I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (Columbia - 1997) Starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze Jr., Muse Wats, Anne Heche, Bridgette Wilson Screenplay by Kevin Williamson, based on the novel by Lois Duncan Produced by Neil H. Moritz, Erik Feig, Stokely Chaffin Directed by Jim Gillespie Running time: 101 minutes
**1/2 (out of four stars)
Alternate Rating: B-
Note: Some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers. Be forewarned.
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You knew it was bound to happen. With the completely unanticipated degree of success enjoyed by Wes Craven's SCREAM from December 1996, it was just a matter of time before the revitalized teen slasher genre revved back into gear, and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER manages to be among the first to capitalize on the trend. As of this writing, it's an unqualified hit -- consider that it topped the domestic weekend tallies for its first three weeks; only megablockbusters MEN IN BLACK, LIAR LIAR, and STAR WARS: SPECIAL EDITION have done likewise in 1997 -- and it's sure to give credibility to the cost-effective strategy of raiding television shows for pretty young starlets in order to assemble an ensemble cast which will draw the youth demographic. Putting aside the lawsuit from Miramax over I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER's advertising campaign (which touted the film as being from the creator of Dimension Films' SCREAM -- in this case, hot screenwriter Kevin Williamson penned both), Sony executives have to be grinning from ear to ear over the success of their horror entry.
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER is fairly generic in scope -- it has the standard setup of a group of teens stalked by a homicidal madman -- and uses familiar scare tactics, but it's sort of fun in an offhanded way. There are too many standard fright devices employed in the film (eyes suddenly opening with a startle, the presumed-dead lurching back to life, attackers popping out from the darkness -- any of this sound familiar?) to take it seriously; it's simple popcorn fun. I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER obviously isn't as self-consciously knowing as SCREAM, but it's not aspiring to be as similarly clever.
The film focuses on four teenagers reaching a pivotal moment in their young lives -- high school graduation, and the promise of bright futures ahead -- but it's really only interested in its female characters, best friends Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt from PARTY OF FIVE) and newly-crowned local beauty pageant queen Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar, from the television series BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER). As is often the case in modern slasher films, Julie and Helen serve both as the chief protagonists which drive the plot forward, and as the requisite lust objects; a profuse number of scenes in I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER find its heroines either in swimsuits or scurrying about in revealing attire, and there's an abundance of tittilative cleavage shots (it's actually bemusing to observe how director Jim Gillespie strategically frames his shots). In fact, given the film's preponderance for ogling its pretty starlets, it's somewhat amusing that Bridgette Wilson, who plays Helen's older sister Elsa, is cast against type as a brainy, no-nonsense department store manager (fully clothed throughout, yet).
After a cozy July 4th evening on the beach, complete with wistful introspection and boozing, Julie and Helen, and their respective beaus Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and Barry Cox (Ryan Phillippe), pile into Barry's car and head home. While driving back, Ray is distracted by Barry's drunken antics and plows into something in the road. They all begin to panic when they realise that they've just run over someone, and after much frantic bickering, Barry convinces the group to dispose of the incriminating evidence by dumping the body into water.
Jump forward to a year later. The formerly tight-knit group has splintered apart after the incident, friendship giving way to guilt, bitterness, and resentment, and their once-promising futures have since dissipated: Helen's acting aspirations in New York flopped, and the beauty queen is reduced to manning the cosmetic counter at her family's department store; Ray toils as a fisherman. seemingly resigned to his lot in life; Barry staggers about on his family's estate in a haze; former scholar Julie crashed and burned in her freshman year at her prestigious Ivy League college. Suitably gaunt and haunted, Julie returns back home to the North Carolina fishing community where a mysterious note awaits, predictably reading "I know what you did last summer!" (as opposed, I guess, to "You may have already won ten million dollars!") In the wake of this ominous message, Julie reunites the reluctant clique in order to determine who's behind it. And the killing begins...
The costumed killer in I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER is decked out in full fisherman's garb, complete with slicker and hat, and wields a razor-sharp hook as his preferred instrument of death. The film makes a point of obscuring the madman's face and coyly drops clues throughout in order to play up the mystery of his alter-ego, but ultimately I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER doesn't really play fair in terms of revealing the identity of the killer. When The Fisherman is finally unmasked, one can sense a collective sentiment of Who Cares? erupting from the audience.
For awhile, it appears as if I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER is going to veer towards a more psychological approach to the plot -- the depiction of the characters' lives irrevocably shattered by their murderous deed is effective, and they all seem to walk around as empty shells of their former selves. Julie, who was the most adamant against dumping the body after the hit-and-run, appears the most tormented and harrowed of the group after the fact, and after one-third of the film, I almost expected a resolution involving a schizophrenic Julie to be behind it all, although shots of a weathered male hand grasping the Fisherman's hook sort of ruined that misguided notion.
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, then, is fairly conventional in terms of the handling its slasher elements, and Mr. Gillespie's feature debut is a competent if uneventful piece of work. Although it can be difficult to generate real tension from such familiar scenarios -- I've honestly always wondered how a maniac, walking as if on a leisurely stroll, can *still* always seem to gain on the frantic, fleeing heroine -- his traditional handling of various sequences in the film doesn't help matters. After a character endures a harrowing ordeal, when the film cross-cuts between the character finally within the reach of safety and the look of relief on the character's face, it's a telltale sign that something unfortunate might befall the character, and any opportunity for a shock or a surprise is consequently destroyed.
The sequence which is the most effective in the film is the critical hit-and-run scene; the mounting tension and escalating sense of panic as the situation begins spiraling out of control is palpable, and as played by the lead actors, wholly credible and convincing. I particularly enjoyed the touch of having the Barry character exclaim "My car!" in the aftermath of the collision, which is both darkly humourous and frankly authentic.
In general, the performances from the ensemble cast of I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER aren't outstanding, but generally appealing and perky. While the leads are fine, the striking performance in the film is that of Anne Heche, who in a small role is disquietly creepy as Melissa Egan, the sister of the dead man fished from the water. After some nondescript performances earlier this year, it's a relief to see her return to form -- I was beginning to worry.
As in SCREAM, Mr. Williamson includes some knowing references in his screenplay for I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (which he incidentally wrote during the SCREAM shoot) which are amusing. There's a cute reference to Jodie Foster's Clarice in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS by the heroines as they nervously approach Melissa Egan's out-of-the-way house. While he's an interesting writer and a particularly good scenarist, I still find much of Mr. Williamson's attempts at snappy teen dialogue to be particularly awkward. Who wasn't wincing during SCREAM when Neve Campbell and Skeet Ulrich were exchanging clumsy dialogue about their is-it-an-R-or-is-it-a-PG-13 relationship? Along the same lines, in I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, "You feel my pain" just doesn't cut it.
I don't think it spoils much to reveal that after the film has culminated, there's a final coda in I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER which is all too generic -- a standard last "Boo!" to leave the audience nervously tittering as they exit the theatres (much along the same vein as Julie Delpy's remarkably hairy chest in the oft-run trailer for the upcoming AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN PARIS). This coda teases at a sequel, which is par for the genre, but in this case, due to the film's surprisingly potent success, a sequel is indeed in the works. As Mr. Williamson himself wrote, "Let's face it -- these days, you gotta have a sequel."
- Alex Fung
email: aw220@freenet.carleton.ca
web : http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/
-- Alex Fung (aw220@freenet.carleton.ca) | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/ "I was reminded for some reason of something Fred Kareman, my acting teacher, had once said: 'Most people in this business should be selling zippers on 7th Avenue.'" - Tom DiCillo
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