THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
One way or another, the past will come back to haunt you. If you don't believe me, watch I Know What You Did Last Summer.
PLOT
Inspired by the Lois Duncan novel of the same name, the film follows four North Carolina teens graduating from high school: Julie, Helen, Barry and Ray. After Helen wins a beauty pageant, she celebrates with her friends by having drinks at the beach. When Ray drives everyone home as designated driver, Barry distracts him on accident due to his drunken behavior. This results in him accidentally hitting an unknown male pedestrian. The group dumps the man’s body into the water and swear to never speak of it. A year after this incident, Julie returns home from college, still haunted of what happened. When returning home, she gets a letter with no return address simply saying “I know what you did last summer”. She reunites with the others who have different lives as they planned: Helen works at a department store with her sister Elsa (Bridgette Wilson) after her plan to live in New York didn’t work out, and Ray works at the docks as a fisherman. Barry’s football career didn’t work out either and he still resides with his parents. Once all four are together, they come to an agreement that someone indeed saw what they did. Although Barry doesn’t want to believe it to be possible, he does remember fellow local Max (Johnny Galecki) who drove by after the incident occurred, appeared to be unaware of what happened. He does confront him without explanation and threatens to kill him if he is the one harassing them. It is proven to not be Max at all when he is quickly killed by a man disguised in a rain slicker with a hook. Later on at night, the killer attacks Barry by running him over but chooses not to finish him. After what happened to him, Julie does research on people who were found dead the year before to narrow down who is trying to avenge the dead. She finds one article in particular of a man named David Egan. She and Helen then meet his sister Missy (Anne Heche) who shares that the only friend he had that paid respects was a man named 'Billy Blue'. The following night, the killer sneaks into Helen's home and cuts her hair when she sleeps. When she wakes up the following morning, she finds the word 'Soon' written on her mirror, implying that she will be killed next. That same day, Julie finds Max's corpse and a bunch of crabs in the trunk of her car. When she leaves the car to share this discovery to Barry & Helen, the evidence disappears before they return to the car. When they see Ray again, Barry suspects him to be responsible but he makes clear that he is not because he got a threatening letter of his own. So Julie chooses to visit Missy again while Helen attends the 4th of July parade. Missy does give Julie a suicide note that belonged to David saying "I'll never forget last summer". Since that note's handwriting matched the threat, she draws suspicion that maybe he is still alive. The killer makes his move by attacking Barry, and Helen notices when attending another pageant. When she escorted home by an officer, he gets attacked first by the killer. When she runs for it, she tries to hide at the fragrance store, but it results in Elsa getting killed. Helen is then killed just before she could get help. When Julie comes home, she does more research to connect the final dots: A year before David, he was in a car accident that took the life of his girlfriend Susie Willis. When the article mentions her father, it comes full circle of what really happened; Julie realizes that the man that got ran over was Ben who had just killed David for what happened to his daughter. When she goes to Ray of this discovery, she panics when noticing his boat is named 'Billy Blue'. When she runs from him, a fisherman knocks Ray unconscious, inviting her to hide in her boat. When she looks around, she finds pictures of herself, her friends and Susan which reveals that she is in Ben's boat. When he chases her around the boat, she finds the dead bodies of Helen and Barry. Before he could get the chance to kill her as well, Ray saves her by using the rigging to sever Ben's hand and send him overboard. When they get questioned by the police, they deny knowing why he wanted them dead. The two survivors choose to reconcile upon relief that they never took an innocent life. The film ends in a cliffhanger that takes place a year after the event, where Julie is stalked again and attacked by another unknown figure that still knows what happened.
THOUGHTS
With low expectations, I enjoyed this movie more than I should. I think that Writer Kevin Williamson and Director Jim Gillepsie were able to make a murder mystery that has brings an unexpected source of excitement. Which ever jump scare that lands helps the viewing become more memorable. This movie seems to be so effective because of how it has an interesting exploration of what happens when one's life/lives can be upended from a singular, pivotal moment. Those kind of moments release guilt and change relationships, showing how one who love deeply one day can become a stranger the next. It is pretty obvious that these themes would not be clear without solid performances from the four leads. Our scream queen/final girl Jennifer Love Hewitt makes Julie the most relatable of the group because she has the most regret, hating herself for not being able to take responsibility. When the past came back to her, she knew she had the chance to confront her demon. Seeing her shout in the air 'What are you waiting for', it shows how tired she was of feeling haunted. While this wasn't the end of her journey, you find relief that she gained motivation to confront her obstacles. Freddie Prinze Jr. makes Ray likable because he has his own set of regret. He hates that he thought of himself at the time and wishes he could take it back. And for him, saving the girl he loved was his own set of redemption. Ryan Phillippe goes on point making Barry a dislikable character because despite his love for Helen, he spends the most of the time focusing on himself and tries too hard resolving things quickly without thinking it through. Sarah Michelle Gellar makes Helen the most neutral because she regrets of what happened as well, but still aspires to have better for herself. She does wonder who is messing with her, only after her hair got messed with. She wants to live, but still chooses to go to the pageant rather than staying home where Barry could've had a better chance protecting her. I don't want to hate her but her perspective comes to show that you can't have it both ways. And lastly, the one thing this film gets right like Scream is that the person behind the mask is scarier than the mask itself. Ben Willis ain't onscreen as much but when he is, Muse Watson delivers on making him an intimidating force to those he targets. Despite being an entertaining whodunnit, it doesn't excuse the issues I found. I know we need the plot to advance when the body is rid of, but why didn't Ray just check the guy's pulse? One simple thing and they would've taken off and Max would've taken him to the hospital, whether or not they knew he'd come. I respect Julie's mom for not snooping with her mail, but shouldn't she be a little bit concerned of how it had no stamp or return address on it. I know I would be. I know it's in Barry's nature to do things without thinking, but confronting Max without explaining his suspicion was dumb. He is just making himself a suspect without even knowing it. I also wonder why doesn't Ben kill Barry after running him over? I don't think there is anything to gain if turning down the opportunity of revenge. I respect the attempt to create the atmosphere that everyone is a suspect, but it was so unnecessary to create tension when Melissa runs to Julie's car just to tell her she forgot her cigarettes. The suspicion is already there when she stares at her. I even keep asking how he made no noise when messing with Helen, while also getting Max's body and crabs out of Julie's car in a minimum amount of time unseen. He's not an actual urban legend, so his level of stealth is hard for me to believe. I respect that Julie was smart to basically disappear when going to college because she wants the torment to end, but there really is no point to not do it again if it works. The weirdest thing about the second pageant scene is how Helen is a guest for winning the year prior when there wasn't one before her. If this is a new tradition, how was that not explained? I honestly think this is a bad excuse to separate her from Barry. And somehow, he is able to get under a plastic cover right after killing Elsa, before Helen re enters the room. This is the same issue I have with other slashers, where they get super fast onscreen and walk slow as fuck when chasing their victims. They only speed up when the plot demands it and it is weird. And on top of that, he chooses to not to cut the pull chord to bring the platform down. He makes things harder for himself and it's stupid. I even refuse to believe this guy took a picture of Helen the day of the parade and print it in time to tape it on his boat. If you can pull off ignoring all of these issues, then I'm certain that you'll still have a good time. To wrap up, I Know What You Did Last Summer is still an entertaining horror film for being as suspenseful as possible. If you love Scream, I'm certain that you'll enjoy this movie too.
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