User reviews

So I might not like this movie as much if I were watching today for the first time. My opinion is biased by the fact that seeing this in the theater was just about the most fun I've had at a movie. That nostalgia is part of what I enjoy about it, but there are other good elements as well. For one, I like Jennifer Love Hewitt as a scream queen. Actually, that might be it. It's not big on story, the performances aren't anything special, and the kills are pretty tame. I'm giving it a seven based on my personal enjoyment of it, but I'm not recommending it for horror fans for the reasons stated above.

It's hard to believe 'I know what you did last summer' was made over two decades ago. This classic teenage slasher is still one of the most memorable movies in the genre.

Although a slasher, the film has substance. The very idea of what these teenagers are going through, makes one wonder: what would I have done if I were in that situation? The event leading to the revenge killings can so easily happen to anyone of us. Its believable and quite honestly a daunting thought. What would you have done?

What happens after the accident, off course is pure slasher material, but it still has substance. 'I know what you did last summer' is a creepy film with well crafted suspense. Naturally, there are a number of false scares and some credibility issues and coincidences, but in general this was thoroughly enjoyable. The performances were very good and the film itself has style and from the opening moments just felt memorable. The title alone is enough to make you want to watch it out of curiosity.

During the 4th of July holidays, four teens Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Barry William Cox (Ryan Phillippe) and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.) are driving after drinking on the beach. Barry distracts Ray as he runs over a guy on a desolate road in the middle of the night. They argue convincing Ray to dump the body. Max (Johnny Galecki) drives by but Julie lies to him. The body has a hook for a hand but he's not actually dead as he makes a final grab at Helen. The friends agree to keep it a secret after dumping him in the harbor. Then one year later, Julia comes back to town from college and she gets a note with "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER!" Helen is working for her sister Elsa and broken up with the jerk Barry. Barry suspects Max as the one who wrote the note. Ray is now a fisherman following his father's footsteps.

The movie has some of the best young actors of Hollywood at the time. Kevin Williamson works over the script. It's a pretty simple teen slasher movie. It has some psychological aspects and mystery of the note. In the end, it's slash and splat. It works well and gets a couple of passable scares. It never really gets truly gritty or realistic. It's just an old fashion slasher flick. It's all about the old fashion 80s kills.

Exactly, everyone should - but why? Because it is an excellent film, containing a good storyline (though not one of the best) and some promising new actors and actresses. In regards to the storyline, not many viewers realise that the film was actually based on a novel written before Kevin Williamson even thought up the idea to create another horror flick - therefore the general outline is not his, and so some people's comparisons between this and Scream can be considered as wrong. However, they are right in the sense that the typical horror elements are all there, and some are similar to Scream. I feel that the statement on the video cover "scarier than Scream" is to some extent true, especially the climatic ending (I won't spoil it for any of you left to see the film)!

I enjoyed the acting performances, though sometimes the screams did get slightly out of hand - near the end, one popped up every other minute or so! Despite this, the characters were portrayed very well, and you could really notice the distinctions between them, and which characters you were likely to prefer. However one drawback to the characters was how obvious it was to spot who was going to bite it - all my sister had to do was look at the characters in a group and guess straight away.

On the whole though, I found it to be a good horror film, done proud by the talents of writer Kevin Williamson and of the cast. If you are looking for a good scare, or simply taste other films after experiencing the wonder that is "Scream", then "IKWYDLS" should be your first choice - with its many 'jumps' making you enjoy the ride all the way!

ENJOY, and most importantly, SCREAM ON!!!

I haven't seen a whole lot of teen slasher movies. In fact this may be the only one I have seen, and it is a fitting tribute of the genre for our birthday girl, Sarah Michelle Geller.

Writer Kevin Williamson follows up Scream with a serious example of just how effective these movies can be if they're well-written, directed and acted.

Sarah Michelle Geller (Buffy, TMNT) and Jenniver Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer) fit perfectly together and are supported by Ryan Phillippe (Crash, Breach, Flags of Our Fathers) and Freddie Prinze Jr. Why does that sentence sound naughty? If I had to watch one film of this type, I'm glad this was it.

I like to say something positive about every film I review, so I will get that out of the way by saying that Jennifer Love Hewitt never looked better than she does here. The movie poster made her career, along with the scene of her standing in the street and yelling after finding crabs in her trunk (now if that isn't subliminal somehow...). The movie picks up when she starts walking around in that little low-cut blue top. If there is any reason to watch the film now, it is to watch her fleeting moment of glory before she started putting on weight. She looks mighty fine.

Overall, this film is ruined by terrible acting and busy direction. We don't get just a scene of the actors walking along - no, we first have to see a random fisherman carrying a humongous fish, I guess to establish that, yes, those fishing boats in the background do indeed mean that this is a fishing village. Sloppiness abounds. As for the acting, don't get me started. Sarah Michelle Gellar reads her lines like a prim schoolgirl reading cue cards with her perfect little pronunciations that sound like she is trying desperately for that "A" in elocution. Ryan Phillipe plays his character as if he wants us to throw darts at the movie screen. JLH is mousy one minute and hyperactive the next, and Freddie Prinze Jr. shows he is the master at looking blank while everybody else is over-acting. Everyone seems to be self-conscious in the extreme, straining to create that little extra touch of suspense from random scenes that contain no suspense at all.

As for the script, I credit Kevin Williamson with creating characters so unlikeable that we begin rooting for the Gorton Fish Guy to finish them off quickly. They hit some poor schnook in the road, and only get upset at what might happen to THEM. By the way, they know the guy they hit wasn't dead because he moaned and opened his eyes - hello? Are we supposed to feel sympathy for people who don't lift a finger to help an innocent victim they hit and who, as events overwhelmingly establish, was not fatally hurt? This scene in particular was parodied nicely in "Scary Movie," but the whole film is ripe for that treatment.

So much makes no sense. Ryan Phillipe goes around punching people at random, really personifying the Ugly Teen paradigm that is the heart and soul of this film, yet the remorseless killer charitably spares his life early in the film - why? Sarah Michelle Gellar, lose the Marlon Brando biker hat! The Jennifer Love Hewitt character, Little Miss Know-It-All (they have a much better name for her in "Scary Movie), draws instant conclusions from nothing ("This is his weekend, if he's going to do it, he will do it now" - huh?). The first teen killed, I don't get that, he had nothing to do with the incident at all and in fact kind of sees through the ugly teens' act, why would the killer target him at all, much less first? So much makes no sense. Meanwhile, the teens walk around in their own little self-absorbed dreamworld while everyone else is oblivious to everything. Um, the world at large really isn't that clueless, you know....

It's difficult to like a film when you can't like the characters. Ugly teens - don't get me wrong, they are pretty boys and girls, just ugly in the sense of being utterly unlikeable, self-absorbed and arrogant - are a really shaky foundation on which to build a film. Williamson should have gone all the way and made it clearer they had it coming by giving some insight into the slasher's character and motives. As it is, we are driven to try to empathize with characters we also are driven to despise. That internal contradiction ruins the film, well, unless you really do start rooting for the killer....

A wildly over-rated film that may please fans of the actors, but probably not too many others. May also be good if you want to see arrogant little High School Gods and Goddesses get their comeuppance.

In the late 90's, there had seemed to be a trend of the Dawson's Creek meets Halloween slasher flicks, some had big hits like Scream, and some kinda missed like Urban Legend, then right in between came I Know What You Did Last Summer based off the book of the same name and I do mean just based on the book because the book and the movie are two entirely different tales. The book was more of a moral story while this was just a plain slasher teen flick, but over all I would say that I Know What You Did Last Summer was a decent horror flick. It starred the biggest stars of it's time: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Ryan Phillipe, and surprisingly they clicked pretty well, but I think that's because they just all have to play pretty white kids with problems, lol. But it's all good, this was a fun little horror flick.

Four high school friends have graduated and are celebrating the fourth of July. They all have big plans: Julie is planning to go to Harvard, Helen is going to New York to become an actress, Ray is staying in town to help with the business of fishing, and Barry has a wrestling scholarship. They all are just having a big party and while driving home they accidentally hit a man, killing him. Freaked out and scarred for what might happen since alcohol is involved, they dump the body in the river hoping that it'll go away. But a year later when the friends re-unite, they are receiving letters claiming that someone knows what they did. Barry is then hit by a car, Helen's hair is chopped off, and Julie gets bodies put into her car trunk; they all must face the fisherman who is after them with a big hook and it seems like he does not want these kids to live.

I Know What You Did Last Summer has typical Dawson's Creek drama, but it's all good, I mean it was written by Kevin Williamson who wrote the series. But the cast did click very well and as cliché'd as the movie was, it's still good for a scare. Sarah does have one of the best damsel in distress chase scenes ever, that was pretty intense I have to admit. I Know What You Did Last Summer is a fun flick I would recommend to watch at midnight in the dark, you're gonna get jumpy a few times.

7/10

I Know What You Did Last Summer

It's the Fourth of July, and Julie (Jennifer Love Hewitt, TV's "Party of Five"), Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.), Helen (Sarah Michelle Gellar), and Barry (Ryan Phillippe) are intent on celebrating their graduation from high school, which, for them, means driving to a secluded beach, getting drunk, telling ghost stories and making out with each other. But later that evening, on the way back to town, they accidentally hit a man with their car, apparently killing him. After thinking things through, the group reluctantly decides to dump the body in the sea, and swear to take the secret of what they did that night to their graves. One year later, a still guilt-ridden Julie returns from college to her hometown, and finds an incriminating message in the mail: somebody knows what they did last summer. After rounding up her circle of former friends, she tries to figure out who alive could have seen them leave a man for dead. But the events surrounding the accident may be more complicated than any of them had originally thought.

Last year, screenwriter Kevin Williamson came out of nowhere with 'Scream, a self-referential satire on the teen slasher oeuvre wrapped warmly in classic Wes Craven thrills. Unexpectedly, but deservedly, a surprise runaway box office success followed. Based on the reception of his feature debut, and before Craven and the folks at Dimension came knocking for a 'Scream' sequel (due out this winter), Williamson took it upon himself to bring author Lois Duncan's novel 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' to the big screen. The end product is a decent teen slasher film, but one can't help feeling that Williamson missed a big chance to send up traditional horror archetypes once more.

As the world of 'Last Summer' wasn't originally Williamson's own creation, it's to be expected that the film not be strung through with the same knowing streak of humour that was the driving force behind 'Scream'. Or maybe it's just that Williamson had grown tired of the same old jokes, and opted to shun them out of 'Last Summer' altogether. But through opting to stay within the lines for his latest film, Williamson has gutted what made his first so special. Sadly, 'Last Summer' does not stand apart from the crowd of horror films that Kevin Williamson so skilfully mocked ten months ago. That said, this is perhaps the first slasher film to come out since 'Scream', and, against the odds, this serves to the film's advantage, as it's almost quite enjoyable watching the clichés play out in front of you exactly as predicted.

Ironically, British director Jim Gillespie ('Joyride'), in his first Hollywood production, has made a good effort to mimic the works of Wes Craven, specifically with the commanding score by John Debney. Marco Beltrami's work on 'Scream' is the template used by Debney here, and the versatile composer manages to accentuate the tension well, despite signalling some of the scares. However, Gillespie makes the mistake of depicting the death scenes too graphically. Gore could have been used well in 'Last Summer', but Gillespie leaves the camera rolling for too long during the vicious attacks on the killer's victims, which end up more repulsive than anything. Gillespie ain't no Craven, that's for sure.

The cast (or should I say group of attractive teens that are waiting to be offed?) also seem to be taking this project a little too unsmilingly, with actors Freddie Prinze Jr. and Ryan Phillippe more concerned with trying to see which one of them can ham it up the most than actually developing characters worth caring about. Jennifer Love Hewitt is decent enough here, but her performance never fully convinces. It's up to Sarah Michelle Gellar to strap ably into "damsel in distress" mode (something that the actress should know about, starring on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" week after week), and does more than necessary to make the audience truly feel for Helen Shivers as she laments her shattered dreams. Jamie Lee Curtis, you might want to keep an eye on your Scream Queen coronet.

The final act of the film is hard to resist, as it stages a series of nice set pieces that keep you close to the edge of your seat at all times, right up to the agreeably trite, sequel-friendly ending. But Williamson needs to learn how to wean the parody away from his screenplays without completely robbing them of any innovativeness. I admire the man for not repeating himself, but he seems to have progressed right into a career corner with 'Last Summer'. 'Scream 2' will most likely return him to the top of the pyramid once again, but I'd rather not think about what might happen after that.

~ 7/10 ~

I've been on a slasher kick recently and realised I'd never actually seen this despite seeing it parodied a fair few times.

It's just very flat. The characters are just nothing which is surprising when there are so few of them. We have the bland boyfriend, the jock boyfriend, the head cheerleader girlfriend and the bland girlfriend. The killer then has no personality. He's not a powerful force of nature, he's a none entity until the last few minutes when they just introduce him as some random dude who wanted revenge.

Since we only have 4 main characters, they needed to just kill off two random towns people and some weird "nice guy" stereotype but all of them are odd. Why kill some random cop if you're only getting revenge on these teens and he's not actually in your way? Why kill the random store worker when you were already passed her and could easily kill the girl you wanted? Why kill the "nice guy"? He had nothing to do with anything. It just doesn't fit with the killers motive of wanting revenge on these 4 teenagers for the hit and run.

So, we have four bland characters who are paper thin and a killer whose motivation is very weak with nothing interesting about him outside of his murder weapon. With a very low body count, barely any gore and pretty mediocre performances from everyone, it just is very forgettable.

I feel sorry for the millenians who can't appreciate a good classic teen horror movie from the 90s..😢

I Know What You Did Last Summer is an obvious attempt to cash in on the big success of the Scream movies. Compared to them and many of the other horror classics (Halloween most notably), this movie just does not measure up, but it is still entertaining. There is a sense of mystery here that really hasn't existed in slasher movies since the first Nightmare on Elm Street. You don't know who the killer is and he's always hiding in the shadows until... you know. This movie is far from perfect but entertaining.

"I Know What You Did Last Summer" joins "The Spy Who Shagged Me" and "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" as being yet another film that doesn't even come close to living up to its inspired title. All are bad enough to make me angry at the thought of a good title being squandered.

Kevin Williamson's script suggests nothing so much as a man trying, and failing, to capture the charm of the first couple of seasons of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" - this is more obviously a good description of "Scream", but "Scream", and this may surprise some people who've seen it, is better. -Or maybe he wasn't even trying. I'm not sure which is worse. I think Williamson WAS trying for a quality we might term "cred", by having his central characters bitch and squabble all the time. Friends in "Buffy", on the other hand, genuinely support one another. That's a large part of the show's charm. It's a charm that could only have helped Williamson's script, if only by making it more realistic: however much his central characters might have fought amongst themselves in the ordinary course of events, faced with a powerful EXTERNAL threat, they would surely have closed ranks.

Neither this nor "Scream" is particularly bad. The main trouble is that "I Know What You Did Last Summer", as well as wasting a good title, also wastes a good premise. Some teenagers feel guilty after their car accidentally knocks someone down; they hide the body and then they THINK they can just safely sneak back to their old lives ... the story could have gone in many good directions from here, and it's a pity all that occurred to Williamson was to head for regions slasher-horror so well travelled I'm surprised they don't sell souvenirs.

Popular horror films have always been responsible for the spawning of really bad imitations and clones. It's a fact. So flash forward to 1996 and Scream comes along. It proceeds to rake in quite the sum of dough. Suddenly horror movies are hot property and yet again another wave of really bad imitations looking to cash in are unleashed on us. Perhaps the worst? 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'.

Bought to us by the man who wrote Scream, Kevin Williamson, this movie is absolutely void of anything redeeming in my book. It's not scary, it's not entertaining. The title literally tells the tale of how four stereotypical teens (acting like all ill-responsible teens do in movies of this sort) accidentally kill a man with their car. They make a pact to keep it secret except (oops) someone knows. Soon they get letters with the self-entitled words "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and I'm left to assume the letters are coming from that dude in a rain slicker walking around with a fish hook.

Making matters ten times worse is how anyone is supposed to like or care about any of the main characters. Only the makers of this film know. How are we supposed to be sympathetic towards them after they kill someone and hide it? Have I missed something here? It's not like their awful personalities are winning me over. When they are faced with certain death, I didn't care. When some of them meet their gruesome demise, I didn't care. I seriously doubt it was the intention to make the killer an anti-hero too. This flick is so pedestrian in its making and execution that it couldn't think outside of the box if it's life depended on it.

Scenes are telecast from miles away. There's a foray of stalking, red herrings, extended chase sequences, girls screaming loudly and the killer who can disappear and reappear inhumanly fast. Have I mentioned the "hot" soundtrack and the obligatory sequel smelling finale yet? 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' was the first, but not the last in a line of bad horror flicks that will invade our theaters and television sets and I can't imagine it getting any worse than this.

I know that I shouldn`t write a review on this film, because these new horror-flicks starring perfect-looking young people are not my favorite cup of tea, but I have decided to write about it since a scream-loving friend of mine made me watch this "classic". The movie is about a couple of students who "accidently" kills a man, but he is not really dead when they leave him, because a year later the students involved get a note that says: "I know what you did last summer", hence the title. The acting is so bad, its funny and there isn`t any shock and tension in the horror-scenes. Most of the characters are annoying, which means that you don`t care about them when they are killed by the evil bogeyman. Overall, this is a crap movie than any Scream-junkie and fan of bad horror-movies should see. 1,5/10

What a perfectly 1990s cast: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillippe. There have been many sequels in the franchise, but there's nothing quite like the original I Know What You Did Last Summer. Totally tame by today's standards, this is my type of horror movie: one that's not too scary. It's much more of a thriller, with jump scares, ominous music, and beautiful girls gasping and screaming while their makeup still looks perfect.

Every once in a while, it's enormous fun to have a retro Halloween night and rent all the old scary movies. It adds nostalgia and reminds you of all those idyllic Halloweens when you were younger; if it's been a while since you've seen this one, rent it in the fall. It pairs very well with the first Scream and Final Destination. There's nothing juicier than a group of friends being tied together by secrets and crimes from their past, is there? That's why Pretty Little Liars was so successful! For a world without cell phones, old school slang, and cute fashions (can't we bring back crop tops?), this movie is a keeper.

When i first saw this movie i was 8 years old, and afterwards i made my dad sit in my bedroom with me until i fell to sleep. But that was a (very) long time ago and when i recently watched it again it failed to scare. Sorry i lied,(got a habit of doing that) it made me jump once. Obviously when it was filmed the script must have looked decent because it pulled in at least 4 famous faces. Either that or there careers needed a revive. they have the totty for the guys, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jennifer Love-Hewitt. And not forgetting for the girls there is the devilishly handsome Freddie Prince Junior and Ryan Phillipe. Unfortunately though even the good looking cast couldn't save it from being tossed into the bargain bin at the first opportunity. Fine for a 14 year old girls sleepover any older and you'll find it's just laughable!!

When I first watched this movie I only watched it for Sarah Michelle Gellar. But after seeing it I loved everything about it. And I came on here expecting at least a 6.5. But a 5.2? The story is original. Four teens are in great danger one year after their car hits a stranger whose body they dump in the sea. Everyone gave great performances, esp. Sarah Michelle Gellar. On top of that, this movie was frightening. This movie is great and I definitely recommend it. It is definitely a movie you should watch for both entertainment and originality purposes. It is definitely one to see if you enjoyed 'Scream'. The many plot twists and the many scares it will give you makes it an excellent movie.