I Know What You Did Last Summer (IKWYDLS) was written by the wry pen of Kevin Williamson, the man who put the modern day slasher back on the map with Scream. Unfortunately, that was his first screenplay and the rest of his resume consists of teen slashers which attempt to be as clever as the first.
The film begins with a cast of four borderline stereotypes: Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), the girl next door, Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), the local beauty queen, Barry Cox (Ryan Phillippe), the ego supported by his parents’ money, and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.), the Average Joe. Helen has just been crowed the Croaker Queen and they are off to celebrate on the nearby North Carolina shoreline called Dawson’s Beach. Driving home, they hit a man and dispose of the not-quite-dead body. Beginning a year later, as sardonically prophesized by Barry, they are hunted down by the man with the hook for a hand.
Shortly after they commit the deed, I thought to myself that the killer would serve as a great metaphor for the guilt of their hidden crime. The killer would symbolize their haunted consciousnesses in the Dostoevskian Crime and Punishment sense of the term. Well, as you can probably guess, that didn’t happen . . .
Of course, Williamson, after the success of Scream, couldn’t let IKWYDLS stand at that. Aside from the less-than-subtle witticisms (Croaker Queen and Dawson’s Beach are only a painful few, I’m sorry to report) and genre and intertexual references, we discover that the identity of the man whom they believe they murdered in order to save face is not the killer. In Williamson’s mind, this is supposed to put us further forward, brimming on the edge of our seats with tension. For most audiences, it has them shifting over to the left because they have long since lost feeling in the right.
Considering the script isn’t challenging and Williamson and Craven had taught us with their earlier film how to anticipate such a flick and to expect more, the movie comes off as languid and trite. My biggest qualm with the film aside from the fact that IKWYDLS seems to lapse back into all, and I mean all, of the ’80’s horror clichés which Williamson himself highlighted and parodied due to their admittedly ludicrous nature.
I will simply end with this: At one point Julie escapes her confines to find Ray battling the killer. As he is fending off deadly blows, Julie calls out his name for no particular reason and the killer gets the much need opportunity to make contact. I felt as if I needed someone to do the same for me in order to make the movie come to a close.
– Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
