I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

reviewed by
Homer Yen


`I Still Know' and I Still Don't Care
by Homer Yen
(c) 1998

It's now the anniversary of the slayings of Julie James' (Jennifer Love Hewitt) best friends. Still besieged by nightmarish memories of the man responsible for it all, she seems to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She can't concentrate on her schoolwork, can't get a good night's sleep, and is even frightened by the shadows and the blinking strobe lights at a local dance club. Everywhere she looks, she sees visions of the man in a rubber slicker with the hook on his hand.

In the first movie, `I Know What You Did Last Summer', Julie and three of her friends accidentally kill a man, running him down while driving down a dark mountain highway. To cover their misdeed, they dump the body into the ocean. However, he never quite died and returned to hunt down Julie and her friends. Julie and one other, Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.), survived only to make this dismal sequal. Needing some desparate rest and relaxation, she is elated to learn that her college roommate, Karla (Brandy), has won a trip for four to a secluded tropical island. Accompanying these two girls are Karla's overbearing boyfriend, Tyrell (Mehki Phifer) and a potential beau for Julie.

But was this contest too good to be true? The resort is filled with a skeleton staff that seemed like Love Boat rejects. Meanwhile, the hotel is practically deserted as the storm season is about to begin. This presumably creates a venue where they will be secluded and will have no possible means off the island. Eventually, they will be hunted down during power outages and chased around during intense lightning storms. As you might have guessed, somewhere in the shadows lurk a mysteriously strange figure that is wearing a rubber slicker and wielding a hook. Julie tries to convince her friends that the killer is on the island (an eerie touch is when she is singing "I Will Survive" at the karaoke bar and the words scroll "I Still Know..."), but her friends chalk it up to paranoia. But the body count soon starts to rise, and for Julie, it's going to be the worst vacation of her life.

The funny (yes, I used the word 'funny') thing about this movie is that I heard more chortling and giggling (maybe it was MY giggling) than I heard screaming. This movie boils down to a mindless slashfest that never conjures up any amount of wry wit or even a quirky campiness. There isn't even any suspense that leads up to the deaths. Here's an appropriate example. Knock-Knock. "Housekeeping", says the diminuitive cleaning lady. The door suddenly opens up. SLASH. Next victim!

Is there any reason to go and see this movie? Not unless you want to see four uninteresting college kids run around in circles for about 90 minutes. But I do want to say one thing about this movie that satisfied me. I was thoroughly irritated with Tyrell, who incessantly ranted and raved about his sexual libido. I secretly wished for him to get filleted. Did he get 'hooked'? Well, let's just say that if he didn't, I would give this film a grade of "D".

Grade: C-


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