I Know What You Did Last Summer [Blu-ray]

It's the fourth of July and four friends Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Junior), Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), and Barry William Cox (Ryan Phillippe) are celebrating their high school graduation and Helen's beauty pageant win. On their way home they hit a man walking down a curved corner in the road. They panic when they learn he's dead and in hopes of saving their futures, decide to dump the body into the ocean. The four friends make a pact to keep it a secret. It was an accident, but it was one they cannot forget.

Their friendships are ruined and they all leave for college and don't talk to each other; they are all depressed and upset. When Julie returns home for summer vacation there is a letter waiting for her. It reads, "I Know What You Did Last Summer". Frightend, Julie goes to find her old friends for help. Was someone else there that night? They think it's only a prank until a man in a slicker with a hook begins to stalk the four friends and torment them in the most vile and disgusting ways imaginable (dead bodies in their trunks, cutting off their hair in sleep, trying to run them over, etc.

Realizing that if they don't find out who's doing this and get rid of him fast, they'll be dead, they search for answers, all the while receiving even more terrifying threats. It sure is a thrilling ride and there are a remarkable number of points in this movie when you jump in fright and scream!

One reason this movie is terrifying is because the situation the characters are in could happen to anybody. Hitting someone with a car could happen to anybody, and what happens after the crash is also believable. The acting by Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ryan Phillippe are phenomenal coming from such young actors. These two are now big stars, but they weren't when they did "I Know What You Did Last Summer" so it's interesting to see how they were before they were famous. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Junior aren't quite as convincing as Hewitt and Phillippe, but they are still enjoyable.

The script for "I Know What You Did Last Summer" was adapted from Lois Duncan's best-selling novel by Kevin Williamson, the writer of "Scream". Yes, the script is in good hands! Williamson's script is a very visual one filled with twists, witty dialogue, and plenty of scares.

The DVD for "I Know What You Did" last summer values quality over quantity and provides only a theatrical trailer and commentary. The trailer is terrifying, very enticing and fun to watch. The commentary by director Jim Gillespie is very informative and insightful for fans of the film. It focuses mainly of production design, but has some interesting blurbs about music, casting, and script changes. Gillespie has a wonderful Scottish accent, which makes the commentary even more delightful to listen to.


QUITE BORING   July 30, 2000
The No Evil Killer (Everywhere, Anywhere, Nowhere)
9 out of 11 found this review helpful

This was the first true product off the conveyor belt of Hollywood teen-slasher flicks after the highly over-exposed SCREAM. Teen-slashers were suddenly back in fashion. And Hollywood loves teen-slashers. These movies are basically the same tripe done over and over, made for very little, with no aces up the sleeve and...actors in their 20s playing teenagers. Something that bothers me very much. You've probably noticed this by looking at my other reviews.

IKWYDLS is no exception. Every scene has been done before and the film has little originality. Some of the killings are totally pointless and are only there to fill up the running time and give us something to look at while the characters argue over "who is the killer". A standard argument in these kind of movies.

It's a very boring film. It takes ages to get started and when it finally does get going it's more annoying than it is exciting. Bo-oring.

The DVD is in Dolby 5.1 and is anamorphically enhanced at 2.35:1.


Entertaining thriller from the writer that penned SCREAM   April 28, 2006
Darren Harrison (Washington D.C.)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Shortly after the release of the movie SCREAM with its cast of hot young stars came this vehicle with the same screenwriter (Kevin Williamson) that also combined a cast of young up and coming attractive leads in a vibrant concoction of suspense and thrills.
Whereas SCREAM starred "Party of Five" actress Neve Campbell, this production was led by another female alum from that television hit, the gorgeous Jennifer Love Hewitt. Hewitt is joined by Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr., two actors who (strangely enough) seem to have both been out-shined in their real lives by their two wives Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Michelle Gellar respectively.
Rounding out the cast of the leads is none other than Gellar, who plays Phillippe's girlfriend Helen.
The story, which is based on a novel by Lois Duncan, revolves around the events one night as a group of four friends prepare to say goodbye to their high school lives and go their separate ways. Driving along the coastal highway in the middle of the night they hit a man and freaking out because of his alcohol consumption, the owner of the car (who wasn't actually driving it) persuades his companions to dump the body.
Fast forward a year and Julie (Hewitt) returns from her first year of college still haunted by the events of the previous summer. This isn't helped when she receives a note with the chilling message "I Know What You Did Last Summer."
It seems someone is out for revenge and stalking the four former friends wearing a fisherman's slicker with an ice hook as his preferred weapon. It's up to the four to figure out who is behind the messages, and fast because he seems intent killing all of them.
Sticking clearly to the slasher movie formula it's easy to dismiss this movie, but it's actually much more intelligent than a casual retread of familiar ground. There are some really chilling sequences here and moments of real white-knuckle tension, all laced with some truly witty dialogue.
By today's standards the DVD is rather short on special features, but given that the DVD was released in 2000 this actually stacks up quite well with its contemporaries. What we do get is the theatrical trailer and a scene specific commentary by director Jim Gillespie, which is nice and light touching on a number of elements from casting and music to production design.
This movie was successful enough to warrant a sequel and the two movies are available in one deluxe pack for less than purchasing the two individually But, unfortunately the follow-up was not of the same quality and even the presence of the appealing Hewitt cannot save the production. Still this movie is a worthwhile purchase for those who enjoyed SCREAM.
Recommended.


Not As Good As Scream, But Decent   November 20, 2004
C. DiVincenzo (www.alexislegend.com)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

[3.5 Stars If Possible]

A year after writing Scream, Kevin Williamson is back with a screenplay interpretation of the Lois Duncan novel 'I Know What You Did Last Summer.' It's kind of ironic because IKWYDLS contains a lot of the cliches that Scream parodies. Out of the two, I prefer Scream.

The movie has many plot holes, but makes up for it with a good core cast of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze, Jr. (playing Julie James, Helen Shivers, Barry William Cox, and Ray Bronson, respectively). Anything with JLH and SMG is just an erection waiting to happen. The characters may be unoriginal, but at least they are developed.

The plot of the movie is pretty simple. Four teens accidentally hit a man with their car on the night of July 4th. They dump him into the ocean as to not get caught, even though it was an accident. They vow to take it to their graves and never mention it again. They live their lives as normal as possible. That is, until one year later when Julie receives a letter that says "I know what you did last summer."

The original four get back together and all recieve indicators that someone knows what they did. They try to find out who knows and, as they do, a body count begins. This continues until a confrentation with the murderous madman at the climax of the movie. The ending sets up for a sequel, which would end up coming out a year later in 1998.

Plot twists are thrown in and there is a sense of mystery pertaining to the killer's identity. This adds to the entertainment of the movie. While not as gorey or violent as Scream, it still has some good kills. The fisherman's weapon of choice, afterall, is a fishhook.

The DVD is quite a letdown. Scream has a lot of cool bonus features, so I thought this might have some good things (not just because of the fact that they had the same writer, but moreso because they were the two biggest horror movies at the time). All it has is a theatrical trailer and production notes, which was disappointing.

IKWYDLS is just another movie trying to make some money off of the teen horror phenomenon in the 90's started by Scream, but falls short. It's not a bad movie, but it's not a great movie either. It's just.. mediocre.


one of my favorites   January 19, 2005
Lauren Nicole (NYC)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

I Know What You Did Last Summer is a (loose) adaptation of the childrens book, by Lois Duncan. It focuses primarily on the four main characters... intelligent, level headed, heroin Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), her well intentioned, typical nice guy boyfriend Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr), her best friend the rich and popular beauty queen Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), and Helens rich, macho, handsome football star boyfriend Barry Cox (Ryan Phillippe) The four teens have just graduated high school and are prepared to spend a summer of "immature adolescent decadance" as said by Barry. Things didnt go as planned
On July 4th Helen appeats in the Miss Croaker beauty contest and is crowned queen, much to the excitement of her friends and especially Barry. The four kids decide to celebrate by heading down to a secluded beach for a night of scary stories, drinking and sex, your typical teenage summer night. In what is to be their last decent decision of the movie, they agree Ray is to drive drunken Barrys BMW home that night. Barry stands up through the sunroof, spills alcohol and distracts Ray long enough to hit a crossing man head on. At first they disagree on what to do, call the police, or dump the body. Barry argues that if they come clean theyre dreams will be ruined. His as a football star, Helens as a famous actress, Rays as a writer, and Julie's as a lawyer. Much to Julie's dismay, they agree to dispose of the body in the ocean. They vow never to speak of the incident again.
One year later everythings changed. Julie comes home for the summer (after practically failing out of college in Boston) and recieves an anonymous note from someone claiming they know what happened the previous summer. Panicked, Julie turns to her former best friend Helen for help. Helen immediately wonders how now ex boyfriend Barry will react. Barry is skeptical, sure its someone messing around. After hes nearly run down with his own car by a man in an impossibly creepy fishing slicker, his attitude changes. The estranged foursome is forced to come back together to fight for their lives. From then on, the movie is a series of scares and edge of your seat suspense. Especially the famous Helen chase.
All and all great movie with respectable acting. Jennifer Love Hewitt was actually tolerarble in a sense other than being easy on the eyes. Freddie Prinze was sincere and adorable. However the always beautiful Sarah and the absolutely hunky Ryan stole the show. Both were believable and managed to make their stereotypicaLly vapid characters dimmensional. It hit me how well the acting was done when Helen watched Barry get hooked and I actually cared, felt bad for them. Rent this one for fun, but not in search of meaningful messages. Dont watch it alone ;)