I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

Director - Danny Cannon (Judge Dredd, Gotham)

Starring - Jennifer Love Hewitt (Munchie, Can't Hardly Wait), Freddie Prinze Jr. (She's All That, Scooby-Doo), and Brandy Norwood (Cinderella, Osmosis Jones) 

Release Date - 1998

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Some secrets will haunt you forever"

Format - UHD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Last year or the year before I was able to review the UHD release of the 90s slasher I Know What You Did Last Summer. While a lot of genre fans hail Scream as the face of 90s slasher, I would have to strongly disagree. I feel the first two or three films is extremely overrated but I do respect the attention it brought slashers which was a dying sub-genre by that point. I can think of several other slashers from the same time frame that are leagues better than Scream and one of them would by I Know What You Did Last Summer. I’m a fan of the film but I had never seen one of the sequels. That recently changed when I was sent the UHD for I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. I had to put it in with the left over October horror binge films and make my way to it when I could. Honestly, I’m glad I was able to finally see it but the first film is way better. 

      The film picks up one year after the events of the first film. Julie (Hewitt) and Ray (Prinze) have drifted apart after what happened to them last summer. She’s now in college while he is working full time as a deck hand on a fishing boat. When she wins a trip to Jamaica with a few friends she goes but Ray is suspicious of it and makes his way there to check on her. However, he has every right to be suspicious as it’s the islands off season and the locals are preparing for the bad weather that is sure to hit. As the bodies being to pile up, Julie is well aware that the Fisherman is back and the contest was all a ruse to get her on the island for revenge. 

      I was seriously looking forward to I Still Know What You Did Last Summer but after a few minutes I quickly realized that the film completely forgot what made the first film so fucking enjoyable. The original film borrowed heavily from the classic slasher formula that many of the slashers from the 80s followed. Sadly, this sequel would follow in the crater like footsteps left behind by the massive hit Scream. The acting in this one is probably more enjoyable that the first film. This was the only aspect I liked more than the first film. We have a lot of fun characters portrayed by Brandy, Jack Black, and Mekhi Phifer. While Freddie Prinze Jr is in the film, his character rides the backseat most of the film and I can’t stand how manic Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character is. Jack Black and Mekhi Phifer make the film to me. The story for this one doesn’t feel like a sequel to the original film. The first film follows a group of people who is being hunted one by one by someone that wronged them in the past. Same plot outline as classic films like Prom Night, Friday the 13th, and so on. I loved that the first film approached slashers with that classic take in an era where films like Scream were taking off. Sadly, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer followed Scream in the realm where the killer is part of the group and is picking them off one by one with a partner. I absolutely hated this and the “big” reveal can be seen from a mile away. The film had a great location and amazing characters only to fumble the ball and try to be another meta-slasher when it didn’t need to be. Finally, the film doesn’t have a lot of on screen kills but we do have some awesome practical and make-up effects on the aftermath. I do hate when blood hungry genre fans are given a film where the deaths take place off camera but this one tries to make up for it with great effects on the deceased. I liked them but I would have loved to see some slasher inspired kills to make up for the lazy writing. Overall, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is a huge drop in quality from the first film. While I did like the location and characters, the story itself is predictable and oddly similar to Scream. I wanted to love it but this one should have never seen the light of day. Skip it.