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© (c) 2007 Varese Sarabande I KNOW WHO KILLED ME Original Soundtrack

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Review: 'I KNOW WHO KILLED ME' Original Soundtrack

Joel McNeely teaches us not to judge a score by its cover

Grade: B+
SRP: $16.98
Rating: NR

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER, Soundtrack Editor
Published 9/4/2007



Recently, the Academy of Motion Pictures decided to ban “for your consideration” soundtrack promos from potential voters. The argument was for them to stop judging scores as stand-alone listens, and to see how they actually worked in the body of the film. Given that argument, those voters will probably never hear how good the soundtrack for I KNOW WHO KILLED ME is. But then, the only award consideration this Lindsay Lohan flick will probably be up for is the Golden Razzberry. Thankfully I’m a soundtrack critic who gets to hear lots of scores for films I’d never see in a million years. And as far as potentially terrible movies go, Joel McNeely’s work on I KNOW WHO KILLED ME is so enthralling that it might make me want to go see this picture.
 
Fortunately, I’ve never had a thing for watching Lindsay Lohan as a double-amputee stripper. So I can put my brain into its own fantasy zone, where McNeely’s score conjures up a far more interesting, and enthralling noir world than what it actually accompanies on screen. McNeely just might be the best-kept composing secret in Hollywood. In his terrific scores for TERMINAL VELOCITY, THE YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES, STAR WARS: SHADOW OF THE EMPIRE, SOLDIER, VIRUS, THE AVENGERS and his assist to Jerry Goldsmith on AIR FORCE ONE, McNeely has shown that he’s an writer of tremendous melodic range, creating music that’s easily as good (if not better) then the bigger, busier composers who’ve gotten far more successful pictures. And if they say that the best musicians should put their all into even the most misbegotten film, then Joel McNeely is proof positive of spinning gold from any flick. In the case of I KNOW WHO KILLED ME, McNeely must be King Midas.

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Like the far more popular KISS THE GIRLS, the murderer here has a taste for music- in this case the piano (which I know after reading KILLED ME’s IMDB spoilers). Using Chopin as an elegant starting point, McNeely’s score ranges from the striking use of strings and classical piano to surreal samples and haunted voices. It’s a combo that nicely echoes such classic thriller scores as Michael Small’s KLUTE, Jerry Goldsmith’s COMA and Christopher Young’s COPYCAT. But while McNeely deftly pays homage to these masters of soundtrack suspense, he’s definitely his own composer for KILLED ME, showing an astonishing command of his score’s diverse, psychological approaches.
 
Where sampled effects often equal harsh, annoying dissonance in soundtracks like this, McNeely truly makes them work in a psychologically complex way. A standout is a discombobulated, metallic wind-up sound, one that comes across like the cranking handle of a music box whose tune is about to go very wrong. Lyrical piano keys are twisted inside out to convey the music-driven killer. Sharp sustains dance about exotic percussion, all conveying a very troubled, if beautiful mind. It’s a creepy, yet poetic vibe that meshes nicely with McNeely’s far more accessible orchestral passages.
 
Indeed, one doesn’t expect this kind of musical art from a torture-horror Lindsay Lohan stripper flick. But critical reaction and box office have nothing to do with how well a score works within a movie. And if there’s one musical case for not judging a book by its tawdry cover, then it’s I KNOW WHO KILLED ME. Here’s hoping that Hollywood can see the vast forest of Joel McNeely’s talent beyond the very big tree of Lindsay Lohan’s career wreckage.
 
To buy the I KNOW WHO KILLED ME soundtrack, go here. 


Reader Comments

Bonerarne from Ethiopia sez....
Could not find a suitable section so I written here, how to become a moderator for your forum, that need for this?
11/24/2009 1:54:05 AM

Rafal from uk sez....
Overall, I found this movie to be a neutral production; at first, however after watching it again the following day I found it much more enjoyable. Now I realise that the movie makes perfect sense and understanding the whole twin affair and how the proposed ‘parents’ of aubrey are not actually related to her is crucial in comprehending the movie as a whole. If you did not enjoy ‘I know who killed me’ the first time round, I recommend that you watch it a second time, because even if you weren’t confused the first time you will definitely see this production in a differen light.
8/11/2009 5:08:17 PM

Rafal from UK sez....
All good but Aubrey does not die and therefore it is a happy ending because both girls live and they're no longer in any danger. Additional opinion below.
8/10/2009 8:03:23 PM

extextreiva from Kazakhstan sez....
. . . . . . . . . .
5/17/2008 7:15:25 AM

Alfagreyus from sez....
Hi! Without taking into account the issue of establishing a stone by God, which he won't be able to pick up, how do you think, may be something in this world, what can God never see?
4/8/2008 4:51:24 PM

pibraady from Bosnia And Herzegovina sez....
More or less not much happening. Not much on my mind to speak of, but pfft. Today was a loss. I haven't gotten anything done lately, but I guess it doesn't bother me. That's how it is. I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning. I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen. What can I say? My life's been pretty bland. I haven't been up to much today, but such is life. Nothing seems important, but shrug. I guess it doesn't bother me. So it goes. What can I say? Eh. I've just been letting everything wash over me these days. Not much on my mind worth mentioning. My mind is like a fog. I haven't been up to anything these days. I can't be bothered with anything. Pretty much nothing seems worth thinking about, but oh well. I guess it doesn't bother me. More or less not much noteworthy happening today. Maybe tomorrow.
2/28/2008 6:43:17 AM

stfu from reality sez....
Cat are you for real? Were you being tongue-in-cheek, or are you just that plain stupid? Maybe you'd care to rewrite that foolishness with some semblance of an attempt at English grammar. Good god, you make me wonder if you need an ESL course! BTW - just because he doesn't use completely perfect grammar, that doesn't mean his thoughts are any less valid than the next persons, say, yours for example - oh - wait - you have no thoughts on the movie, just dumbass comments on semantics.
10/21/2007 4:40:06 PM

Cat from Australia sez....
Oh, and to make it clear: I was responding to Dan's comment and not to Daniel's review.
9/18/2007 11:16:53 AM

Cat from Australia sez....
Perhaps I'd be more inclined to believe you if your spelling and grammar were correct. Because correct English is something that I think is something that I value and think is 'good' when you obviously don't, makes me think that our ideas of what rates as good are very different.
9/18/2007 11:15:49 AM

Dan from Phoenix Arizona sez....
Great soundtrack she says "I know who killed ME" not "I know who killed Aubrey" People that don't understand the movie "I know who killed me" here *spoliers* I'll explain it to you. CobaltDuck explains - The Movie is not about a Twin finding her sister like some psychological mystery crime drama. ITs not really torture porn. Its a Psychological thriller. The movie a about Aubrey using her imagination to try to solve the mystery of who is killing her. Aubrey doesn't make it. Aubrey is killed. Aubrey is captured, tortured, buried alive, and the mysterious killer gets away with it. Aubrey doesn't know who is killing her, so she retreats to her mind and to avoid the pain and try to make sense out of why this is happening to her. That part where Dakota lays down next to Aubrey isn't a tired Dakota taking a quick nap its Aubrey finally dieing. The MOvie on the very first viewing is suppose to confuse you...it leads you in many directions and possibilities.. Does Aubrey have multiple personality disorder, or maybe she is an engineered twin for an experiment (take note of the similar faces of the 2 previous girls maybe they were both engineered twins and killed as well), or Dakota really is a twin... These are just decoy plots. Every time Dakota feels pain..thats not Dakota thats Aubrey feeling it. Every vision Dakota has is not a vision .thats Aubrey seeing the situation. The movie's first viewings purpose is to make you think the story is going in a different direction. Only at the very end does it become clear and the movie comes into focus. It should hit you in the gut that Aubrey didn't make it. Its sad. It should make you angry because Aubrey is strong and not weak but she never had a chance to fight back. The 2nd viewing you have the time to look at all the clues, because maybe the Piano teacher wasn't the one that killed her maybe thats just Aubrey's best guess before she died, its probabley the gardener. Maybe it was the strange man on the bus. Maybe its the psychiatrist. Maybe the killer is hidden in her mind. Maybe no clue in her mind will help her solve the mystery. Even Aubrey herself doesn't understand why she is doing this. I like to think Aubrey got it right and figured it out and gave her self some comfort for solving the mystery. People that criticise the movie, including newspaper critics, just don't get the point of the movie. It goes right over their head. They can't see it even though its right in front of their eyes. One could start to suspect where the movie was heading when the "strange" explanation for Dakota losing body parts was explained by "Twin stigmata". This is a fantasy, they could of equally used Voodoo or witchcraft or alien invaders as fantasy substitutes. Then when Dakota decided to drive with her father to the piano teachers house (with out back up or calling the police i might add) the direction of the story should of become suspect. When Dakota said "I think i know who killed me" the audience should of started figured it out, because why would Dakota say "I think i Know who killed me" it doesn't make sense, Dakota was never touched by the Piano teacher, nor was she being killed, she said it because she was Aubrey and Aubrey was close to death and wanted to figure it out. Then Dakota finds Aubrey... it should become obvious that all of this is in Aubreys head. Dakota joins Aubrey because Aubrey is in her last breath. The movie ends and goes no further because Aubrey is dead. If it wasn't in Aubreys head then the next scene would show the next day at her dads funeral with both sisters on crutches. But, Aubrey is dead. The movie isn't suppose to make you feel good. It should make you feel sad/angry/depressed/uncomfortable. It is not a normal happy Holloywood movie. But its tragedy will keep you thinking about it for a long time. the stripper scenes make you feel like the movie you see is real. If the ending was a happy ending the effect would not be the same. Aubrey dies... and its really sad and such a waste. I know who killed me is a good movie.
9/4/2007 2:27:53 PM

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