I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

Movie Info

You can’t trust the Gordon’s Fisherman…

Julie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) finds herself struggling to cope with the attack of Ben Willis (Muse Watson) and haunted by nightmares.  When she and her friend Karla Wilson (Brandy Norwood) win an all-expenses-paid trip to the Bahamas for the Fourth of July, Julie forsakes the weekend with her boyfriend Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) and joins Karla, her boyfriend Tyrell (Mekhi Phifer), and Will Benson (Matthew Settle) on the island paradise.  Paradise however might have some hitches…when bodies begin to pile up, Julie questions if Ben Willis has come back to remind her of what she did last summer.

Directed by Danny Cannon, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is a horror slasher thriller.  A sequel to the popular horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer from 1997, the movie was met with criticism but still remained a box office success.

I think someone is trying to send us a message…

After Scream, everyone jumped on the teen-horror wagon.  I Know What You Did Last Summer (also written by Scream and Dawson’s Creek scribe Kevin Williamson) was a bit weightier since it was based on a 1973 teen novel.  Despite this, I didn’t love I Know What You Did Last Summer which felt like Scream-lite…and this was a lot worse.  Due to plot aspects a ******spoiler alert****** is in effect.

The movie is just rather dull and starts out with a premise that has you scratching your head immediately if you know anything about geography.  The movie starts out with Julie and Karla winning this contest with the capital of Brazil:  Rio de Janeiro.  That’s a problem since Rio isn’t the capital.  They tried to pick obscure trivia that someone still could guess, but failed in that it wasn’t obscure enough.  It is a bad set-up to a movie that just drags and repeats the first film straight down to the “Come and get me” pose by Jennifer Love Hewitt (and I’m still not sure despite the pre-9-11 flight rules how Prinze, Jr.’s character got an unlicensed gun through security and customs).

Everybody must get stoned!

Hewitt is surrounded by so-so actors including Brandy as the “doomed” best friend who beats the odds in the film despite the double whammy for horror movies:  black and best friend of the star.  The movie also feature Mekhi Phifer as the jerk character and Freddie Prinze, Jr. in a smaller role in this sequel.  Jennifer Esposito plays the bar tender Nancy and Matthew Settle plays the too good to be true Will Benson.  Oscar nominee John Hawkes plays Prinze’s friend Dave and the movie also has an uncredited role by Jack Black as the dreadlocked stoner Titus Telesco.  Horror vet Jeffrey Combs also appears in the film as the hotel manager Mr. Brooks.

That’s right I’m going to give the same speech this time!

The movie has a real cheap look to it.  The film was a quick turn-around from the first movie and despite an exotic location rarely uses it due to the story which has the characters stuck inside for most of the film.  I also can’t get behind the killer because he’s just the Gordon’s Fisherman meets Candyman.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is a weak follow-up to an already tired genre.  The movie is a rather bland horror follow-up and not worth really seeking out unless you are a big fan of the original…and then you’ll feel that you’ve already seen it.  Despite the criticism, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer was followed by the straight-to-DVD sequel I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer in 2006 (which featured no returning cast members).

Related Links:

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan