I Know What You Did Last Summer

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Runtime: 101 minutes

Directed by: Jim Gillespie

Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillipe, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Anne Heche

From: Columbia/Mandalay

What a time it was seeing this again after all of these years...

This was a film I saw “back in the day”; however, as the only things I remembered were the silly moments that were parodied in Scary Movie, so in essence it might as well have been a first time watch. The movie was certainly a blast from the past, as I'll talk about later.

I'll presume most remember the plot of how 4 high school seniors accidentally hit someone in the road while driving, and they throw the body in the ocean and swear never to divulge this secret... only for all their lives to be ruined anyhow due to guilt (which was an interesting direction to explore for a slasher) and then a year later mysterious notes appear and killings begin. Note that-and I did not know this until last night-the film was loosely based on a young adult novel from the early 70's; really, they only share the general plot thread and many character names. From what I understand, the book's author-Lois Duncan-was not too happy with how her thriller novel was morphed into a slasher.

The movie screams 1990's, from the fashion and its overall look to how there are some mopey rock covers of popular old songs, including Summer Breeze. Yet it still was an R-rated slasher from the 90's, even if the R rating is mostly from all the F-bombs and there isn't much gore to speak of... although at least the killer-who at times used his book several different ways to off people. The movie did make me feel ancient as I was a teenager when this came out, and yet it was 21 years ago. The main cast being filled with old faces was a nice blast of nostalgia. The setting (Southport, North Carolina, an actual small town) was scenic as what looks like a bucolic little fishing village.

I did see I Still Know... at the time, and I remember it being terrible. Yet I only have memories of the dumbest moments, and IMDb says Jeffrey Combs was in the cast, which I have zero memory of. Maybe one day... most probably don't realize there was also a 2006 DTV sequel entitled I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, which has little to do with the other movies and I understand it goes down some rather strange paths compared to the first time. Maybe one day with that also...