Your house address is something that is extremely personal to you, but will you not share it with your romantic partner? Of course you will, but that is not the case with Sarah Jones from Director Chris Stokes’ “I Know Where You Live.” She does not want her partners to know about her address because she cannot deal with any more crazy psycho exes. Unfortunately enough, that is what she attracts all the time.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The Film?
Even though the film opens with Sarah getting stalked till her way home, the actual movie is set three months prior to the present day. Sarah is living a happy single life while her best friend, Carmen, is about to get married. Unable to bear her friend being single for a long time, Carmen sets Sarah up with her husband, Eric’s friend, Neiman, on her wedding night. Sarah and Neiman get to know each other for four days before kicking off their relationship together.
Why Do Sarah And Neiman Break Up?
Sarah is a woman who knows what she wants from a romantic relationship. After everything that she went through with her previous boyfriend, Jason, she does not want to end up with a man who is toxic and aggressive. Her relationship with Jason was not a good one; even after their breakup, he did not stop harassing her, which traumatized her forever. Since the incident, she literally made a rule that none of her boyfriends will ever know her house address until they become her husband for life. Following the end of their relationship, Jason used to stalk her, send her weird messages, and went out of his way to make her feel unsafe until she moved to Chicago from Seattle. That man even got locked up for stalking another woman with whom he was physically abusive as well. Hence, Sarah knows her past quite well, and she definitely does not want to repeat it.
Sarah ends her relationship with Neiman because he comes off as an aggressive man when he punches a jogger in the face for accidentally bumping into her. Sarah wanted Neiman to take care of things like a gentleman, but he acted otherwise in the situation. She knows it very well when a man turns into a crazy psycho, just like Jason, and she just wants to keep herself safe from such people. She immediately understands Neiman’s behavioral patterns and dumps him without any second thoughts. Despite her rejection, Neiman tries extremely hard to get her back by calling, texting, and even showing up at her office, creeping her out to her core. His persuasion after Sarah leads her to believe that she is probably getting stalked by Neiman as well. Her hunch turns out to be true when she secretly breaks into his house and finds a wall full of her pictures and locations, including her house address as well. It turns out that he has been keeping track of her all this time.
Why Is Sarah Distressed?
Sarah is sure that Neiman is up to something, and that he will not stop until he gets a hold of her. Unable to deal with all the stalking and creepy messages that she receives, she shares her worries with her best friend, Carmen, but things do not turn out well. Carmen feels guilty for hooking her best friend up with a psycho like Neiman, but neither of them knows the truth yet. Her misfortune doubles when Sarah finds out that her only hope, Carmen, is dead. Her death did not happen under natural circumstances; on the contrary, Sarah is sure that she has been killed, and I believe that she thinks it is Neiman’s dirty work.
Why Is Kevin The Culprit?
Well, the story gets interesting here; you must remember Kevin, right? Let me give you some back story. Kevin was Sarah’s boyfriend before she shifted from Seattle to Chicago. Everything was going alright between them, but Sarah did not realize that he was the actual crazy psycho ex in her life after Jason. She had to end their relationship and leave him because she had planned to move to Chicago, and Kevin did not agree to join her. Since then, Sarah does not hear from Kevin anymore until one day when she bumps into him at her regular coffee spot. She does not think much about it at first, but Kevin cleverly re-enters her life when she is dealing with all the Neiman drama (or so she thought). They go out on a dinner date and catch up again. Kevin’s presence hardens in Sarah’s life after she loses her best friend. What I did not expect is Kevin to be the culprit all along. Turns out, Kevin is the man who cannot handle rejection from a woman. All this time, he has been planning and conspiring to kill Sarah because she left him without any prior notice. According to him, they were having a good life in Seattle, everything was going well until Sarah decided to change her plans. After coming to Chicago, he secretly records her, sends her threats, kills the only supportive figure in Sarah’s life, Carmen, but still remains unnoticed. Kevin cannot move past Sarah, and according to him, if he cannot have her, then nobody else can have her as well. It is as if Sarah is getting treated like an object by him. He does not understand boundaries and is clearly not sane enough to handle rejections.
Why Does Kevin Set Up Neiman As The Culprit?
Neiman comes off as an aggressive man because of his rocky past. He grew up with an abusive father and an unavailable mother. Although he is violent, he does not have any criminal records under his name. However, his clinical reports do show that he is narcissistic, obsessive, and has attachment issues. Kevin, on the other hand, showcases himself as a nice person who left Sarah without any hard feelings, unlike Neiman, who holds a grudge against her. According to Kevin, Neiman is the perfect scapegoat in this situation. He cleverly stages his death and plants all the evidence at Neiman’s house to paint him as the murderer. The police think that Neiman is the stalker, but in reality, it is Kevin who puts up an entire show. He wants people to believe that Neiman is the killer of Carmen, himself, and Sarah (whom he plans to kill). He also makes Sarah believe in his fabricated lies all this time. Hence, he decides to put Neiman in the front and hide in his shadows.
How Does Neiman Figure Out That Kevin Is The Culprit?
Sarah gifts Kevin a bracelet that she makes him wear. On the night of the accident, when Kevin’s car plunges into the river, it goes deep under the water. The police could not retrieve his body and the bracelet, so how did the same jewellery piece magically appear on Sarah’s table the next morning? It would have been physically impossible for Neiman to get the bracelet from under the water if he were the actual killer. So, Neiman figures out that it is Kevin who planted the bracelet as evidence against him to misdirect the investigation. However, Kevin’s plan does not succeed because Neiman informs the detective about it right away.
What Happens To Sarah In The End?
In the end, Kevin reveals himself as the culprit. He threatens Sarah leading to a fight where she tries to shoot him, but he knocks her unconscious for a brief moment. To save the day, Neiman enters the scene, punching Kevin in the face. While they are busy fighting each other, Kevin tries to launch himself at Sarah, who has fortunately gained consciousness, and she immediately shoots Kevin in the head. The detective reveals that Neiman had figured it all out and alerted the police immediately. Nevertheless, Sarah’s misery does not end here. At present, that is three months later, she gets stalked once again, and this time it ends with her getting viciously attacked by a masked stranger. It is not revealed who the attacker is because the film ends on a cliffhanger. I think, along with Kevin, someone else was also stalking Sarah, but we could not understand it earlier. Whoever the attacker is, they have been planning to corner Sarah for a long time. After the drama with Kevin and Neiman comes to an end, the stranger finds a perfect opportunity to attack her. However, who exactly the stranger is, we do not know that yet, but my guess is Jason. Remember when Sarah told Carmen that Jason did not know she had moved to Chicago? What if he got free and planned to stalk Sarah once again? Jason is the most probable answer in my opinion.
