Trivia: The scene directly before the first victim, "the movie star", is killed she is talking to herself in the mirror. You can see her reflection and the reflection of the window behind her. If you pay close attention you can see that there is a silhouette in the curtains. Eventually the lightning flashes and you can see the face of the little boy in the silhouette looking into the window at her.
Trivia: The movie Ginny was talking about (10 people going to an island and being killed one by one) is "And Then There Were None/Ten Little Indians" (title depends on region). This seems to be the basis of the story (10 people/victims going to a motel and are killed one by one.)
Trivia: Pruitt Taylor Vince who plays a killer with multiple personalities in this movie had a similar role in an episode of the X-files in which he played a killer with a slight personality problem.
Trivia: This movie is loosely based upon the novel "And Then There Were None," where ten strangers are trapped together in a mansion and killed systematically. Although most of the storyline for this movie is original, there are some similarities in symbolism. For example, for every death in the book, an Indian figurine disappears. In this movie, for every death a numbered key is found. In the book, one of the characters recklessly cuts off another in his car on the way to the mansion. In the movie, a reckless driver is indirectly responsible for another's car trouble. John Cusack's death in this movie is slightly similar to that of Phillip Lombard in the book.
Answer: The motel isn't real, and neither are any of the characters in its proximity. They are all aspects of Malcolm's personalities that are being killed off one by one in order to make sure his true murderous personality is vanquished. As such, the session by which Malcolm is being forced to do all this is designed so that all the personalities are stuck within the same place with no chance of leaving, which explains the bad storm, the road obstruction, etc.
Phaneron ★