spot
(07:51):
to pull over from a motel, no?
So that huge effect on myviewing of Identity and my overall
feeling and, oh, boy, it got me.
I mean, I will say I. I alwayslove a movie with Ray Liotta in it.
Oh, yeah, A little man crush there.
He's phenomenal.
(08:11):
And this movie is a greatpsychological thriller.
Bad part about this movie, Ihate kids.
Despise little bastards.
And the ones that.
The ones recently that havegotten me, that JJ's made me watch,
all involve some kind oftwisted, demented child that is the
(08:35):
cause of all the problems.
And.
Holy.
I will have some troublesleeping tonight.
Yeah, tomorrow night and thenight after that.
But it.
It is.
It's good.
We'll say that it's good, but,oh, boy, did I hate it.
And I've been jumping aroundcorners, shadows, and I had to go
(08:57):
a little more background.
I work for a company thatdeals with kids, right?
Indoor fun parks.
I've been.
I've been around little shitsall day to day, you know, just.
And I. I've been working onstuff and some technical stuff, so
I'm not paying attention, right?
And we all know kids, they'lljust like, come over, climb on top
of you, be like, yeah, belike, hey, what are you doing, Dude?
(09:18):
I've had so many where I'mjust like, yeah, I'm like, ready
to go like 17ft of space around.
Love it.
Love it.
Because you never know.
Yeah.
Never know.
Yeah.
Especially in movies.
(09:38):
Never trust a kid I don't know.
Especially in horror movies.
And here's the problem.
They did a good job making youtrust this one.
And I think, yes, I think whatreally got me, I remember watching
this the first time because I,you know, me, I love horror movies.
I love John Cusack.
I'm obsessed with Amanda Pete.
I love Ray Liotta.
So, like, I was sold on this movie.
(10:01):
The instant I saw the preview,I was like, oh, I'm seeing that.
And I remember going to thetheater and being like, oh, this
poor kid, man.
Like, of all the people to bestuck and that.
Like, you just watch your momget run down by a car, she's bleeding
all over the place.
Now you're watching DeadBodies you're watching.
It's wild.
The.
This kid goes through and thenthe best part I think is he doesn't
(10:24):
say a word the whole moviebecause he doesn't talk, he doesn't
have to deliver lines.
He doesn't have to bebelievable because you're just looking
at him as this traumatizedchild that was traumatized before
this all happened and now it'sjust been compounded.
Right.
So it's like, how do I evensuspect that this kid's up.
(10:45):
Yeah.
He's like part of thebackground or the scenery.
Yeah.
Like they did a very good job.
And I'll tell you, like the, Imean, straight from the get go.
Right.
Because the first, you know, spoiler.
The first killing.
Right.
You have just severed head.
Yeah.
And not a single part of mewas like, oh, you know, who's responsible
(11:05):
for that?
Little kid.
Yeah, a little kid.
A little five year old.
He's the one who did it.
Yeah.
And so, and especially as youget further along and you start to
learn more about the peopleinvolved, kid gets further and further
from your, you know, like justoff the radar, not even there.
(11:26):
It almost even becomes aforgotten character, like less than
the background in the scene.
And so it's just a very goodjob of keeping it under wraps and
not telegraphing where they'regoing and keeping the story and keeping
you on your toes the whole time.
And no.
Oh, I, I know it is.
So, so, so, so.
(11:47):
And every single time, youknow, then it's like they get ticked
off the list.
Ticked off the list.
Ticked off the list.
And then you start wonderingwho could it be?
Like it, you know, does it endup being it?
And take off the list.
Take off the list.
So they did, they did a reallygood job with that.
And you know, despite theexistential bear terror I was feeling,
(12:08):
you know, I was, I wasentranced with the, the story from
start to finish on it.
Yeah.
And I think like, so therecomes a certain point.
And let me ask you this beforeI get into this point.
Did you figure out the.
I know it's not.
It's dissociative identity story?
Did.
(12:28):
Now did you figure that out orwhen did you figure it out or did
that.
Because your existential dreadkept your brain from firing on all
cylinders.
So what I was, when I waswatching, I was honed in on the actual
story that they're showing you.
Yeah.
And so I was also looking for connections.
When they're looking forconnections and trying to piece together
(12:49):
like who's the Main architectthat put all these people in this
place or who's the causebehind it.
Right.
Because there's.
There's frequently that kindof trope.
And so I'm looking.
Maybe they're connected somehow.
Maybe there's multiple peopleworking together.
Right.
Maybe it's a screen thing.
There's two killers.
Yeah.
Or something along those lineswhere, you know, there's.
There's always a connection.
Always a connection.
And then when you figure outthat this is all just, like, going
(13:14):
on in brain and it's beingnarrated while as.
That was just like, oh, mymind blown.
I was shocked.
And I was sitting there going,damn, they got line and sinker.
I was buying it all.
Especially when they get tothe point where, you know, this big,
(13:35):
like, reviewer, it's like, oh,well, my birthday's next week.
Right.
And you think, oh, that's stupid.
And then so is mine.
So is mine.
So is mine.
You get this idea like, oh,hang on a second.
Yeah.
You know, maybe this twistedkiller, because we obviously know
twisted killer has a thing forpeople and tracked them all down
and did all this weird voodooor something like that.
But.
No.
(13:56):
Yeah.
It's just that it's the sameidentity or different identities
within the same person.
And so all these details match up.
And so I thought it wasextremely well done.
If I hadn't been peeing mypants, I probably would appreciated
it a little bit more.
But, you know, it is what it is.
Yeah.
I mean, that means it did its job.
I.
So I. I'll be honest.
I figured it out pretty.
(14:17):
I don't want to say pretty early.
It was probably about halfway.
So what triggered me was thevery first question I had is like,
why are we in two separate places?
Why are we having this.
This trial?
Not trial, but this hearing,this midnight hearing, first day
of execution.
And then what is.
So where.
Where is the overlap in these stories?
Right?
So then my brain, I can't helpit, I start going down the road of.
(14:42):
To your point, is there asecond killer that this guy was involved
with?
He's crazy.
They pinned it all on himbecause he was easy to do it to.
Right.
That was my initial thought.
Right.
And then I was like, what gotme though, is when Ray Liotta's character
tries to leave or not.
When the.
The dude tries to run away andthen circles back, the.
(15:02):
The criminal guy and he'slike, what's his face?
Crazy guy's son.
Anyway, the.
The guy that was the criminalin it, when he runs away and he loops
around and he thinks he's runaway on the other side, and all of
a sudden, he's back at the hotel.
I was like, no, no, no, no,no, no, no.
That's not real.
Like, you can't get that twisted.
This is a fucking bright neon sign.
(15:23):
Like, this guy's not circlingback like that.
At least not that quickly.
So I was like, there'ssomething wrong with this whole scenario.
And so then my brain started,and then it finally clicked when
the birthday came up.
I went, oh, God damn it.
This is all the guy.
They're all personalities, andthey're winding it down, and that's
(15:45):
where I was.
And then the numbers clickedin, and it's a countdown of all the
different personalities.
The keys and the.
I was like, okay.
Oh, I got it.
But what with me is.
I was like, okay, so now it's easy.
And I got comfortable becauseI went, it's gotta be.
It's either Leota's characteror it's Paris.
And it's just this sneaky sonof a thing where she's like this
(16:07):
cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, andshe's playing it well.
And in my head, I'm like,okay, it's obvious he can't stand
his mom because she was ahooker or she was a sex worker.
Let me back that up.
My bad.
She was a sex worker.
And he had this bias towards the.
The actual guy we see in his.
In.
When he's talking to the.
(16:27):
At the Earl.
Those overlapping discussionsearly on that he couldn't stand the
fact that his mother was a prostitute.
Okay.
So I was like, oh, she's gonnabe the.
Because the villain in hismind's got to be, what?
A prostitute.
So I was thinking, it'sAmanda, Pete.
It's.
And she's the next biggest.
Besides Leota, who's now deador working on being dead.
I was like, it's got to be Paris.
(16:48):
So that's where I was going.
Then those sons of.
Got me with that little slap it.
When he comes out of there inFlorida, when you're all like, yeah,
doing oranges.
And all of a sudden, he picksup that rake thing.
I'm like, oh, no.
And he's.
And he was terrifying, like,smacking that at the.
(17:12):
What a great addition to that.
But that's where, like, Ithought I was super smart.
I was like, oh, I figured this out.
Multiple personality disorder.
And then I went, oh, thesesons of.
They got me on this kid.
And that.
The fact that it ends on thatline of whores don't get A second
chance.
I was like, oh, no, this kid's up.
And then the vans.
(17:34):
Yeah.
What a up ending this movie has.
But I love it.
I love it.
So I'm glad you walked methrough that, because it's.
It's great to see where ourminds diverge.
Yeah.
Right.
Because you.
You see the.
The guy leaving and comingback, and that flags you as being
like, oh, this thing's fake.
When I.
When that happened, I waslike, oh, it's a ploy.
(17:56):
Like, he's playing.
He's playing a con.
Or it's.
It's a move for him so he canget the fear and the tension up and
everything going on.
Yeah.
What kind of crazy is gonnajust wander off in the middle of
the night after someone elsedid it and said, they circle back.
Like, you're gonna stay in the light.
And so that's where my mind went.
So you're already thinking.
It's.
(18:16):
You're already in your mind.
You're like, oh, it's fake.
There's something else goingon here.
Yeah.
I'm sitting there going, dude,this guy's an idiot.
He's giving away his entire plan.
I love, too, what they do to,like, really obfuscate, like, what's
going on too.
Like, they have the random ass.
The freaking weirdo chickthat's, like, freaking the out.
(18:38):
And then all of a sudden, thisrandom ass that, if you're paying
attention, you see thebrochure that talks about the burial
ground.
But, like, I.
And when it first came up, Iwas like, what was like, you're going
supernatural with this.
Like, why would you do that?
And so it threw me off for a minute.
But again, it's genius,because we want to be like, oh, God,
(18:59):
really?
You're gonna go with theburial ground?
But it distracts you for,like, five minutes, right?
Going, ah, they're not gonnado that.
And, no, they didn't.
Yeah.
They scream.
Yeah.
They throw all sorts of little out.
And it's.
You know, and it'sinteresting, too.
Like, the other piece, goingback to the fact that it's a kid.
(19:19):
Like, you think about the waythat the criminal dude died.
Busey's character died.
That little kid is not shovingthat bat all the way down that man's
throat.
So I'm like, there's no wayit's the kid.
When you see.
Because, I mean, that thingwas in his gullet.
Like, that wasn't kind of He.
That thing was almost touchinghis balls, it was so far down his
throat.
(19:39):
So I was like, there's no waythat little kid could do that.
But then when you.
And so it's wonderful the waythat the structure can distract you
from what the truth of thisstory is, even though it's all right
in front of your face.
Like, if you go back and watchit again, which I know you won't,
but because I've watched thisso many times, like, I start to see,
and I'm like, God damn it, howdid I not see that?
(20:00):
Right?
Because once you know, thefact that they're.
None of them are real, they're.
They're having this basicallytwisted multiple personality fantasy
of, like, narrowing down toone identity versus the 10, you start
to realize it doesn't matterif he's a little kid.
Like, what's gonna happen isgonna happen because the personality
(20:24):
and the.
And these personalities are aspowerful as they want to be because
technically, they're a figmentof this man's psyche.
Right?
Like, you don't have to besome big burly ass to stick a baseball
bat down a dude's throat.
That's why when the bodiesstart disappearing.
That's the other thing thatgot me.
The body started disappearing.
I'm like, wait, what the fuckis happening right now?
And then what?
(20:44):
That's the other thing thattriggered me.
When the birthday thing cameup, I was like, oh, they're disappearing
because they're not real.
I was like, it's not real.
And it's so genius, the littlebread crumbs that they give you that
if you can do it.
And I, like, said the factthat there's so many, like, twists
and turns to the movie, dude.
And some of the jump scares.
(21:04):
You had to have peed yourselfa couple times.
Just six or seven.
It's fine.
Yeah.
Like I look like when she'slocked in the bathroom, the one I
always thought of when I waswatching it with you.
And she's in the bathroom,and, like, he goes quiet and she
goes out to the door, and allof a sudden he bangs on it again.
Had to have gotten you.
Oh, yeah, no, I jumped about4ft up off the couch.
Yeah.
Or even when the mom got hitearly on, like, she stepped.
(21:27):
Yeah, it just comes out of nowhere.
So they did.
They did a good job there.
I hated every single one ofthem, but they did a good job with
it.
And so I can appreciate thegame while hating the player.
Yeah, Yeah, I love it.
Well, and then I have thequestion, too.
So here's a question for you.
This is philosophical.
They don't ever give you an answer?
Is the dude in the freezeranother personality?
(21:51):
Oh, like a dormant one?
Yeah.
Was he.
Was it one or.
Yeah, misused one.
That's.
Was he.
Was that the first eliminationof a personality?
Mm.
Right.
Yeah.
I could definitely see itbeing so because this is a movie
(22:12):
and you kind of touched on alittle bit, but with the hints and
the clues and the breadcrumbsthat they're leaving, like, especially
since once you figure outthat, like, this is all taking to
place someone's mind, right.
This is.
This is a movie where you haveto watch it and every single detail
or background thing can't betaken as.
Oh, we're filling space on set.
Yeah, right.
They.
They were.
They were putting thought intowhat they're putting.
(22:32):
What they're showing.
So the fact that they areshowing freezer boy has to.
Has to at least lean towardsthe fact that this is a personality.
Either the first elimination,but if the body's still there.
I also wonder if maybe it's adormant one or not yet foreign personality
(22:52):
or, you know, if they.
They're capped at like 10.
Right.
Whatever.
And so now that they're downto one, if it's gonna start, you
know, those pieces have to befilled, let's say.
Yeah.
And so this is the next numbertwo, or whatever you might be.
And so it's a.
It's a personality.
And loading or downloading.
I don't know how it works.
Yeah, I don't either.
(23:13):
But it's often one of those things.
Every time I see it, I'm like,what's the other than distraction?
Right?
Because then it puts the.
There's.
There's this like.
Well, now you have to becurious about what's his face because
he.
We don't know if he killedthat guy or not.
He says it was.
He was just.
He found him dead in a banquet.
Popeye.
Like, very specific.
(23:34):
But who knows, right?
Like, we don't know.
Maybe again, he's.
We know that the.
The actual person has beengoing through treatment for a very
long time.
Long enough that they figured out.
And he's had conversationsthat the doctors had conversations
with Ed.
So it's like did.
Is the first bringing to thislocation of collecting these guys?
(23:57):
Did that take place betweenthese first two?
Right.
The hotel, the motel runner,owner, whatever.
And what's his face that comesin the.
The weirdo.
Because he obviously wouldhave been a stronger personality
too, because he had some ofthat twisted I don't like prostitutes
piece.
Right.
And so it's like, man, maybehe's part.
(24:19):
He may not be as twisted asthe kid as.
But he's still up like.
And did he kill the.
So it's something.
There's a lot to this movie.
There's a lot.
While you're talking, I wasactually as.
Id popped my head.
I wonder if freezer boy islike the original personality.
Yeah.
So again, I don't know how did works.
(24:40):
I don't either.
Right over my head.
I'm an idiot.
I don't deal with psyche.
I'm a psychopath, but I don't,you know, mess around with any of
it.
But if there.
There's got to be an original personality.
Right.
And then these otherpersonalities form.
So I wonder if the reason whyhe's frozen in stasis and still around
is because he's the actualcore personality.
(25:01):
And as long as the othersexist, then he continues to exist,
if that makes any sense.
What if that's his actual personality?
That's his personality that'sstuck because he's bald.
He's a big dude.
Oh, dude.
As long as the others exist,like he's still there, but he's not
(25:21):
being used because the othershave taken up all the space or all
the available gigabytes withinthe brain.
I've never been.
I've never put that popped inmy head when you were talking about.
I never.
Because that's another thingwe never see.
We never see the guy's actual personality.
He's always someone else orone of these personalities, at least
(25:44):
when we see it.
Right.
So that's a son of a bitch.
Maybe that's not one thatreally matches him.
Yeah.
And maybe that's.
I mean, it's a good pointtowards the.
The.
The mental health.
Real problem of maybe hisactual personality was killed off
by these person, you know,long time ago.
Right.
(26:04):
Like, and.
And it works with the dialogue too.
He's like, I forgot all about him.
I put him in the freezerbecause it was hot.
And then I just kept goinglike, dude, that's.
That's an extra layer.
I didn't even.
Woofty.
Well done.
You up?
This movie's up.
Yeah, no, it is, but it's up.
It's kind of a cool up.
(26:26):
Oh, I love it.
I love the idea.
And I'll be honest, like,there's some places where, like,
I want a little bit more.
But I think again, it's anhour and a half long, so it's very
streamlined, it moves very quickly.
And again, there's some partswhere I'm like, ah, Geez, that's
hard.
But at the end of the day,when you get to the resolution and
the.
Understand that instant thatQSAC pops up in the.
The trial piece or like thehearing piece, like you're.
(26:49):
Everything goes.
It doesn't matter how offkilter or unrealistic or any of that
it is because we know it'staking place in his head and it's
not real.
So I have to all of a suddengo, well, I can't judge based on
what the reality of a certainsituation would be because there
is no reality in thissituation from a certain point of
(27:10):
view.
Right.
Like, because it's all takingplace in his head.
It's basically a fantasy inhis mind.
So I'm like, I wanna hate,like how weird.
But here it goes and it messeswith you.
And I think it's also on aserious side.
Less about the movie.
Like, again, I know nothingabout DID other than what I've had
(27:31):
conversations.
I don't remember what we did.
I don't even know if you werein on it at that point.
But we did another show thattalked about did and Taylor came
on.
Matson's wife came on andtalked about DID a little bit from
her perspective.
And I don't remember what it was.
I think I might have beenthere, but I wouldn't have.
I wouldn't have kept up with it.
(27:52):
Sure.
And I can.
I can only remember the conversation.
I can't remember what all shesaid about it.
But I say all that to say likeit's an interesting like storytelling
perspective or.
And not even that.
It's like an interestingoutlook or take maybe on DID and
(28:13):
what that might like might be.
Right.
It was moon night.
It was moon.
It was moon night.
It was.
I knew.
And that's why I said show,not movie.
It was moon night.
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which I'm still mad about.
That we haven't gotten.
I know.
Remind me after we're donerecording and.
Because there's.
Yeah.
Anyway, I have interestingthought on that one.
(28:35):
But yeah, so like I.
It's a very interesting.
And again, I don't know howmuch reality.
I don't know if that's eventhe treatment, if that's a real thing
where we try to eliminatepersonalities or, you know, whatever
it is.
But God damn, is it an interesting.
It makes for an interestingconversation or think piece.
Right.
Like where you're like, couldyou do that?
Could you eliminate down toone or two of the.
(28:58):
The gentle ones, the ones thataren't a problem or Ones that don't
create issues for that.
This person.
And maybe that's.
Or can you eliminate it downto where it's just their base personality?
Or is that.
That split that crackpermanent to some level?
Right.
It's.
I don't know enough about it.
I like speculating much more.
(29:19):
Yeah, it's probably a lot moreboring than I'd like to admit, but.
Exactly.
The movie makes it aninteresting conversation.
That's why the movie doesn'texplain it.
Because then it lets her goingto think about it and.
Yeah.
Draw our own conclusions.
So my last thought, and theone thing that really gets me with
this movie is that moment when.
When Cusack pulls up into the.
(29:39):
Like, his performance as the.
That cuts away from them beingin the rain.
He's trying to figure it out.
He's starting to piecetogether that there's something weird
going on.
And he does.
Can't explain it.
And then he finds himself inthe actual spotlight, if you will,
of the personalities.
And it's like, holy.
(30:03):
The performance he gives on inthat moment where he looks in the
mirror and he like, loses it.
Like, what'd you do to my face?
Like.
And then it cuts from the.
From Cusack to the other.
The actual actor.
That's the guy, dude, thatscene with me on.
Because I cannot even fathomwhat that would be like.
And then you have to wonder,okay, again, from a DID Perspective
(30:26):
that I don't know enough about it.
Does that personality, thiscreated personality have, like, where
is the line drawn with howthat impacts this as a human being?
Or, you know, how much empathycan I have for someone that's a personality
(30:47):
versus a person?
But that personality is at itscore a part of this person.
Right?
So, like, how much.
How much some empathy.
Right.
Like, how do I not.
And so what really gets me ishow much that draws on me.
That moment where I feelhorrifically uncomfortable for this
person.
(31:08):
Whether it's the personality,the real guy, like, whatever it is.
I have just this immenseamount of skin crawl where I'm like.
I can't even fathom what thatwould be like.
Where you just pop up everyonce in a while as part of a personality.
And then you look at you, youhave a vision of what you look like
and who you are.
And then you see somethingdifferent and you become aware.
(31:29):
And that's another question.
Could a personality becomeaware that they're just a person?
Fuck.
It just makes me ask so many questions.
But I love that scene.
The w. The acting in thatscene is unreal from everybody Involved
even the judge whose facegoes, what the.
So, yeah, I love that whole scene.
(31:50):
No, you bring up a good pointbecause it's, it is a, it is a mind
on extraordinary,extraordinarily high levels.
Yeah.
Because there's levels uponlevels and there's not enough kind
of common knowledge about it.
Right.
Like I, I couldn't picture adifferent personality.
Right.
You know, versus like I know Ihave mood swings in a way where it's
(32:14):
like, hey, you know, aroundand find out or come correct or get
corrected or, you know,there's, there's different things
there.
I interact with peopledifferently based on, you know, how
they interact with me andthings like that.
And I can change, you know,the how people perceive me.
But that's all conscious.
(32:34):
Yeah, right.
It's, it's not like the, the,the fighter part of me goes to sleep
and doesn't remember anythingwhile the, the more gracious or whatever
person takes over in a situation.
Like I'm still conscious ofthe whole process and I remember
or it's a conscious decisionthat I'm making.
(32:54):
So to not be in the driver'sseat or to have this battle going
on in the background is terrifying.
And then to top it off, right, you.
Because a big part of thiswhole movie is like, you know, are
the personalities that areleft, you know, the violent ones
or are they the more, youknow, amicable ones?
(33:15):
And like in that situation,there's no way to tell.
Yeah, right.
Except that we all know if itcomes down to a fight, the violent
one is gonna win.
And then it just becomes, canthey, you know, adapt enough to give
out this vibe there thatthey're not the violent one?
Right.
Can they pull this catch 22 orpull this, pull this off long enough
(33:40):
to, you know, convinceeverybody of the ruse?
And so that's where it turnsinto that, you know, real kind of
tricky situation.
Because how do you know assomeone who's having to judge or
you know, decide, hey, is thisguy going to get the, the death penalty
or is he gonna go into apsychiatric place?
(34:01):
Right.
And you know, we, we obviouslyknow the violent personality took
over and you know, it wasn'tthe personality we're expecting.
And so then it leaves you verykind of open ended.
But that inner battle, like Ican't even fathom because everything
I do is a conscious decisionthat I'm going to do it.
And I couldn't imagine someoneelse in the driver's seat of this.
(34:24):
Yeah, it's terrifying, isn't it?
That's one of Those, Those.
Those disorders or like, yeah,whatever you want to call it, that
I would just be like, I. I'mso glad.
Like, I'm.
I'm leaving any kind of 25square mile radius.
Yeah, I'm out of there.
(34:45):
I can't even think.
That's just unfathomable to me.
So, interesting movie.
Should we rate it?
Do it.
All right.
My movie again, I'm gonna givethis one a four.
I'm gonna give it a four,because is it where it's really good?
It's unreal.
Good.
(35:05):
There are moments where I'mlike, okay, this was unnecessary,
or they're trying too hard.
And I think, again, I go backto, like, I could have done without
the whole trying to, like,have the weird burial ground thing.
Like, I think that just asmuch as I'm like, yeah, I get what
they're trying to do and throwyou off and add all sorts of like,
well, is this a horror movie?
Is this a ghost movie?
Is this trying to keep you offthe scent?
(35:28):
Like, I think they did alittle too much.
And sometimes I get annoyed byit while I'm watching it.
I'm like, okay, just take meback to the cool people dying and
then the really interestingstorytelling that you're giving me.
But that's my really only gripe.
I think the acting is reallygood, and when you get a cast like
this together, of course it'sgoing to be good.
And I think the premise of itis wildly interesting and it makes
(35:50):
for some really good conversations.
Like, we.
I mean, it's probably one ofthe most interesting conversations
we've had in a long time abouta movie because of the.
The topic and what it is andwhat this whole thing turns out to
be.
And, man, there's some goodscares, and it just kind of keeps
you on the edge of your toesand trying to figure things out.
The whole hour and a halfyou're watching it for the most part,
so.
(36:11):
And it's just emotionally destructive.
Like, you're like, jesus, whatis happening with all the crazy?
So I like it.
Not a perfect movie, but it's good.
And I'll watch this one againanytime, unlike yourself.
But, yeah, so four for me.
Yeah.
So I will not be watching this again.
But I think if it wasn't as.
(36:33):
Because it's intriguing.
The source material is awesome.
Yeah, like, that's appealingto me, but it comes with the, you
know, the outer.
On my first watch, I havethese outer forces working on it.
So it's like, already in mymind is never going to happen ever
again.
But I'm going to give it athree and a half.
I agree.
(36:53):
I agree with like the burialground stuff and leaving some stuff
off, but I wouldn't like cutit out.
I would replace it almost.
And again, this is coming fromsomeone has no idea how did works.
But I would replace it withhaving a little bit more, you know,
personality team up or likenot as a group necessarily trying
to figure it out, but findingconnections between two of them that
(37:16):
are more so than everybody else.
And so you kind of get almostlike this team kind of thing going
or, you know, to almost likegain up on another personality and
so you can tick off more orpeople that you wouldn't think.
So you keep this hidden everywhere.
And I could even change thestory to be like, hey, we got to
protect the kid.
Right.
(37:36):
Not realizing that the kid'sthe one who's pulling all the strings.
Yeah.
And so have that kind of asanother distraction.
Oh, that's fine.
And as we're going on so there.
There's little things likethat that I would have changed.
And then of course in thisscary movie.
Yeah.
But it's a good one and it's.
It tingles your brain andmakes you think so it's.
(37:57):
It's definitely not like a,oh, I'm gonna put on identity because
I just want to watch something.
No, no, no.
Yeah.
This is one where you gotwatch and pay attention to it to
get the full experience.
But yeah, three and a half for me.
I think it was a good movie.
I like it.
I'm glad you liked it.
Maybe one day I'll make youwatching again.
(38:18):
Happy Halloween.
And with that, Alec, tellpeople where they can find us.
Happy to.
All right.
Like JJ said, it's Halloween.
Ish.
So this has been week four ofJohn Q. Sack's month with October
movies.
And this is wrapping up JohnCusack month and October movies.
Next month we'll have a brandnew topic, brand new movies for November.
(38:41):
So looking forward to that.
Let us know in the commentsbelow what you guys thought of.
Our rating of identity cameout to be 375, which we don't do.
So round up four out of five.
So let us know if you agree,disagree, and why.
Best place to find us and seeour smiling faces is on YouTube at.
(39:02):
What's our version?
Best place to find us outsideof that is on Patreon.
What's our verdict?
Reviews?
We have 600 ish.
It's getting close up there.
If it's not there already,extra bonus episodes, content, bloopers,
outtakes.
Matson talking about stupidwhen he was still around.
(39:23):
It's wonderful.
That is behind a teeny littlebit of paywall.
So if you guys want to supportthe podcast, we do appreciate it.
It helps keep the lights on.
And so with that.
Oh, look at that.
With that, that's the bestplace to get involved with all the
content.
We do have votes, so getinvolved with the content selection
through monthly votes andmovie votes.
And the voting part of it isabsolutely free.
(39:45):
So you can just join up, get alittle bit of influence on what we're
watching, and go from there.
Special thanks to our currentpatrons, Charles and or CB And Rick
Rich.
You guys are amazing.
And with that, I'll kick itback to the Colossus of clout, the
king of Crash.
A jj.
Yes, sir.
(40:05):
Thank you.
Alec.
Yeah, go check us out.
We have a lot of fun.
It's a little weird, butthat's what we are.
It's a lot of weird.
Yeah.
So, yeah, as always, weappreciate you tuning in.
We'll catch you on the next one.
Cinematic.
Sam.
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