Review of I Know Who Killed Me (2007) by Leonard D — 24 Feb 2016

The release of this movie is quite obviously overshadowed with the media's recent fascination with Hollywood's latest celebrity fuck-up, Lindsay Lohan - who is attempting to be taken more seriously as an actress in a more controversial role than she is used to. The movie itself was not released to critics until the day of general release which of course doesn't look good. It's funny then that 'I Know Who Killed Me', while being quite a terrible it's short-comings are nothing to do with the casting or those scenes, despite what the critics may have led you to believe.

The film starts off quite promisingly, weaving together good mystery elements and seemingly jumping backwards and forwards in time. But instead of going into Lynch-ian twists and metaphors the film opts for a more straight forward approach. The movie does just about hold your attention but once the mystery is unveiled things all go a little Hollywood for a rather standard and cliched conclusion. The big reveal itself, while interesting, is only used as a means to explain why these things are happening when it could have been used to completely twist things around and develop the lagging story further. The gore quotant though almost puts both the 'Saw' and 'Hostel' franchises to shame. Director Chris Silverston not turning the camera away the second things get interesting.

The strip scenes (of which I am not a fan - nor movie nudity in general) were actually handled with an amount of grace at least. Silverston making these scenes surreal and mildly erotic - with an almost dream-like use of lighting - without ever really been slutty despite some more crude moments (gusset flashing) which will appeal to both 13 year old boys who've just discovered masturbation and general perverts alike. These scenes though were obviously Lohan's way of trying to shed that squeaky clean image. I'm sure her parents are most proud. It's the plot and pacing where 'I Know Who Killed Me' really falls down, Lohan actually turning in an decent enough performance. Not quite the mess we were expecting then but by the end you'll find yourself curiously musing what was the point?