Welcome to Knockout Horror. I always like to rewind the clock a little during our 31 Days of Halloween feature so for day 23 we are going back to the late 90s. With that in mind, we are checking out a pretty big horror hit from the time – I Know What You Did Last Summer.
The story here is simple, a group of friends on a boozy night out hit a man with their car. Rather than report the accident, they choose to dump his body. A year later, when the group start receiving notes that read “I Know What You Did Last Summer” they immediately set about finding out who saw them and who it is tormenting them.
A Powerful Decade
I’m a 90s kid (grew up in it, not born in it) and, as a whole, it was a pretty great time to be alive. Don’t get me wrong, the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia have been doing some heavy lifting for most of the decades pre-2000 but the 90s felt a little bit special.
It was the last few years of life being lived the way it had been for the past 40 and the last dying days of the analogue era. The internet wasn’t the dominant, all encompassing, force it is today. Mobile phones weren’t a particularly accessible thing for most people. You still had to knock on your friend’s doors to hang out and things like watching movies and television shows felt quite special.
Word of mouth was infinitely more important then than it is now. Your friends would talk up the latest shows or movies. Purely because someone else talked it up to them. One of my best friends, and I, used to chat about a comedy series that we loved and hype it up to our friends. I still remember my older brother telling me about this new cartoon that everyone was watching. It was a lot like the Simpsons but much more rude, offensive, and vulgar.
People at my high school, in Wales, UK no less, talked about a rapper with a mononymous name. He was, by all accounts, the best of all time. And everyone was excited about a brand new horror movie that was completely different from anything that came before.
A Horror That Changed Everything
That comedy series was Friends, the cartoon was South Park, the rapper was Tupac Shakur and that horror movie was Scream. This was in the period of one year between 1996 and 1997. Friends is considered, by many, to be one of the best comedy series of all time and is still shown today. South Park is still going and has been a cultural mainstay for nearly 30 years. Tupac Shakur, who was sadly murdered in 1996, is still discussed as, potentially, the greatest rap voice of all time. And Scream is still part of the public psyche with Scream 7 due for release in 2026.
These things only scratch the surface of what the 90s gave us. But when it comes to horror, Scream took a flagging genre and gave it new life. Wes Craven had already given the horror genre so much with A Nightmare on Elm Street but it was time for change.
Craven teamed up with writer Kevin Williamson and brought the world a slasher that completely subverted expectation. It was cool, clever, current and incredibly smart. With its twist ending surprising many viewers and its eschewing of typical horror tropes feeling incredibly refreshing. Scream was horror for the 90s. People loved Scream and even typically horror averse critics spoke highly of it.
And Then Came The Copycats
Scream’s popularity bred a whole new generation of imposters copying its formula. Movies set around “cool” high school kids being chased by a shrouded killer were everywhere. Each one attempting to have their own version of Sidney and their own shocking twist. Cherry Falls, Urban Legend, Valentine and, most noteworthy of all, today’s movie I Know What You Did Last Summer.
I say noteworthy because this movie was based on a script that had been floating around development hell for awhile. A script written by Scream writer Kevin Williamson. As soon as it became obvious that Scream was a huge hit, this script was purchased and put into production. The only problem? Well, while Scream featured a clever story of deception and suspense. I Know What You Did Last Summer was just a plain old slasher with limited surprises and limited thrills.
Watching in 2024, it’s kind of impossible to understand why this movie is still brought up today. In fact, my preamble here is due to the fact that there is so little to say about it. It’s really not very good at all. It’s a by the numbers slasher with nothing to write home about. If it wasn’t for its well known cast, I doubt anyone would be talking about it today. At the time, however, people raved about this movie as a worthy alternative to Scream, something that simply isn’t true.
Formulaic and Dull
This is a real slog of a movie to get through. Coming it at over 100 minutes, the action doesn’t really start until the midway point. When it does get going, it all feels rather empty due to the thread bare cast of characters. When your maniacal, hook wielding, killer has to resort to murdering random bystanders you know your slasher is in a bit of trouble.
The B-movie cheesiness is abundant and the downright silliness of the story and acting will have you laughing repeatedly. The rather small and quite slight Ryan Phillipe plays “tough jock” Barry and provokes repeated belly laughs with his frequent bouts of aggression. Jennifer Love Hewitt’s ludicrously frequent startled screams are impossible not to chuckle at. And Freddie Prinze Jr trying to be mysterious is nothing but hilarious.
The story is insanely boring. There is a bit of a twist but it is so silly and redundant that it is very hard to care when the big reveal comes at the end. It’s kind of the equivalent of saying “Oh, it was the janitor that did it”. When you had never seen the janitor for more than a second and he had absolutely no part in the story at all. Who gives a shit?
Direction is pretty poor, pacing is a big problem and some of the scenes are noteworthy for how stupid they are. They actually let a kid come in and direct a scene for part of the movie. Yes, an actual kid. The scene where Jennifer Love Hewitt spins around screaming “what are you waiting for?” was directed by a literal child. The fact that it has become the movie’s most iconic scene tells you all you need to know.
Kinda Awkward at Times
Speaking of Jennifer Love Hewitt, it’s kind of tough not to feel a bit sorry for her, here. She tries really hard but the direction she received led to her being viciously lampooned in movies like Scary Movie. Cindy’s exaggerated mannerisms, half cried screams and tendency to run away while flailing her arms in the air are all taken from Hewitt’s performance here.
It was this movie that was to blame for Hewitt’s future status as a sex symbol, as well. Much of which can be attributed to the low cuts tops she was made to wear and the ridiculously exploitative camera angles used, throughout.
I understand that titillation is a part of horror and I don’t have a problem with it, on the surface. But the thought of a much older director creepily setting up shots deliberately aiming right down the top of his 18 year old, former child star, actress is somewhat unsettling. There’s a scene later on where she wears a towel and from one shot to the next her boobs suddenly end up pushed right up. Clearly a call from the director to increase sex appeal.
I get it, she is stunningly beautiful and rather busty but, come on. It just feels weird and a bit wrong, especially given how young she looks here. She has, in recent years, commented negatively on her status as a sex symbol and it is impossible not to feel a bit sorry for her. Especially due to the type casting that shaped her career to come.
Should You Watch I Know What You Did Last Summer?
No, you shouldn’t watch I Know What You Did Last Summer. It’s a slow, boring, poorly acted, poorly directed, chore of a slasher movie. The fact that people still talk about it is insane. It has nothing worth writing home about, at all. The only potential plus is seeing these stars of Hollywood at the height of their fame before they faded away into obscurity. Oh, and to laugh at how silly it all is, can’t forget that.
