A Film Review : "I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)"

I Know What You Did Last Summer is a 1997 film directed by Jim Gillespie and stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillippe

One of the rules I live by is that no good can come of comparing your movie to Scream. However, IKWYDLS's case is different, as that is exactly what the producers wanted you to do. IKWYDLS was made specifically to cash in on Scream's success. Why do I tell you this? Because this information is crucial in regards to how much I mention Scream in this review. I'll start with what I liked about it. The acting and directing is something this movie excels at, the directing in particular. Jim Gillespie, despite the producers wanting this movie to be a straight Scream rip off, directs this movie to have much more of a creepy and ominous atmosphere compared to Scream's more self-aware style. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ryan Phillippe give each performance their all. Hewitt portrays Julie's depression very well, Phillippe gives Barry's assholery, arrogance, and aggression a face beyond the character. However, that's where much of my praise pretty much stops. I'll start with the elephant in the room, the ending. Kevin Williamson, the writer of this movie wrote it many years before Scream, and it shows. My impression of Williamson's script is that at the time he wrote it, he was a competent, but still an immature writer, so the twist, I believe, is born out of Williamson wanting to cram everything he ever wanted to make a movie about into this movie, which, along with some of the other writing, muddles down what could've been on par with Scream. And it's not just the twist that proves this. The actors deserve much more credit then they are given because some of this dialogue is very hard to pull off naturally, and for the most part, they do it. There's a lot of exposition and a lot of disregarding the "Show don't tell" rule of storytelling. Hell, the producers wanting to copy scream didn't even pay off, because the self-aware, unique type of horror that Scream created is only present in one scene, where the horror references feel completely out of place and awkward. The characters of Ray & Missy feel as though Freddie Prinze and Anne Heche had completely different ideas for the characters than Williamson, because they both act like red herrings, despite the script not even hinting at that. And finally, the character's writing is a big letdown for me. Although Julie is dealing with depression from "killing" Ben Willis, all of the other characters are going on with their lives more sad that their dreams of life after highschool didn't come true after only one year than they are about supposedly killing a man who for all they know could've been a great human being, which is a huge disappointment, as it would've been very interesting to see how killing a person would affect all four of them. Ultimately, The Script for IKWYDLS feels like Kevin Williamson's last stop on his way to the brilliance that led to Scream, so at least I can thank this movie for that.

3/5 Stars.