I Know What You Did Last Summer

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.

Some might say this movie was released about 12 years too late, others that this was a cheap copycat of Scream(also a Kevin Williamson movie), the truth is that it's all a matter of taste, and what you expect. The people who were expecting something better or on the same level of Scream(which is a modern horror classic), probably left the cinema disappointed. On the other hand, those who went to see a typical, by-the-numbers dumb teen slasher movie, probably had a great time at the cinema. If you're willing to suspend your disbelief and turn your brain off for 1h45min, you'll be able to appreciate "I Know..." for what it is. With the remake recently coming out, i thought it would be cool to finally check out this successfull 90s Slasher, and it was pretty much what i expected it: Very dumb, with lots of plot holes, weird contrivances, and some ridiculous performances. All these shortcomings would be enough to categorize any movie as bad, but again, this is a teen slasher movie we are talking, all these flaws don't diminish the enjoyment for the movie, but it's actually part of the charm. Scream set the bar way too high for any slasher movie that would come after it, so high that not even Williamson himself would manage to deliver another work on the same level, and only a year later. However, we still get a reasonably interesting and coherent story, brought to life by a(mostly) talented and charismatic cast of young actors who were all coming in hot at the time. Jennifer Love Hewitt is the lead, and she did the best she could with the material she was given, sure, she's not a great actress by any means, but she managed to carry the movie with a lot of charm and sincerity, and MY GOD WAS SHE BEAUTIFUL... The rest of the main cast was... Fine i guess? Ryan Phillippe and Sarah Michelle Geller didn't had a lot of chemistry as a couple, and it was hard to care about Phillippe's character since he was written as a complete prick with no redeeming qualities. Geller at least had some good dramatic scenes with Hewitt, and the final moments of her character near the end were by far the best moments in the entire movie. Freddie Prinze Jr. Undoubtedly delivered the worst performance of the four, and it didn't helped the fact that his character was just plain boring, i didn't believed a second that he was the killer despite the movie trying so hard to manipulate me into thinking that, since his acting was shoddy and totally unambiguous. The killer's backstory was kinda interesting and had a lot of dramatic potential, but unfortunately they wasted all the good premise and setup in favour of a quicker, more rushed and chaotic conclusion that spoiled all the tension it could have built. A huge element in any Slasher is the kills, and whether they are well made, and im happy to say that most of the killing in the movie was pretty entertaining, not very gory and creative, but still, reasonably well choreographed and visually impactful. Overall, "I Know..." is not nearly as good or iconic as Williamson's finest work, but it still managed to entertain hardcore slasher fans with a comfortably clichéd palette of dumb characters, gory killings, and teenage drama. If you watched this movie with your friends back in the day and had a great time with it, you'll probably enjoy just as much today, with nostalgia playing a big role. Curious to see how much they improved (or ruined) in the remake...

This film is great! The ACTING IS BETTER THAN IN MOST HORROR FILMS ALSO. Freddie Prinze Jr i the only one that fails to capture emotion. Jennifer Love Hewitt gives great acting in the actual scene where they hit the man, but other than that she is okay. Ryan Phillipe is also great, but its easy to play an air head that curses and is mad at everyone. The best performance has to be given by Sarah Michelle Gellar. She is great going from a natural beauty, to a scared off helpless girl. She conveys emotions well and her chase scene in this film is a classic. I would recommend this film for that reason only. Its fun, but kinda forgettable after a while. Anne Heche also gives a very good performance, even if its small. See it. You will be entertained.

"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.

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!!!