For its crime thriller I Know Who Killed Me, Sony Pictures is the latest company to go quasi-viral and underground in its web marketing approach, eschewing the usual gimmicks and moody evocations of such a genre piece’s Internet shingle in favor of a low-fi site built around only an in-character video blog. This is all the more unusual since the movie stars Lindsay Lohan, who plays a stripper that is abducted and tortured by a serial killer, rescued — and then returns claiming she is someone else. The question, then is: understandable trauma, split personality or something else even more sinister?

Five bits are posted so far, with 15 more teased in picture form — around one new posting each week until its scheduled late July release. The problem here is not the concept, but rather the execution. First off, the mouthy title is actually pinched from a rather famously whispered line of dialogue from Twin Peaks. The greater problem, though, is that the ridiculous, willfully vague, pseudo-intellectual ramblings (“Our nature is to go deeper, to find calmness, quiet, answers.
And questions. It’s why you’re here in my hallowed place, learning”) that are laid over the killer’s hand-held footage (which itself consists of abattoir atmospherics and peeping Tom long-distance shots), as well as their gravelly, Jigsaw-esque tone, make the project seem like a slightly tonier Saw knockoff. I have no doubt that it all (in theory, at least) builds to something, but right now the site conveys neither chilly menace nor greatly guarded mystery. I’ll try to check back on it in the coming weeks…

UPDATE 5/27: For information about the running time of the film’s first-pass cut and more gossip, click here.

UPDATE 6/1: For more about the video blog site and a spoiler-ish bit about Lohan’s character, click here.