@BlackClaws
And John Cusack just cannot get a break with regards to hotels... Few years later, 1408 is a masterpiece.
@riley._.5332
"The man upon the stair" is actually from a larger poem, 'Antigonish'. It's been the inspiration for a lot of great horror concepts, on of my favorites being The Magnus Archives ep 85: 'Upon the Stair'
@MFLimited
He didn’t make up the poem himself. The poem is "Antigonish" by William Hughes Mearns. Written in the late 19th century. Thank you so much for posting this
@T2theG123
Everyone give this man a round of applause for getting this out to us 👏🏻
@ValerieTurner-b6g
It totally went over my head the first time that Timmy’s poem was about him wishing Ed would go away…and he succeeded. “I met a man who wasn’t there….i wish he’d go away”…so good🤩
@akelly4207
I was always surprised this movie didn’t get more attention at the time of its release because I loved it. It also hits my favourite specific genre of group of people trapped together, bad weather, creepy, whodunnit. It’s the cosiest of all vibes
@crimsonkingtphful
I've always loved The Skeleton Key, it's twist, and it's ending. Seems like that movie is highly underrated.
@Treetopgang
I think the question of how Timmy got to Florida can be answered by it being the strongest personality. It being a kid could symbolize how long that personality has been with Malcolm. With Timmy being the killer and the strongest the mind could explain how he could always come back. Especially if that personality is more tied to being the justification for Malcolm’s bad behavior. It would make sense that the mind would always bring Timmy back because Malcolm truly wanted to escape and Timmy was going to help him get away at the end Love the content and hope they stop trying to strike you!
@MrJagermeister
John Cusack gives me favorite line delivery in all of film with a single word: “What?” It’s as he looks at the IDs and then appears in the room with the Doctor and all the people sitting around the table. The doctor explains his reality to him and it’s such a completely reality shattering thing to learn that you not only don’t exist, but you’re just a part of someone else who has nearly a dozen personalities and at least some part of him IS a murderer. The way Cusack tries to process that information in the seconds that he has to do it with such a simple response, “What?” is perfection. It gives me shivers every single time. If you want to find it in the film, 1:09:45 Ed begins to recite the poem and then hears the Doctor asking where he heard it. Lots of flashes and his head moving left and right but an interesting detail you’ll see only for a split second is that it begins to rain INSIDE the hotel room. Pouring rain. He was already wet from it but it’s clearly raining both inside the room and outside the window. Then it cuts to him bone dry seated at the table. 1:11:45 “that’s exactly what happened to Malcolm Rivers” as he tells him that a child’s mind fractures to protect itself, described as multiple personality syndrome (obviously the science is terrible on this and we’ve learned a lot since 2003 but the movie is still fun despite the ridiculous way it portrays DID). Cusack says, “why are you telling me this” and Dr. Rivers says “because you, Edward, are one of his personalities” at 1:12:00. That’s when Cusack does a brilliant thing where (the whole time he tries to emulate the sort of glazed eyes that Pruitt Taylor Vince has due to a condition called nystagmus — the involuntary shaking of ones eyes — it got him a lot of evil/crazy/psycho roles). Cusack’s eyes look like sharks eyes as he lifts his face up a bit and the slight hint of a smirk, then a smile, at the incredulous suggestion he’s just heard. To be told you don’t exist, that everything you’ve known isn’t real. He does such fantastic acting in this single scene where every part of his face is telling a story and the only word his mind and lips can form together is, “What?” And he delivers that line in the most perfect way. You’ve got to hear it for yourself to truly appreciate it. The Timmy thing doesn’t work for me as well. I don’t mind him ending up in FL at the orange grove because the only personality that we believe is left is Paris, with everyone else now dead. And in her reality, she’s got 9 acres of land in FL. Set free from the treatment meant to bring all of the personalities together (using the hotel as a visual construct for the film), it makes sense that Malcolm is riding to an asylum in the back of a vehicle while imagining that he’s free and getting to live life for himself, as Paris at the grove. I get that you’re probably trying to keep it safe here on YT but Timmy’s whole single line delivery of “Whores don’t get a second chance” was something that my friend group and I would call back to and laugh about, especially if one of us got cheated on. We’d all say it in unison and that’d be that. I love the atmosphere of this film. The constant rain. The isolation, the confusion, the paranoia, the strangers and their secrets. James Mangold proved early on that he was a competent director. The writer seemed a bit of a one hit wonder; he tried the multiple personality plot again with 6 Souls (probably the best known film after Identity, with Julianne Moore in the lead). The only other film I’ve seen of his was The I, Inside the year after Identity came out. Shame he wasn’t able to come up with more fun concepts like this, because Identity is such a cult classic favorite of mine.
@lazyrmc
Identity is one of my favorites. It has an almost cozy mystery vibe to it as it slides into a twilight zone episode. It always felt to me like the kind of movie M. Night Shyamalan wished he could make
@RB-ej8wk
I found you because of your The Thing video and I'm happy I stayed
@LizBlizzard
The movie seems really good, but my first exposure to it was when my college professor (retired forensic psychiatrist) brought it up as an example of how media gives psychiatric disorders a really bad rep by just coming up with whatever interpretation of them fits best for the movie, even if entirely inaccurate lol
@oddyg59
I still haven't seen anyone notice that you can see Timmy in the curtains inside of Carolines room. You can see him just waiting there.
@mydislikedoesntmatter6537
This one of those movies that everyone has seen but vaguely remembers. This is slowly but surely becoming my favorite channel, glad i found this. Good on you dude 👍🏾
@ErinJeanette
I feel so bad for Malcolm who's Ed at that point he looks so so sad and confused. Great acting
@Leleche
So glad you finally got this uploaded. Youtube is so frustrating ! Amazing upload as usual! I remember watching this movie when I was a kid. My dad rented it on VHS from the video shop and I sneek watched it😅
@marksmorphs
My interpretation of why Timmy was able to walk to Florida quickly but Paris had to drive. I believe these visions are like dreams and since Paris's dream was to move to Florida, her experience would be the long drive to Florida from her perspective. Timmy didn't need to experience the entire journey to Florida so he can just appear whenever he wants. Remember, Timmy (or the killer; Malcolm in this case) is in control of the dream. The fact that he shows up so much later in Paris's timeline is because all of this is also happening in a fraction of real time; even though each personality is experiencing time on a different scale. Almost like how people experience time differently when one of them is approaching the speed of light. Edit: just like in dreams where you could be doing something for a while and then immediately end up in another location doing something else or how someone will randomly show up out of nowhere. Dreams are just our minds interpretation of random thoughts. So the scene with Paris and Timmy in Florida is just a representation of the thought process. It's the reason why the prisoner ends up back at the motel when he tries to run away. It's not supernatural; it's just a representation of the killers mind not allowing the prisoner go anywhere else as the killer is still in therapy, dealing with the other personalities at the time. So when we see Paris traveling to Florida all safe; it's like her personality won and has taken over the killers mind at that point; so the killer is letting Paris's dream play out as the therapy was working at this point. But since the therapy had not dealt with Timmy; once she's there, that's when Timmy comes back (remember, the therapy session is over at this point because the doctor feels all of the personalities have been erased) and Timmy takes over the killers mind again; explaining why is able to travel there so quickly. The one thing I cannot explain ... was Malcolm truly healed at the point when it was only Paris left in his mind? Did Malcolm truly forget about Timmy, which allowed Timmy to come back afterward (like maybe when the drug wore off?) or was Timmy always there and once Malcolm got rid of all the other personalities, he knew Timmy was still there but hid this from the doctor until he was in the back of the car and at a point where he could unleash Timmy and escape...
@tanyacarbajal3597
I love the twist at the end being the little boy because DID starts when you are a child and it's common for people with DID to have an alternate personality that stays young. But usually the child has no idea what bad things happened because the whole reason for DID is for the adult personalities to hold the trauma and keep it away from the child. So it's the perfect plot twist.
@Vuxzu
ok ngl, I saw this is in my recommended and thought; "not sure if I wanna watch what is probably just a lazy 45 minute video essay about some movie I've never heard of just to see if its actually a good twist or a good premise at all." Needless to say I'm glad I clicked on this video, this was very well made and had me engaged the whole time. You earned a sub from me
@PolterGibbst