The Killer in Me: Difference between revisions

'''Huge spoilers ahead''' of course!

* ''[[Perfect Stranger]]'' - Halle Berry's character murdered her 'friend' (who was blackmailing her) and successfully pins the blame on the innocent, if slimy Bruce Willis. Oh and she murders again when another friend tries to blackmail her about setting up Willis. This one is pretty much the result of last-minute [[Executive Meddling]] to decide the identity of the killer.

* The protagonist of Dario Argento's ''Tenebre'' is revealed to have killed the murderer—an obsessed fan of his—halfway through the movie and then used it as a cover for a murder spree of his own.

* [[Agatha Christie]]'s ''The Murder of Roger Ackroyd''.

* The detective-narrator of William Weld's ''Mackerel by Moonlight''.

* Used in season four of ''[[Angel]]'': Cordelia was the [[Big Bad]] masterminding the events of the first two thirds of the season.

* In one episode of ''Porridge'', an elderly man in prison for murdering his wife years ago repeatedly protests his innocence. After eventually being granted a full pardon, he reveals he knows exactly what happened to the actual murderer: He killed him before being arrested for the wrong murder.

* The song "Buenas Tardes Amigo" by [[Ween]] appears to be about a man seeking revenge against his brother's killer, but in the end it is revealed that he did the deed out of jealousy, pinned the blame on someone else who promptly fled, and is about to seal the deal by killing the man he framed.

* In the [[Vocaloid]] song [[Mothy|"The Tailor Shop on Enbizaka"]], Sudou Kayo avoids mentioning that she was killing anyone by saying simply that someone was killed.

* In [[Death Note]], Light Yagami, who repeatedly insists that he is not the supernatural killer Kira, and does not remember being Kira, is Kira. Note however that this only applies during his [[Memory Gambit]] during the Yotsuba arc.

* In the ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' manga-only chapter ''Onisarashi-hen'', viewpoint character Natsumi Kimiyoshi is responsible for the deaths of her family members, though she doesn't realize until the end due to [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia]].

* Most well-known in ''[[Clue (game)|Cluedo/Clue]]'', since the murderer could be any of the six [[Player Characters]]. Including yours, and you don't know if you did it or not (unless you've got your own card in your hand, or seen it in someone else's).

** And, as amusingly pointed out in ''Murphy's Rules'', if you deduce that you are the killer, you win the game by denouncing yourself.

* Inverted in [[Alan Moore]]'s ''Greyshirt'' comic, when a man finds himself with a bloody hammer and a dead woman, and no memory of either. He reads in the newspaper that the Hammer Killer has murdered eight people and flees the police as it must be him. But when Greyshirt and the police find him, they tell him he was the next victim: the Hammer Killer slipped while attacking him and broke her skull. Unfortunately, he has killed someone who tried to stop him, thinking he was a multiple murderer anyway.

* An issue of ''Cable & Deadpool'' featured our favorite merc investigating a murder in Providence, his buddy [[Cable]]'s brand new [[Utopia]], only to have the investigation end with a two-page spread of [[Deadpool]] saying, "Now the only question is... ''why'' did I kill this man?!" It eventually turned out [[Deadpool]]'s healing factor was interpreting traumatic memories as damage and healing them over, leading to periodic blackouts.

* Who can forget the line [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/836450/1/DOOM_Repercussions_of_Evil "No, John. You are the demons"]. What a twist!

* ''[[The Number 23]]'' - Jim Carrey's character murdered his cheating girlfriend and suffered a guilt induced nervous breakdown causing him to forget the whole affair. The titular book was written by Jim's character (who wrote the rough draft), and his doctor (who fictionalized the story).

* The film version of ''[[Secret Window]]'' - John Turturro's character does not exist; he is a schizophrenic hallucination undergone by Johnny Depp to commit acts (murder, arson) Depp could never consciously bring himself to do.

* At one point in ''Darkly Dreaming Dexter'', Dexter suspects that he may be the Tamiami Butcher. This turns out [[Averted Trope|not to be true]], but is [[Justified Trope|justified]] at the time given the bizarre dreams he has and the fact that he ''is'' a serial killer.

* The [[Stephen King]] short story "Strawberry Spring," which appeared in the collection ''[[Night Shift]]''.

* The ''[[Angel]]'' episode "Somnambulist" at first appears to be an example of this trope, but it turns out that Angel is having dreams as a result of his connection to one of his vampire progeny, who is the actual murderer. This does make Angel indirectly responsible.

* Davis of ''[[Smallville]],'' who turns out to be the human form of General Zod's pet project, {{spoiler|aka Doomsday}}.

* [[Bone Thugs-n-Harmony|Krayzie Bone's]] song ''Don't Know Why''. Krayzie essentially blanks out after killing his ex employer but don't remember doing it. He wakes up in a grave yard covered in blood. Of course [[It Got Worse]] for him when cops show up at his front door more or less confirming his fear..

* Arnold Schoenberg's song-cycle/single-role opera ''Erwartung'' (''Expectation'') -- In a forest, an amnesic woman looks desperately for her lover. She finds his bloodied body and cries out for help. Her memory gradually falls into place—she has killed the man for his infidelity.

* Sort of : Part of one of the oldest known [[Twist Ending]] : In [[Oedipus the King|Oedipus Rex]], the main character spend the play trying to find the murderer of the previous king. At the end, somebody make him realize he (unknowingly) killed him. [[It Got Worse|It only goes down from there...]]

* ''[[The Suffering]]: Ties that Bind'': At the end of the game, it is revealed that Blackmore is really Torque's alter-ego.

* In ''[[Max Payne 2 The Fall of Max Payne]]'', the [[Show Within a Show|show within a game]] ''Address Unknown'' ends like this: The protagonist, who spent the entire show looking for the murderer of his family, a man named John Mirra, realizes that he was the killer after he sees the killer's face staring back at him in a bathroom mirror. This, incidentally, may mean the whole purpose of the show was to set up a truly terrible pun:<ref>which is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by some mooks you hear discussing the show</ref> he solves the mystery in the bathroom (as in, the john) by looking into the mirror... Also a [[Tomato in the Mirror]].

* Patrick Star of ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' parodies this. He was trying to find who made a clam cry, and finally found it was...himself. Complete with, "It's the perfect crime!" Spongebob did it, though.

** Except he didn't. [[It Makes Sense in Context]].