I Know Who Killed Me is a 2007 American mystery/thriller directed by Chris Sivertson.
In 2008, the film won eight Golden Raspberry Awards, a new record (beating Showgirls, Battlefield Earth, and Gigli) including Worst Film, Worst Actress and the first ever award in a new category, Worst Excuse For A Horror Movie.[1]
Plot
The quiet suburb of New Salem is being terrorized by a brutal serial killer who abducts and tortures young women, holding them captive for weeks before murdering them. Aubrey Fleming (Lindsay Lohan), a talented pianist and aspiring writer (whose clothes, possessions, and room, as well as the killer's gloves and weapons, are all signified in shades of blue) appears to be his latest victim when she disappears without a trace 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.
Then, 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 (whose clothes and possessions are all signified in shades of red to keep confusion from Aubrey at bay) 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 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 strange mental 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, the teacher, 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 retribution. Dakota and Daniel confront Norquist. Daniel dies in the process, but Dakota manages to cut off Norquist's hand and stab Norquist in his gut and neck with one of his own blades. 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
Reception
Box office
The film's opening weekend North American box office gross was $3.5 million,[2] making it the 9th top grossing film that weekend. It went on to gross a total of $7,498,716 in the US. The film's budget was around $12 million,[3] and the film went on to gross $9,595,945 at the box office worldwide[4]. By January 13, 2008, it had grossed $11.99 million on DVD rentals in the United States making a total of $21.4 million.[5] Lindsay Lohan's July 24, 2007 DUI arrest prevented her from being able to promote the movie, which was released 3 days later. Not only the arrest dealt a serious blow to the movie, but also competition from The Simpsons Movie was too strong.
Reviews
I Know Who Killed Me received mostly negative reviews.[6] RottenTomatoes.com shows an 8% approval rating from critics with the consensus: "Distasteful and ludicrously plotted".[7] It currently holds a 16% rating on Metacritic, which indicates "extreme dislike or disgust". Richard Roeper ranked it number one on his "Worst movies of 2007" list. The film received nine Razzie nominations, the most of any film in 2007. It won eight of them, 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.[8] 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 ever, previously beating the tie held by Battlefield Earth and Showgirls with seven wins each.[9] The Razzies compared the movie to Hostel, Saw, and The Patty Duke Show.
Despite this the film did garner a few positive reviews. Fangoria praises the film's imaginative use of colour: "the 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."[10] The Radio Times also alluded to the director "recalling the style of Dario Argento" in a "twisty, perversely fascinating psycho thriller."[11] Horror movie website Bloody Disgusting 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" which 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."[12] And according to "The Movie Boy": "Lohan's stripteases and pole-swinging theatrics at the gentleman's club are notable for being genuinely steamy, sleekly shot and choreographed".[13]
Release
DVD/Blu-ray
The DVD and Blu-ray Disc were released in 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.[14][15] Amongst the extras are alternate opening and ending scenes with the latter showing that the entire plot was actually written by Aubrey. However, the 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.[5] 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.[16]
Soundtrack
The score for I Know Who Killed Me, composed by Joel McNeely, was released on July 24, 2007.[17]
- 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
References
External links
