I Know Who Killed Me
Encyclopedia
I Know Who Killed Me is a 2007 American horror
-thriller film directed by Chris Sivertson
and starring Lindsay Lohan
.
), a pianist and aspiring writer, appears to be his latest victim when she disappears during a night out with her friends. As the days tick by, the special FBI Task Force convened to track the killer begins to lose hope of finding her before it’s too late.
Late one night, a driver discovers a young woman by the side of a deserted road, disheveled and critically injured. The girl is rushed to the hospital, where Aubrey’s distraught parents, Susan (Julia Ormond
) and Daniel (Neal McDonough
), wait by her side as she slips in and out of consciousness. When she is finally able to speak, she shocks everyone by claiming to be a down-on-her luck stripper named Dakota Moss, who has never heard of Aubrey Fleming. Convinced Aubrey is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, her doctors, parents, and law enforcement officials can only wait for rest and therapy to restore her memory. But after returning to her parents’ suburban home, she continues to insist she is not who they think she is, despite bearing bizarre wounds identical to those of the serial killer’s previous victims.
The FBI agents are further mystified when they search Aubrey’s laptop and discover a short story
about a girl with an alter ego named Dakota. When Dakota begins to suspect she may be Aubrey’s identical twin sister, Susan shows her a video of her pregnancy ultrasound clearly revealing there was only one fetus in her womb. Confused and terrified, Dakota starts seeing visions of a menacing figure slowly butchering his captive. Convinced time is running out both for Aubrey and herself, Dakota confronts Daniel with a shocking truth that leads them on a frantic hunt for the killer.
Aubrey and Dakota are indeed twins, born to Virginia Sue Moss, a crack addict. Moss gave birth to them the same time the Flemings had their own child, who died in the incubator. Daniel Fleming quietly raises one as his own daughter, paying Virginia over the years by mail. Dakota finds the envelopes and attempts to find her sister, when she suffers sympathetic resonance from her twin's wounds, and is found by the highway. It turns out the two are stigmatic twins, with a psychic connection that lets them share pain, communicate, and even share experiences, which explains some of Aubrey's stories.
After investigating the grave of Aubrey's recently murdered friend, Jennifer Toland (Stacy Lynn Gabel), Dakota finds a blue ribbon from a piano competition, with a message from Jennifer's (and Aubrey's) piano teacher, Douglas Norquist (Thomas Tofel). Dakota realizes Norquist murdered Jennifer and abducted Aubrey after they expressed intentions to quit their piano lessons, taking off their fingers, arm, and a leg in a twisted act of retribution. Dakota and Daniel confront Norquist. Daniel dies in the process, but Dakota cuts off Norquist's hand and delivers a fatal blow to his neck. She then finds Aubrey where Norquist buried her alive and frees her. The movie ends with Aubrey and Dakota lying together on the ground, looking out into the night.
, which indicates "extreme dislike or disgust".
Richard Roeper
ranked it number one on his "Worst movies of 2007" list; a few years later, Roeper named it the worst film of the 2000s. The film received nine Razzie nominations, the most of any film that year. It won eight, including two awards for Worst Actress (Lindsay Lohan
playing twins), Worst Director (Chris Sivertson
), Worst Screenplay (Jeff Hammond), Worst Screen Couple (Lohan and Lohan) and a new category, Worst Excuse for a Horror Film. The only award it lost was Worst Supporting Actress (Julia Ormond), who lost to Eddie Murphy
for his role in drag in Norbit
. The movie set a record for the most Razzie wins in a single year, previously beating the tie held by Battlefield Earth
and Showgirls with seven wins each, though Battlefield Earth has surpassed eight awards with wins in subsequent years.
Despite this the film did garner some positive reviews. Fangoria
praises the film's imaginative use of color, saying "[T]he director and his visual team bathe the film in deep blues and reds, a welcome departure from the dirty green, sodium-lit palette of similarly themed horror fare, and the end result is simply a beautiful, eye-popping visual treat, so stylized that one can't help recalling Argento
's approach to Suspiria
." The Radio Times also alluded to the director "recalling the style of Dario Argento" in a "twisty, perversely fascinating psycho thriller." The horror-movie website BloodyDisgusting.com
gave the film a glowing review and suggested that, "Lohan's continual issues with drugs/alcohol/DUI’s/rehab/on-set bitchiness" were part of a "whirlwind of media frenzy" that was unnecessary and "irrelevant to the movie". The film itself was "a more-than-pleasant surprise, well-filmed, well-acted, especially by Lohan herself, and a surprisingly intriguing and gruesome little thriller." Boston Globe critic Ty Burr
compared the film favorably to Brian de Palma
's Sisters and Body Double
, as well as the works of David Lynch
.
and Blu-ray
versions were released on November 27, 2007. The art cover of the DVD shows Lohan, in blue, pole-dancing, with the faces of her alter egos Aubrey Fleming and Dakota Moss on either side. Among the extras are alternate opening and ending scenes with the latter showing that the entire plot was actually written by Aubrey. However, test audiences thought this ending was too predictable, so it was cut from the film. Other extras include an extended version of Lohan's strip dance at the club and bloopers. By January, the DVD had grossed $11.99 million. The Region 2 DVD was released January 28, 2008 with different cover art showing a close-up of Lohan, in red, doing her pole-dance at the strip club.
for I Know Who Killed Me, composed by Joel McNeely
, was released on July 24, 2007. Despite the film's critical and commercial failure, the score itself (which had drawn comparisons to the television mystery scores by Billy Goldenberg
) received almost unanimously positive reviews from film music critics, with James Southall of Movie Wave calling it an "unexpectedly classy score seems to go beyond the call of duty" and Clark Douglas of Movie Music UK rating it 5 stars and calling it "one of the year’s best scores, a must-have for those who are willing to take a trip into a deep, dark, and sometimes terrifying musical world".
The score was subsequently nominated as Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller Film by the International Film Music Critics Association.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
-thriller film directed by Chris Sivertson
Chris Sivertson
-Biography:Sivertson's debut feature film The Lost adapted Jack Ketchum's celebrated crime novel and has become a cult classic. His follow up film, I Know Who Killed Me starring Lindsay Lohan, was not well-received by critics and it won several Golden Raspberry Awards...
and starring Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
.
Plot
The quiet suburb of New Salem is being terrorized by a serial killer who abducts and tortures young women, holding them captive for weeks before murdering them. Aubrey Fleming (Lindsay LohanLindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
), a pianist and aspiring writer, appears to be his latest victim when she disappears during a night out with her friends. As the days tick by, the special FBI Task Force convened to track the killer begins to lose hope of finding her before it’s too late.
Late one night, a driver discovers a young woman by the side of a deserted road, disheveled and critically injured. The girl is rushed to the hospital, where Aubrey’s distraught parents, Susan (Julia Ormond
Julia Ormond
Julia Karin Ormond is an English actress who has appeared in film and television and on stage.-Early life and education:...
) and Daniel (Neal McDonough
Neal McDonough
Neal P. McDonough is an American film, television and voice actor.-Career:In 1991, McDonough won the Best Actor Dramalogue for "Away Alone". McDonough has made many television and film appearances since then, including Band of Brothers, Boomtown, Star Trek: First Contact, Minority Report and The...
), wait by her side as she slips in and out of consciousness. When she is finally able to speak, she shocks everyone by claiming to be a down-on-her luck stripper named Dakota Moss, who has never heard of Aubrey Fleming. Convinced Aubrey is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, her doctors, parents, and law enforcement officials can only wait for rest and therapy to restore her memory. But after returning to her parents’ suburban home, she continues to insist she is not who they think she is, despite bearing bizarre wounds identical to those of the serial killer’s previous victims.
The FBI agents are further mystified when they search Aubrey’s laptop and discover a short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
about a girl with an alter ego named Dakota. When Dakota begins to suspect she may be Aubrey’s identical twin sister, Susan shows her a video of her pregnancy ultrasound clearly revealing there was only one fetus in her womb. Confused and terrified, Dakota starts seeing visions of a menacing figure slowly butchering his captive. Convinced time is running out both for Aubrey and herself, Dakota confronts Daniel with a shocking truth that leads them on a frantic hunt for the killer.
Aubrey and Dakota are indeed twins, born to Virginia Sue Moss, a crack addict. Moss gave birth to them the same time the Flemings had their own child, who died in the incubator. Daniel Fleming quietly raises one as his own daughter, paying Virginia over the years by mail. Dakota finds the envelopes and attempts to find her sister, when she suffers sympathetic resonance from her twin's wounds, and is found by the highway. It turns out the two are stigmatic twins, with a psychic connection that lets them share pain, communicate, and even share experiences, which explains some of Aubrey's stories.
After investigating the grave of Aubrey's recently murdered friend, Jennifer Toland (Stacy Lynn Gabel), Dakota finds a blue ribbon from a piano competition, with a message from Jennifer's (and Aubrey's) piano teacher, Douglas Norquist (Thomas Tofel). Dakota realizes Norquist murdered Jennifer and abducted Aubrey after they expressed intentions to quit their piano lessons, taking off their fingers, arm, and a leg in a twisted act of retribution. Dakota and Daniel confront Norquist. Daniel dies in the process, but Dakota cuts off Norquist's hand and delivers a fatal blow to his neck. She then finds Aubrey where Norquist buried her alive and frees her. The movie ends with Aubrey and Dakota lying together on the ground, looking out into the night.
Cast
- Lindsay LohanLindsay LohanLindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
as Aubrey Fleming / Dakota Moss - Julia OrmondJulia OrmondJulia Karin Ormond is an English actress who has appeared in film and television and on stage.-Early life and education:...
as Susan Fleming - Neal McDonoughNeal McDonoughNeal P. McDonough is an American film, television and voice actor.-Career:In 1991, McDonough won the Best Actor Dramalogue for "Away Alone". McDonough has made many television and film appearances since then, including Band of Brothers, Boomtown, Star Trek: First Contact, Minority Report and The...
as Daniel Fleming - Brian GeraghtyBrian GeraghtyBrian Timothy Geraghty is an American film and television actor, best known for his role in the Academy Award winning film The Hurt Locker.-Early life:Geraghty was born in Toms River Township, New Jersey, and is of Irish ancestry...
as Jerrod Pointer - Garcelle Beauvais-NilonGarcelle BeauvaisGarcelle Beauvais is a Haitian-American actress and former fashion model. She is best known for her roles as hotel employee Francesca "Fancy" Monroe on The WB television sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show which ran from 1996 to 2001, and as Valerie Heywood on the ABC crime drama, NYPD Blue.-Early...
as Agent Julie Bascome - Spencer GarrettSpencer GarrettSpencer Garrett is an American actor who has appeared in television programs, television films, films, and a few blockbuster productions like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Public Enemies, and Air Force One....
as Agent Phil Lazarus - Gregory ItzinGregory ItzinGregory Martin Itzin is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as disgraced U.S. President Charles Logan in the television series 24.-Early life:...
as Dr. Grehg Jameson - Thomas Tofel as Douglas Norquist
- Rodney RowlandRodney RowlandRodney G. Rowland is an American actor. He is credited as Rod Rowland in more recent productions, given his predilection to being called Rod. Rowland's most noted appearances to date were as 1st Lieutenant Cooper Hawkes in 1995's Space: Above and Beyond and P...
as Kenny Scaife - Michael Adler as Dr. Alex Dupree
- Paula MarshallPaula MarshallPaula Marshall is an American actress.-Career:In 1992, Marshall had a three-episode guest role on The Wonder Years and later guest-starred on shows such as Seinfeld, Nash Bridges, Grapevine and Diagnosis: Murder. In 1994, she got her first sitcom role on Wild Oats...
as Marnie Toland - Brian McNamaraBrian McNamaraBrian McNamara is an American actor, known for his portrayal of Dean Karny in the TV Movie Billionaire Boys Club for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a supporting role.-Biography:...
as Fred Toland - Stacy Lynn Gabel (uncredited) as Jennifer Toland
- Michael PapajohnMichael PapajohnMichael Papajohn is an American actor, stuntman and former college baseball player for the LSU Tigers baseball team.-Early life:...
as Jacob K. / Joseph K. - Art BellArt BellArthur W. "Art" Bell, III is an American broadcaster and author, known primarily as one of the founders and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM. He also created and formerly hosted its companion show, Dreamland...
as himself - Jessica Rose as Marcia
Reviews
I Know Who Killed Me received mostly negative reviews. RottenTomatoes.com shows an 7% approval rating from critics with the consensus: "Distasteful and ludicrously plotted, I Know Who Killed Me is a career nadir for all involved". It currently holds a 16% rating on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which indicates "extreme dislike or disgust".
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
ranked it number one on his "Worst movies of 2007" list; a few years later, Roeper named it the worst film of the 2000s. The film received nine Razzie nominations, the most of any film that year. It won eight, including two awards for Worst Actress (Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
playing twins), Worst Director (Chris Sivertson
Chris Sivertson
-Biography:Sivertson's debut feature film The Lost adapted Jack Ketchum's celebrated crime novel and has become a cult classic. His follow up film, I Know Who Killed Me starring Lindsay Lohan, was not well-received by critics and it won several Golden Raspberry Awards...
), Worst Screenplay (Jeff Hammond), Worst Screen Couple (Lohan and Lohan) and a new category, Worst Excuse for a Horror Film. The only award it lost was Worst Supporting Actress (Julia Ormond), who lost to Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
for his role in drag in Norbit
Norbit
Norbit is a 2007 American comedy film directed by Brian Robbins and starring Eddie Murphy and Thandie Newton. Produced by Davis Entertainment and Tollin/Robbins Productions, the film also stars Terry Crews, Clifton Powell, Lester "Rasta" Speight, Eddie Griffin, Katt Williams, Marlon Wayans, and...
. The movie set a record for the most Razzie wins in a single year, previously beating the tie held by Battlefield Earth
Battlefield Earth (film)
Battlefield Earth is a 2000 American science fiction film adapted from L. Ron Hubbard's novel of the same name. It was directed by Roger Christian, and stars John Travolta, Forest Whitaker, and Barry Pepper...
and Showgirls with seven wins each, though Battlefield Earth has surpassed eight awards with wins in subsequent years.
Despite this the film did garner some positive reviews. Fangoria
Fangoria (magazine)
Fangoria is an internationally-distributed US film fan magazine specializing in the genres of horror, slasher, splatter and exploitation films, in regular publication since 1979.-Planning:...
praises the film's imaginative use of color, saying "[T]he director and his visual team bathe the film in deep blues and reds, a welcome departure from the dirty green, sodium-lit palette of similarly themed horror fare, and the end result is simply a beautiful, eye-popping visual treat, so stylized that one can't help recalling Argento
Dario Argento
Dario Argento is an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies....
's approach to Suspiria
Suspiria
Suspiria is a 1977 Italian horror film directed by Dario Argento and co-written by Argento and Daria Nicolodi. The film follows an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy in Germany, only to discover that it is controlled by a coven of witches. The film's score was...
." The Radio Times also alluded to the director "recalling the style of Dario Argento" in a "twisty, perversely fascinating psycho thriller." The horror-movie website BloodyDisgusting.com
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is a website that covers horror movies with reviews, interviews and news. It is currently run by Brad Miska, and Tom Owen. According to one source, the site has 1.5 million unique visitors and 20 million page views each month. It is widely considered to be the "world's most...
gave the film a glowing review and suggested that, "Lohan's continual issues with drugs/alcohol/DUI’s/rehab/on-set bitchiness" were part of a "whirlwind of media frenzy" that was unnecessary and "irrelevant to the movie". The film itself was "a more-than-pleasant surprise, well-filmed, well-acted, especially by Lohan herself, and a surprisingly intriguing and gruesome little thriller." Boston Globe critic Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Ty Burr has been a film critic for the Boston Globe since 2002 where he reviews films alongside Wesley Morris.Born in 1957, he studied film at Dartmouth College and New York University and has written three books: The Hundred Greatest Movies of All Time, The Hundred Greatest Stars of All Time and...
compared the film favorably to Brian de Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
's Sisters and Body Double
Body Double
Body Double is a 1984 American thriller film directed by Brian De Palma starring Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith, and Gregg Henry. The film is an homage to Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, Rear Window, and Dial M for Murder. The original musical score was composed by Pino Donaggio...
, as well as the works of David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
.
Home media
The DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
versions were released on November 27, 2007. The art cover of the DVD shows Lohan, in blue, pole-dancing, with the faces of her alter egos Aubrey Fleming and Dakota Moss on either side. Among the extras are alternate opening and ending scenes with the latter showing that the entire plot was actually written by Aubrey. However, test audiences thought this ending was too predictable, so it was cut from the film. Other extras include an extended version of Lohan's strip dance at the club and bloopers. By January, the DVD had grossed $11.99 million. The Region 2 DVD was released January 28, 2008 with different cover art showing a close-up of Lohan, in red, doing her pole-dance at the strip club.
Soundtrack
The scoreFilm score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
for I Know Who Killed Me, composed by Joel McNeely
Joel McNeely
-Biography:Joel McNeely was born in Madison, Wisconsin. Both of his parents were involved in music and theater, and as a child he played the piano, saxophone, bass, and flute...
, was released on July 24, 2007. Despite the film's critical and commercial failure, the score itself (which had drawn comparisons to the television mystery scores by Billy Goldenberg
Billy Goldenberg
William Leon "Billy" Goldenberg is an American composer most known for his work on television and film....
) received almost unanimously positive reviews from film music critics, with James Southall of Movie Wave calling it an "unexpectedly classy score seems to go beyond the call of duty" and Clark Douglas of Movie Music UK rating it 5 stars and calling it "one of the year’s best scores, a must-have for those who are willing to take a trip into a deep, dark, and sometimes terrifying musical world".
The score was subsequently nominated as Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller Film by the International Film Music Critics Association.
- Prelude for a Madman
- Duality
- Fairytale Theme
- A Daughter Is Dead
- End of Innocence/Aubrey Is Gone
- A Mother's Grief
- Search for Aubrey
- The Bus Stop
- Spontaneous Bleed
- Going Home
- Jennifer's Room
- Some People Get Cut
- Investigating Stigmata
- The Mirror
- The Graveyard
- I Know Who Killed Me
- The House
- Dad Dies
- Death of Norquist
- Prelude/Reunited
- Valse Brillante, Op. 34, No. 2 in A Minor
Unreleased tracks
The following songs appeared in the movie, but didn't appear on the soundtrack:- Trans AmTrans Am (band)Trans Am is a three-piece band which originated in Bethesda, Maryland that was one of the originators of "post-rock" in the mid 90s. Their work centers on a cerebrally robotic, usually instrumental, semi-danceable, minimalistic format, with influences including Krautrock, heavy metal, hardcore...
- "Obscene Strategies" - VietNamVietNam (Band)VietNam is a rock, soul and blues band from Brooklyn, New York on Kemado Records. The Band consists of Joshua "Exploding Motorcycle" Grubb on Lead Guitar and Vocals, Michael "Jesus Beard" Gerner on Guitar and vocals, Ivan "DJ Dolphin" Berko on Bass and Harp and Michael "Flaming Locks" Foss on Water...
- "Step On Inside" - The SwordThe SwordThe Sword is an American heavy metal band that formed in Austin, Texas, in 2003. Since its inception the band has comprised vocalist and guitarist John D. Cronise, guitarist Kyle Shutt and bassist Bryan Richie, and currently includes touring drummer Jimmy Vela following Trivett Wingo's departure in...
- "Freya" - Dead MeadowDead MeadowDead Meadow is an American hard rock band that formed in Washington, D.C. in 1998. Currently comprising vocalist and guitarist Jason Simon, bassist Steve Kille and drummer Mark Laughlin, the band has released five studio albums and one live album.-Biography:...
- "Dusty Nothing" - Architecture in HelsinkiArchitecture in HelsinkiArchitecture in Helsinki is an Australian indie pop band which consists of Cameron Bird, Gus Franklin, Jamie Mildren, Sam Perry, and Kellie Sutherland...
- "Maybe You Can Owe Me" - Out HudOut HudOut Hud was an electronic band formed in 1996 in the Bay Area of California and later based in New York City. The band consisted of guitarist Nic Offer, bassist Tyler Pope, cellist Molly Schnick, vocalist/drummer Phyllis Forbes and mixer Justin Van Der Volgen. Pope, Offer, and Van Der Volgen are...
- "How Long" - Awesome ColorAwesome Color-History:The band was formed by Michigan natives Michael Troutman , Allison Busch , and Derek Stanton in Brooklyn, New York, in 2004...
- "Hat Energy" - Melvins - "A History of Bad Men"