10 MORE Great Horror Movies With Multiple Plot Twists

Even though James Mangold's whodunnit should be praised for its character dynamic, creative kills, and atmosphere, it's best known for its triple twist.

Identity opens with limo driver Ed, cop Samuel, a kid called Timmy, and several other strangers getting stranded in a motel during a rainstorm. Just when it seems like things couldn't get worse, the group starts being picked off, indicating there's a murderer among them. While this is going on, the story routinely cuts away to a psychiatrist called Dr. Malick who's talking about death row inmate Malcolm Rivers.

At the halfway point of Identity, it's revealed the scenario in the motel isn't real and all the characters there only exist in Malcolm's mind, one of which has murderous tendencies. Malick believes Malcolm will be cured of his homicidal cravings if the evil persona is destroyed.

As the motel scenario continues, Samuel is exposed as a convict who impersonated the cop he murdered while being transferred. When Samuel is killed, Malcolm's hostile impulses are seemingly quashed. 

However, Identity's final scene proves otherwise. 

Although Samuel was a psycho, he wasn't the murderer killing people in the motel. Through an elaborate flashback, it's revealed that the little boy, Timmy, was behind the massacre all along. Though Identity could've worked fine with its first two twists, this final one cemented it as one of the most mind-bending psychological thrillers ever.