I Know Who Killed Me

I Know Who Killed Me is a 2007 American psychological thriller film directed by Chris Sivertson from a screenplay by Jeff Hammond. It stars Lindsay Lohan as a young woman who is abducted and tortured by a sadistic serial killer. After surviving the abduction, she insists that her identity is that of another woman. Julia Ormond, Neal McDonough, Brian Geraghty, Garcelle Beauvais, Spencer Garrett and Bonnie Aarons appear in supporting roles.

The film received intense negative media coverage during production and upon its release, as Lohan publicly struggled with addiction and other personal issues. Filming took place mostly in California, from December 2006 to March 2007. It was theatrically released in the United States by TriStar Pictures on July 27, 2007. It was promptly deemed a failure and called one of the worst films ever made, being the most awarded at the 28th Golden Raspberry Awards, winning seven of eight nominations. The film did, however, attain a more successful home video performance, having almost quadrupled its U.S. box office gross in estimated domestic DVD sales.

I Know Who Killed Me subsequently developed a cult following that has reexamined it as a modern giallo and several screenings of it have been put together by historic theaters and film festivals.

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, a pianist and aspiring writer, appears to be his latest victim when she disappears during a night out with her friends. She is later seen bound and gagged on an operating table as her hands are exposed to dry ice. 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 seriously wounded, with one of her hands and legs amputated. The girl, who looks identical to Aubrey, is rushed to the hospital, where Aubrey's distraught parents, Susan and Daniel, 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. 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.

An FBI psychologist believes Dakota to be a delusional persona of Aubrey, and the agents speculate that the persona functions to distance and protect Aubrey from the events that happened. Examining Aubrey's laptop, they discover a short story about a girl with an identical twin sister named Dakota. In addition, a DNA test confirms that Dakota is Aubrey. Nonetheless, Dakota explains away her injuries to the police, recollecting a series of bizarre events that happened before she arrived in town. She begins to suspect she may be Aubrey's identical twin sister and comes to believe her injuries are sympathetic resonance with her twin's wounds, manifesting in a stigmata-like fashion. However, Susan shows Dakota a video of her pregnancy ultrasound clearly revealing there was only one fetus in her womb. Dakota confronts Daniel, who eventually admits that his and Susan's child died shortly after birth and that he informally adopted Aubrey from Virginia Sue Moss (another character that appears in Aubrey's short story), a crack addict who bore twin daughters — one of whom was Dakota, who was left to be raised by her biological mother. Susan has remained unaware of this for all of Aubrey's life.

Confused and terrified, Dakota starts seeing visions of a menacing figure slowly butchering his captive. One of these visions leads her to a nearby cemetery. After investigating the grave of Aubrey's recently murdered friend, Jennifer Toland, Dakota finds a blue ribbon from a piano competition, with a message from Jennifer's (and Aubrey's) piano teacher, Douglas Norquist. She is followed by Daniel and declares, "I know who killed me."

The two go, without FBI backup, to Norquist's home to confront him. Daniel heads into the house alone, leaving a panicking Dakota in the car. Attempting to calm herself, Dakota calls out to her twin, Aubrey, who is buried, to keep breathing slowly, as their lives are linked together. Dakota enters the house, attacks Norquist in self-defense, and cuts off his hand. She finds Daniel on the verge of death, having been clearly overpowered by Norquist. Dakota is also overpowered and tied up. Confused, Norquist asks why she has returned and exclaims that he buried her (referencing an earlier vision Dakota had). Dakota frees herself, kills Norquist, and heads into the nearby woods, finding where he supposedly buried Aubrey alive. Using her prosthetic hand, she smashes the front of the glass coffin that Norquist buried Aubrey in, revealing her barely alive in a white dress. This seemingly verifies Dakota's version of events. Relieved to have found and rescued her long-lost twin, Dakota lies on the ground next to her.