“I Know What You Did Last Summer” was based on a novel by Lois Duncan in 1973. “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer”—released in 1998—was not. It was based solely on Writer Trey Callaway’s imagination. And given what he had to go on, it could have been a lot worse. It’s a sequel that shouldn’t have happened (Ben Willis, played by Muse Watson was killed in the original film); but we were deep into “Scream” fever by this point and a bevy of hip, sexy slasher films. Throw a bunch of good looking teens with a loose horror premise, and push play. So many came out during the late ‘90s to early ‘00s it’s hard to count. Still, bringing back Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr.—and adding some hot ‘90s stars—“I Still Know” is at least adequate entertainment if you don’t look too deep.
Of course, “I Still Know” is predictable as ever. It follows Julie (Love Hewitt) who is now at college. And seeing as the last movie ended with the fisherman jumping out of a mirror at her (real? who knows), she never feels safe. We, the audience, are just waiting for something to happen. Callaway and Director Danny Cannon add some layering with her boyfriend, Ray (Prinze Jr.). She wants to commit to Ray, but can’t return to Southport (he’s a fisherman), and the script has them crossing their signals on purpose to build tension and drama. A new friend and possible love interest, Will (Matthew Settle) adds another layer. Buffering this is her friend, Karla, played lovingly by singer Brandy Norwood) and her boyfriend Tyrell (Mekhi Phifer).
A Standard Predictable Thriller
The film follows a familiar arc. Julie can’t get over the events of last summer (who could?), and remains locked in a trauma spiral. The script attempts to break her out of this. In short time, Karla picks up the phone and is a lucky winner of a contest to send a group of four to the Bahamas for 4th of July weekend. Meanwhile Ray is attacked, one of his co-workers is killed, and a shape in a slicker with an all-too-familiar hooked hand lurks through the night.
The film has some eerie set pieces going for it, namely the Bahamian getaway that becomes desolate and isolate. 4th of July weekend is the start of their storm season (although the Bahamas U.S. Embassy website lists June 1st as the date), and the film blankets the paradise in torrents of rain and clouds. There are a number of other players added to the mix, such as a creepy desk clerk (Jeffery Combs), a bartender (Jennifer Esposito), an effervescent dock hand (Benjamin Brown), and a weird dude into voodoo (Bill Cobbs)—the latter of which makes little sense at all. They’re all included for little more than cannon fodder, but that’s par for the course in a film like this.
Additionally, I liked what Cannon did with Love Hewitt’s character this time around. She has little in the way of character development, but the way she’s the first one to witness dead bodies popping up—but no one else sees them—sets up actual reasons to disbelieve her. Tyrell is the worst; he basically thinks she’s a nutcase and just wants to make love to his girlfriend—but isn’t that what all college kids want in movies like this? Meanwhile Will tries the waiting game, hoping Julie will leave Ray for him, and the movie actually makes you start to like his character until later on when you don’t.
Some Plot Elements Better Left Out
Aside from this, much of the rest of the movie is cliches. There’s doors that shut inextricably, fisherman silhouettes that pass by unawares, and mishap after mishap. The last boat to the mainland has left, the radio is broken (of course), and meanwhile staff start disappearing, murdered by the fisherman. It’s all done to torment Julie, no doubt… and the whole time I had to ask myself why he wasn’t after Ray. Julie was, after all, the one who most fought dumping Ben Willis in the river after the hit-and-run in the last film, and Ray lives in Southport, where Willis was from.
The latter half of the movie also adds an utterly cringey plot device as Estes shows them a number of graves, indicating that Willis was a gardener or something on the island before ‘disappearing’ after he killed his wife for infidelity. We learn he not only had a daughter but has a son, and most people by this point will have figured out the twist. And if you hadn’t it’s really not worth the effort. I found it contrived and not really believable. This side plot—along with the whole Estes angle—would have been better off cut from the script. Additionally, Muse Watson, who was wholly creepy and effective in Part 1 a year ago barely appears in this film; and when he does, he’s basically phoning it in.
The Last Era of Slashers?
But all-in-all, “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer” is the sequel we should have expected. It has elements that worked from the first one still intact, and the storm-ridden island in the Bahamas is a great setting. The kills aren’t that inventive (mostly still giant fish hooks here) but the suspense—and some of the kills—are unsettling and effective.
In a way, this era of film (“Urban Legend,” “Final Destination,” etc.) were the last of the true slashers before horror cinema turned into little more than torture films and ghostly hauntings. Brandy is a joy to watch (the film’s best actor in my opinion), the kills are gory, and it ends the way it should (almost). It’s a passable thriller. And the legion of critics lamenting its ‘predictability’ miss the point; there’s no other point to a film like this. Hip stars, gory effects, and slasher deaths were the MO for a while. And on some level—if we’re being honest—we can’t say we didn’t enjoy it.
