Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
I Know What You Did Last Summer has caught a lot of flack over the years; the 1997 slasher flick written by Kevin Williamson was doomed to be compared to his previous hit, Scream, and suffered critically because of it. It may not be a perfect movie, but boy, is it a fun one. Not only does it feature one of the best 90s casts (Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze Jr.), but it also boasts a stellar soundtrack and some seriously suspenseful sequences. Twenty years on, I Know What You Did Last Summer is more of a thrill than ever.
Set in Southport, North Carolina, our story starts when four high school grads go on a celebratory bender after Helen Shivers (Gellar) wins a beauty pageant on July 4th. After celebrating on the beach, they accidentally hit a pedestrian and begrudgingly decide to dump the body in the nearby sea. Things don’t go as smoothly as they hope, however – just as they’re tossing him, he wakes up, but once they ditch him, they agree to never speak of this traumatic event again. Obviously, it’s not over, and a year later, the four find themselves back home and terrorized by a hook-wielding, slicker-wearing madman hellbent on seeking revenge.
The ensuing bloodbath – one that sees some of our central characters cut down with the hook of horrors – is equal parts campy, gruesome, and fun. The way the film plays into stereotypes serves it perfectly; we’ve got bookish, reasonable introvert Julie (Hewitt), glamorous beauty queen Helen, hot-tempered jock Barry (Phillippe), and working class outsider Ray (Prinze Jr.). The idyllic fishing village backdrop acts as a perfect juxtaposition to the grisly murders committed by ol’ hook hand; who would’ve thought a town like this could be subjected to such horrors? It’s easy to write it off as a Scream copycat – Williamson has certainly stolen from himself before – but I Know What You Did Last Summer is significantly less self-aware and much more likely to play into the genre’s most popular tropes.
There’s a lot to pick on when it comes to this movie; the performances and dialogue venture into cheesy territory on occasion, and yes, some moments are predictable. All of that is cancelled out, however, by the film’s most suspenseful moments. There are few chase scenes better than Helen’s big run from the killer in and out of a police car, through her family’s store, and into town. It’s tense, terrifying, and in the end, devastating. The questioning of trust between friends, antagonistic antics of the killer, and totally bonkers twists all combine to make some truly compelling material. On a technical level, it’s also surprisingly strong; the aforementioned soundtrack perfectly accompanies each sequence, there’s a marvelous use of light in the more dramatic scenes, and some believable effects for the more gory moments.
Evidently, it’s safe to say that I Know What You Did Last Summer deserves a second chance from those who have scorned it. It’s a movie that never tries to take itself too seriously, it maintains its energy throughout, and embraces all the 90s slasher tropes we know and love. If it was released now, it’d likely be lauded, because it wouldn’t have so much similar fare to compete with. What’s not to dig about a bunch of attractive teenagers fighting off a hook-wielding killer? Shed your pretentiousness and enjoy this 20-year-old slasher gem. You’ll be glad you did.
