Welcome to Second Chances, a recurring feature which gives widely underloved and notoriously maligned genre works another opportunity to impress and redeem themselves with a reviewer who initially found them severely lacking. Maybe these follow-up looks will result in a kinder re-evaluation…or maybe not. Will dull misfires shine brighter after years of distance and nostalgia? Will initially infuriating films somehow reveal their hidden genius?
This past October, the first major post-Scream horror/thriller turned 21. That’s right – the slick, snarky slasher I Know What You Did Last Summer (penned by Scream writer Kevin Williamson) is now of legal drinking age. And folks, let me tell you, the realization that a movie I loved as a teen is now over two decades old is enough to drive a middle-aged fella like me to hit the sauce as heavily as the film’s protagonists in its opening act.
Loosely based on young adult author Lois Duncan’s novel of the same name, I Know followed the story of four friends who covered up a drunken automobile accident that left a man seemingly dead, only to be stalked and terrorized by a shadowy, hook-wielding fisherman in their coastal hometown the following summer. The quartet is threatened, hunted, and eventually whittled down to two survivors (Julie James and Ray Bronson, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr.), before the killer is revealed to be Ben Willis (Muse Watson), the man they’d hit the year before just after he’d committed an unrelated murder. Willis is eventually thwarted by the two, his hand lopped off in the process, before he goes into the ocean – his vanishing setting up the inevitability of his eventual return.
And return he would. Given I Know’s reigning three weeks at the top of the box office in the fall of 1997, a sequel was all but assured. Titled I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (a name which doesn’t make much sense, if one looks too closely at it), the follow-up would concern the further adventures of Julie and Ray as they continue to dodge the vengeful Fisherman’s wrath – this time, with brand new friends in tow to act as the requisite chum-to-be. Sadly, neither Williamson nor I Know director Jim Gillespie would return for this follow up installment, passing their batons to new screenwriter Trey Callaway and incoming helmer Danny (Judge Dredd) Cannon. Released in November of 1998, just a little over a year after the original film hit theatres, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer landed amidst high expectations…for this fan, anyway.
…oops.
My initial thoughts as I walked out of the crowded movie theatre after having just seen the sequel I’d so wanted to love was…dammit. After a successful first installment which melded Williamson’s clever, snappy dialogue and Gillespie’s confident, playful direction with standard 80s horror movie tropes and a wicked morality tale, this sequel had merely hit all the standard beats of the usual slasher flicks that Scream so successfully sent up, devoid of any wit or class (aside from some beautiful photography and an impressive supporting cast). Dull. Laughable. Forgettable. Utterly disappointing. While I would go on to revisit the first film numerous times throughout the years, the sequel would go mostly avoided by me.
Until now, for the purposes of this Second Chances piece. Does I Still Know… still prove to be a pretty, empty-headed slasher clone, or have the years been kind enough to reveal the film as an underloved gem? Read on…
For those who haven’t seen the film in a while (or at all), a brief recap: I Still Know… finds Julie and Ray one year on from the events of the previous film – that’s two summers removed from the original incident that the Fisherman’s still going on about (lookin’ at you here, movie title). The two are at odds, divided by their long distance relationship and Julie’s reluctance to return to the small town Ray still calls home. When Julie’s friend Karla (Pop/R&B star Brandy) wins a trip to the Bahamas, the two set off for an unexpected vacation to celebrate the upcoming Fourth of July, with Karla’s boyfriend Tyrell (Mekhi Phifer) and Julie’s friendzoned pal Will Benson (Matthew Settle) in tow. The quartet arrive at their island hotel only to discover that their vacation couldn’t have come at a worse time, as the resort is shutting down due to the impending hurricane season. This means limited staff, no fellow vacationers, and no way on or off the island for the holiday weekend, making this spot the perfect setting for some cat-and-mouse terror and blood-shedding mayhem. Meanwhile, Ray discovers that Julie’s vacation was a setup from the start, and begins a long, difficult trek to the Bahamas to save the woman he loves.
To be fair, I Still Know… is nowhere NEAR as bad a film as your writer had remembered. The film is competently made, gorgeously shot, and has some fun setpieces sprinkled in throughout its running time. In addition, the cast is all quite good, with Hewitt, Prinze, Brandy, Pfifer, and Settle doing admirable work with their often underwritten roles. The supporting cast is even better, boasting such folks as Re-Animator’s Jeffrey Combs, Jennifer Esposito, Bill Cobbs, and a shockingly young John Hawkes. A pre-stardom Jack Black even appears, playing a dreadlocked weed-slinger named Titus. I’m not joking. Look at him. Look at that dopey bastard.
Anyway! So yeah, I Still Know… isn’t quite the trainwreck I’d remembered, no. But yikes, it’s still far from good. The characters are little more than cardboard cutouts, existing only to be chased and/or killed, while the story is a paint-by-numbers slashathon that’s bereft of any meaning beyond its mechanics. In addition, as beautifully filmed as it is, I Still Know… is sorely lacking any of the directorial flair that Gillespie brought to the prior film. That director knew how to create genuine tension and impressively choreographed shots to execute his scary sequences. Here, there is practically no tension or crackerjack camerawork, only a parade of telegraphed jumps and frightless murders that neither jolt nor awe. Cannon is a good director, and has a number of solid television credits to his name, but this flick must surely be the worst thing on his filmography.
And then…then there’s that damned ending. While the film managed to keep the Fisherman shrouded in shadows throughout its first half, raising the question as to whether or not it was actually Ben Willis in the slicker once again, the second half gives us several decent shots of his face to assure us that yes, it is in fact the original killer that’s stalking and slashing yet again (with no big reveal given to him). And yet, the film still tries to squeeze in a “gotcha!” moment by shoehorning in a laughable twist – Julie’s friend Will Benson is Ben Willis’ son, aiding his murderous pop in his quest for vengeance.
That’s right – Will Benson is…Ben’s…son. Benson = Ben’s son. The moment where the heretofore mild-mannered Will goes all standard issue “slasher reveal wild-eyed crazy man” and proudly explains to Julie what his final name means is absolutely hilarious – all the more so when one realizes that his final name had never been uttered up until this point of the film. Boo, hiss, cheating storytellers.
Ultimately, I Still Know that I Still Know… isn’t a very good film, or even an acceptable slasher sequel to while away a rainy day. While it may not be the infuriating follow-up I’d remembered disappointing me in my youth, it’s far from worthy of a Second Chance from you, dear readers. That said? It’s somehow leagues better than the eventual straight-to-video third film I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, so make certain to avoid THAT one like it’s the business end of Ben Willis’ hook, would you?
