I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Plot

On the night of fourth of July in the idyllic coastal town of Southport, four friends; Julie, Helen, Ray and Barry are out for a night time drive when they accidentally hit and seemingly kill a stranger in the road.

Thinking they’ll go down for manslaughter, they dump the body in the water – not before he regains consciousness!!!

One year later they start to get stalked by someone who ‘knows what they did last summer’…

Was someone else there, or is the man they hit still alive coming after them?

Direction

Directed by seemingly retired Jim Gillespie.

Cast/Characters

The ‘core four’ are played by Jennifer Love Hewitt (as Julie James), Sarah Michelle Gellar (as Helen Shivers), Ryan Phillippe (as Barry Cox), and Freddie Prinze Jr as Ray Bronson.

Other cast include Muse Watson as Ben Willis, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras (as Elsa Shivers), Johnny Galecki as Max and Anne Heche as Missy Egan.

Breakdown

Another of the ‘slasher’ films that were popular in the late 1990’s thanks to other films in the genre like Scream. Coincidentally, this was written by Scream scribe Kevin Williamson, and it does stand on its own to that one.

Unlike other films, this gives a ‘reason’ for why they are being targeted – they quartet clearly do something wrong at the start of the film (dumping the body of someone they hit with their car), even if the reaction of the killer is perhaps a “little” over the top.

There is a solid “red herring” in who the bad guy is – as at the start of the film, who you think it could be, might not be who the killer is. This gives an interesting segue into Julie and Helen’s investigations, that lead them to the sweet but creepy Missy (played by the late great Anne Heche).

Because there really only is the ‘core four’ that the killer can really go for – there are the cannon fodder characters who ‘get it’ even if they weren’t there and don’t really deserve it. The screenplay writes them as somewhat antagonistic (Max and Elsa are prime examples of this), and you don’t really feel ‘too’ bad when they meet their maker!

It takes a good amount of screen time before the killer does start fully targeting the ‘core four’ – and the violence is mostly off screen, and considerably tame for the time it was released.

The killers eventual reveal is somewhat intriguing, this comes after the the investigation is turned on its head at the start of the third act.

The end does leave it open for the eventual sequel that was a given, due to this was release in the late 1990s, and every slasher had a sequel back then.

Overall

From Scream writer Kevin Williamson, this tries to stand on its own as a different type of slasher – and it does to a point. The characters are ‘mostly’ likable, but some of the cast still hadn’t found their groove in their talent.

The investigation of who is after them is solid enough, with just enough carnage in between (especially when antagonistic characters meet their maker!)

Followed by the expected sequel shortly after, and the legacy sequel in 2025.

3.5/5

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