''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' is a 1997 American
slasher film
A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a ...
directed by
Jim Gillespie, written by
Kevin Williamson, and starring
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Love Hewitt (born February 21, 1979) is an American actress and singer. Hewitt began her career as a child actress and singer, appearing in national television commercials before joining the cast of the Disney Channel series '' Kids ...
,
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. After being spotted at the age of four in New York City, she made her screen acting debut in the television film ''An Invasion of Privacy'' (1983). A leading role on the te ...
,
Ryan Phillippe
Matthew Ryan Phillippe (; born September 10, 1974) is an American actor. After appearing as Billy Douglas on the soap opera '' One Life to Live'', he came to fame in the late 1990s with starring roles in films including '' I Know What You Did L ...
and
Freddie Prinze Jr. It is loosely based on
the 1973 novel of the same name by
Lois Duncan and is the first installment in the
''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' franchise. The film centers on four young friends who are stalked by a hook-wielding killer one year after covering up a car accident in which they supposedly killed a man. The film also draws inspiration from the
urban legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
known as "
The Hook" and the 1980s slasher films ''
Prom Night'' (1980) and ''
The House on Sorority Row'' (1982).
Prior to
''Scream'' Williamson was approached to adapt Duncan's source novel by producer
Erik Feig. Where Williamson's screenplay for ''Scream'' contained prominent elements of
satire
Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
and self-referentiality, his adaptation of ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' reworked the novel's central plot to resemble a straightforward 1980s-era slasher film. After the success of ''Scream'', the film was rushed into production.
''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' was released theatrically on October 17, 1997. It received mixed reviews from critics, but was commercially successful, grossing $125 million worldwide on a budget of $17 million, and remaining number 1 at the U.S.
box office
A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is f ...
for three consecutive weeks. It was also nominated for and won multiple awards.
The film was followed by two sequels, ''
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer'' (1998) and ''
I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer'' (2006). ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' has also been parodied and referenced in popular culture, and credited alongside ''Scream'' with revitalizing the
slasher genre in the 1990s.
Plot
On
July 4, 1996, in
Southport, North Carolina
Southport is a city in Brunswick County, North Carolina, United States, near the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Its population was 3,828 as of the 2018 census. The mayor is Joseph P. Hatem.
Southport is the location of the North Carolina Fourth ...
, Julie James and her friends Ray Bronson,
Helen Shivers, and Barry Cox drive to the beach. While driving along a coastal byway, they accidentally hit a pedestrian. Julie's friend Max Neurick passes by them on the road. Julie reassures Max of their well-being, and he leaves. The group decides to dump the body in the water, but the pedestrian wakes up and attacks Helen. She struggles and he falls into the water. The group flees the docks and swears to never discuss what happened.
A year later in 1997, Julie returns home from college for the summer. The friends have gone their separate ways. Julie receives a letter with no return address, stating, "I know what you did last summer!" Julie tracks down Helen, and they take the note to Barry, who suspects Max. They confront Max on the docks, and Barry threatens him with a hook. Julie meets Ray, who now works as a fisherman. Later, Max is killed by a figure in a
rain slicker wielding a hook. Later that night, Barry discovers a picture of his car in his gym locker with the words "I KNOW" written on the back of it. He is then ambushed by the same assailant stealing and driving his car.
Julie researches newspaper articles, believing that the man they ran over was a local named David Egan. Helen and Julie meet with David's sister Missy at her home. Missy explains that their family was devastated by David's death and that a friend of his named Billy Blue visited her to pay his respects. That night, the killer sneaks into Helen's house, cuts off her hair while she sleeps and writes "SOON" in lipstick on her mirror.
The following morning, Julie finds Max's corpse wearing Barry's stolen jacket and covered in
crabs in the trunk of her car. When she calls the others, the body and the crabs are missing. Julie, Helen and Barry confront Ray about the recent events. The latter claims to also have received a threatening letter. Julie goes back to visit Missy, while Barry and Helen participate in the
4th of July parade. Missy reveals David allegedly committed suicide out of guilt for the death of his girlfriend, Susie Willis, in a car accident and shows David's suicide note to Julie. As the writing matches that of the note she received, Julie realizes it was not a suicide note, but a death threat.
At the Croaker Beauty Pageant, Helen witnesses Barry being murdered on the balcony. She rushes upstairs with a police officer, but finds no sign of the killer or Barry. The police officer is escorting Helen home when the killer lures him into an alley and murders him. Helen runs to her family's store, where her sister Elsa is closing for the night. The killer enters the store and murders Elsa. Helen is chased upstairs and escapes through a window, falling to an alleyway. She runs toward the street, but the killer stops her and slashes her to death, her screams unheard by the ongoing parade.
Julie finds an article mentioning Susie's father, Ben Willis, and realizes Ben was the man that they ran over, moments after he killed David to avenge his daughter. She goes to the docks to tell Ray, but notices Ray's boat is called ''Billy Blue'' and flees from him. A fisherman appears and knocks Ray unconscious, inviting Julie to hide on his boat. On the boat, she finds photos and articles about her and her friends, and pictures of Susie. The boat leaves the docks, and the fisherman is revealed to be Ben Willis. He chases Julie below deck, where she uncovers the bodies of his victims, including Helen, and Barry, in the boat's icebox. Ray regains consciousness and steals a motorboat to rescue Julie. He ultimately uses the
rigging
Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support a sailing ship or sail boat's masts—''standing rigging'', including shrouds and stays—and which adjust the position of the vessel's sails and spars to which they ar ...
to sever Ben's hand and send him overboard. When Julie and Ray are questioned by the police, they deny knowing why Ben attempted to kill them, but are relieved not to have actually killed anyone, and reconcile.
A year later in 1998, Julie is in college in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...
. As she enters the shower, she notices the words "I still know" written in the steam on the shower door. Moments later, a dark figure crashes through it as Julie screams.
Cast
*
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Love Hewitt (born February 21, 1979) is an American actress and singer. Hewitt began her career as a child actress and singer, appearing in national television commercials before joining the cast of the Disney Channel series '' Kids ...
as Julie James
*
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. After being spotted at the age of four in New York City, she made her screen acting debut in the television film ''An Invasion of Privacy'' (1983). A leading role on the te ...
as
Helen Shivers
*
Ryan Phillippe
Matthew Ryan Phillippe (; born September 10, 1974) is an American actor. After appearing as Billy Douglas on the soap opera '' One Life to Live'', he came to fame in the late 1990s with starring roles in films including '' I Know What You Did L ...
as Barry Cox
*
Freddie Prinze Jr. as Ray Bronson
*
Bridgette Wilson as Elsa Shivers
*
Anne Heche as Melissa "Missy" Egan
*
Muse Watson as Ben Willis / The Fisherman
*
Johnny Galecki as Max Neurick
*
Stuart Greer as Officer
Production
Development and writing
''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' was a screenplay penned by Kevin Williamson several years beforehand, which was then rushed into production by Columbia Pictures upon the success of the Williamson-written ''Scream'' (1996). It was based on
the 1973 novel of the same name by Lois Duncan, a youth-oriented suspense novel about four young people who are involved in a
hit-and-run accident involving a young boy.
[ Producer Erik Feig pitched the idea of a screen adaptation to ]Mandalay Entertainment
Mandalay Entertainment Group is an American entertainment company founded in 1995 by Peter Guber, with interests in motion pictures, animated films, television, sports entertainment and new media. The name after '' Mandalay'' the second-largest ...
, and subsequently appointed Williamson to retool the core elements of Duncan's novel, rendering a screenplay more akin to a 1980s slasher film Inspired by his father, who had been a commercial fisherman, Williamson changed the setting of the novel to a small fishing village, and made the villain a hook-wielding fisherman.
The killer's arming of himself with a hook is a reference to the urban legend "The Hook", which the four main characters recount at the beginning of the film around a campfire.[ According to Williamson, he wrote the scene as a way of indicating what was to come: "Basically what I was doing was I was setting the framework to say, 'All right, audience: That's that legend. Now here's a new one.'"][ Unlike Williamson's screenplay for the film's contemporary, ''Scream'', which incorporated satire of the slasher film, ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' was written more as a straightforward slasher film.][ Gillespie commented in 2008: "The joy of this film for me as a filmmaker was in taking heelements that we've seen before, and saying to the audience: 'Here's something you've seen before'—knowing that they're saying 'We've seen this before'—and still getting them to jump."][ Gillespie also claimed that he felt Williamson's screenplay did not resemble a "slasher horror movie" and that he saw it rather as simply "a really good story" with a ]morality
Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...
tale embedded within it.[
]
Pre-production
According to producer Stokely Chaffin, the producers sought out actors who were "beautiful, but likable".[ Director Gillespie recalled that, though he had been unfamiliar with the screenplay's source material, that "roughly 60 to 65%" of the young women auditioning had read the novel as children. Jennifer Love Hewitt, who at the time was mainly known for her role on the television series '' Party of Five'', was cast in the lead of Julie James based on her "ability to project vulnerability", which the producers, director Gillespie and writer Williamson unanimously agreed upon.][ Initially, Hewitt was considered for the role of Helen.][ Melissa Joan Hart was offered a role, but she turned it down, because she felt that the film was a rip-off of ''Scream''. For the role of Barry, the crew had envisioned an actor with a " ]quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
" appearance, as the character had been written as an intimidating figure.[ Ryan Phillippe was ultimately cast in the part based on his audition, despite the fact that he was not as physically tall as the script had called for.][ Director Gillespie chose Freddie Prinze Jr. for the role of Ray, because he felt Prinze himself had an "everyman" quality much like the character.][
Sarah Michelle Gellar was the last of the lead performers to be cast in the role of Helen.][ Like Hewitt, Gellar was also known to American audiences at the time for her roles in television, primarily as the titular ]Buffy Summers
Buffy Anne Summers is the title character of the ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' before going on to appear in The WB/UPN 1997–2003 Buffy ...
on '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer''.[ Gillespie commented on casting Gellar: "I wanted an actress that had a warmth to her, but could still come off as being a bitch."][ For the supporting role of Missy, Gillespie sought an actress with significant screen presence, as the character, despite appearing in only two scenes, is central to several major plot points.][ Anne Heche was cast in the role, which she recalled as being two days' worth of work that required her to "be scary".][
]
Filming
Scottish director Jim Gillespie was hired to direct the film after being suggested by writer Williamson. Star Hewitt would later state in 2008 that Gillespie was to date her "favorite director he'sever worked with." Principal photography began on March 31, 1997 and took place over a period of ten weeks[ Gillespie & Mirkovich 1998 (0:08:12)] throughout the late spring-early summer of 1997. Approximately seven weeks of the ten-week shoot took place at night, which Gillespie says was difficult for the cast and crew, and also created commotion in primary small-town locations in which they shot. Gillespie devised a color scheme with cinematographer Denis Crossan which was marked by heavy blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
s throughout and a notable lack of bright colors.
For the beginning of the film, coastal areas of Sonoma County, California
Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...
stood in for North Carolina, where the film is set. The opening shots of the sun setting on a rugged coast were filmed at Kolmer Gulch, just north of the town of Jenner, on Highway 1
The following highways are numbered 1.
For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads.
For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads.
For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads.
For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads.
For roads numbered ...
. The car crash scene was also filmed on Highway 1 in the same area. The scene in which the four friends are seated around a campfire on the beach next to a wrecked boat was inspired by a painting Gillespie had seen in a reference book; to achieve the image, the art department purchased an old boat in Bodega Bay
Bodega Bay ( es, Bahía Bodega) is a shallow, rocky inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of northern California in the United States. It is approximately across and is located approximately northwest of San Francisco and west of Santa ...
, cut it in half and placed it at the beach location.
The remaining scenes were filmed primarily around the town of Southport, North Carolina.[ Specific sites included the Amuzu Theater, where the beauty pageant is held, the Old Yacht Basin and Southport Fish Company. Julie's house is on Short Street just north of Southport Marina. The daytime sequences shot on the marina show multiple vessels traversing the water; though real vessels, the boat traffic was orchestrated by a marine traffic coordinator to make the waterway appear lively. The Shivers Department Store setting in the film was discovered on location in Southport by director Gillespie, who was so impressed by the location that he reworked elements of the script in order to incorporate it into the film; it eventually became the primary setting for Helen's extended chase sequence with the killer.][ The exterior sequences of Julie's Boston college campus were in fact shot at Duke University, while the hospital sequence was filmed at Southport's Dosher Memorial Hospital in an unused wing of the hospital.
The final sequence on the boat was shot on an actual water-bound vessel on the ]Cape Fear River
The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River (North Ca ...
, which proved difficult for the actors and crew.[ According to Gillespie, the filmmakers nearly lost the boat while attempting to dock it due to the volatile waters, after which they were forced to leave and shoot other footage until the following day.][
]
Post-production
Gillespie chose to film virtually no onscreen blood as he did not want the film to be overly gratuitous in terms of violence.[ The scene in which Elsa has her throat slashed while standing against a glass door had originally been shot from behind without any blood appearing on the glass. However, producer Feig worried that the scene appeared "medically impossible" after which Gillespie re-shot it (post-principal photography) with a visual effect of blood spattering across the glass.][ Upon test screenings of the film, Gillespie and the producers decided that a death sequence needed to occur earlier in the film to establish a sense of legitimate danger for the main characters.][ The scene in which Max is murdered in the crab factory was subsequently filmed and implemented into the final cut to achieve this (in the original script, his character was not killed).][
The original ending of the film featured a sequence in which Julie receives an ]email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...
reading: "I Still Know". This ending was scrapped for the more dramatic ending featured in the final cut of the film, in which Julie finds the same message scrawled on a shower stall just before the killer comes crashing through the glass. This footage was also shot after principal photography, on a soundstage next-door to where Hewitt was filming ''Party of Five''.
Music
The film produced two soundtracks. One of them featured the score composed by John Debney
John Cardon Debney (born August 18, 1956) is an American composer and conductor of film, television, and video game scores. His work encompasses a variety of mediums and genres including comedy, horror, thriller, and action-adventure. He is a ...
, while the other contained various rock songs found in the film.
Additional songs featured in the film (but not on a soundtrack):
* "Forgotten Too" by Ugly Beauty
* "Wake Up Call" by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (informally referred to as The Bosstones and often stylized as The Mighty Mighty BossToneS) were an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. From the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky ...
* " Where Did You Sleep Last Night" by Lead Belly
Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, Virtuoso, virtuosity on the twelve-string guita ...
* "You're a Grand Old Flag" by George M. Cohan
* "Beautiful Girl" by Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
* "Free" by Ultra Naté
Release
Marketing
In anticipation of the film's release, distributor Columbia Pictures began a summer marketing campaign that presented the film as being "From the creator of ''Scream''." Miramax Films subsequently filed a lawsuit against Columbia, arguing the claim was inaccurate as the director of ''Scream'' was Wes Craven
Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and editor. Craven has commonly been recognized as one of the greatest masters of the horror genre due to the cultural imp ...
, not Williamson. The week following the film's theatrical release, a federal judge awarded Miramax an injunction requiring that Columbia remove the claim from their advertising campaign. Williamson had requested its removal prior after seeing it on a theater poster.
Miramax won a subsequent lawsuit against Columbia during a March 1998 hearing. In a press release, executive Bob Weinstein noted plans to "vigorously pursue" damage claims against Columbia Pictures for their use of the claim.[
]
Home media
The film was released on DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Video in the US on June 16, 1998. Special features included a theatrical trailer and the filmmaker's commentary.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of s ...
for the first time on July 22, 2008, with additional special features including the director's short film, ''Joyride''. On 30 September 2014, Mill Creek Entertainment re-released the film on Blu-ray as a budget
A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environme ...
disc, featuring the film alone with no bonus materials.
Reception
Box office
''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' opened theatrically in North America on October 17, 1997.[
]
Weekend
an
data The film had been made on a $17 million budget, yet already in its opening weekend it grossed $15,818,645 in 2,524 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking number one; it remained in the number one position for an additional two weekends.[ By the end of its theatrical run in December 1997, it had grossed $72,586,134 in the U.S. and Canada and $53 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $126 million.][
According to data compiled by Box Office Mojo, ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' is the seventh highest-grossing slasher film as of 2021.][
In retrospect, Jim Gillespie said: “It was meant to be kind of a stand-alone revisit of those classic '80s horror films. It worked! The movie was number one three weeks in a row. It just clicked with the audience. The title clicked and everything just seemed to work. Third week was Halloween weekend and it was number one in its third week. I couldn't believe it stuck there for three weeks.“
]
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 44% based on 73 reviews, with an average rating of 5.40/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "A by-the-numbers slasher that arrived a decade too late, the mostly tedious ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' will likely only hook diehard fans of the genre." On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
it has a weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score of 52 out of 100 based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[ .]
The film inevitably drew both positive and negative comparisons to ''Scream'', also written by Williamson. Mick LaSalle considered the movie inferior to its predecessor. Richard Harrington, on the other hand, cited ''IKWYDLS'' as superior to ''Scream''; he described the newer picture as "... a smart and sharply-drawn genre-film with a moral center, and with a solid cast of young actors to hold it." Derek Elley
Derek Elley (born c. 1955) is an American film and music critic and author, best known as the resident film critic for '' Variety'' until his departure in March 2010. With over 1200 reviews to his credit as of December 2014 on ''Rotten Tomatoes'', ...
of ''Variety'' was also enthusiastic, calling the film a "polished genre piece with superior fright elements that should perform at better-than-average theatrical levels." Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave the movie one of four stars and wrote that "The best shot in this film is the first one. Not a good sign." ''Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cult ...
'' praised Jennifer Love Hewitt's performance, noting that she "knows how to scream with soul".
Lawrence Van Gelder of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote of the picture: "This isn't real life. It's the grand guignol of ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'', laying its claim to succeed ''Scream'' as a high-grossing and blood-drenched date-night crowd-pleaser. And why shouldn't it?" James Kendrick of the ''Q Network'' wrote that "Williamson's characters are all generic types; but they're still believable as people, and they react realistically according to the situations." Kendrick added that the film was "head and shoulders above earlier 'dead teenager' movies".
''TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program TV listings, listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine, TV Guide Mag ...
''s Maitland McDonagh awarded the movie two out of five stars, noting: "Screenwriter Kevin Williamson takes a step backward and writes the kind of movie ''Scream'' mocks. You can see him now, soaking up videos of '' Friday the 13th'' and ''Halloween
Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. ...
''—not to mention the lesser likes of '' He Knows You're Alone'', '' Terror Train'' and '' My Bloody Valentine''—and saying, 'I can do that!' And boy, does he ever."
Critic James Berardinelli credited both ''IKWYDLS'' and ''Scream'' with igniting a new boom of slasher films, adding: "There is one minor aspect of the plot that elevates ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' above the level of a typical '80s slasher flick -- it has an interesting subtext. I'm referring to the way the lives and friendships of these four individuals crumble in the wake of their accident. Guilt, confusion and doubt build in them until they can no longer stand to be with each other or look at themselves in the mirror. Sadly, this potentially-fascinating element of the movie is dismissed quickly to facilitate a higher body count. And, as I said before, a few extra deaths can only make a slasher movie better, right?"
Movie historian Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of f ...
gave the film 2 out of a possible 4 stars; he described it as "...Too routine to succeed overall...Despite being based on a young-adult novel, this is absolutely not for kids. Still, it's a classic compared to the sequel."
Motion picture scholar Adam Rockoff notes in his book ''Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978–1986'' that, at the time of its release, many critics branded ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' as an imitation of ''Scream''. However, he contends that it is a "much different film", despite both screenplays being penned by the same writer:
Lois Duncan, the author of the original novel, heavily criticized the film adaptation; she stated in a 2002 interview she was "appalled" that her story was turned into a slasher film.
Accolades
Other media
Sequels
The film was followed by ''I Still Know What You Did Last Summer'' (1998) and ''I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer'' (2006). In the first sequel, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Muse Watson reprise their roles. The second sequel has very little relation to the first two, other than the premise, the villain and the producers. It featured new characters and a different setting.
Television
A television series adaptation of the novel was announced in July 2019, with Neal H. Moritz and James Wan
James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian director, producer, screenwriter and comic book writer. He has primarily worked in the horror genre as the co-creator of the '' Saw'' and ''Insidious'' franchises and the creator of The Conjurin ...
producing and Shay Hatten writing the pilot. Amazon ordered a straight-to-series order in October 2020.
In popular culture
''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' has been referenced in various films and television series, and its central plot was parodied
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
at length in the spoof films ''Scary Movie
''Scary Movie'' is a 2000 American slasher parody film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written by Marlon and Shawn Wayans (who both also star), alongside Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Starring Anna ...
'' (2000) and ''Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th
''Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th'' is a 2000 American direct-to-video Parody film, parody slasher film directed by John Blanchard. The film stars Tiffani Thiessen, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Tom Arnold (actor), Tom Arnold, Coolio ...
'' (2000).
It was also spoofed in ''The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'' episode " Treehouse of Horror X" as "I Know What You Diddily-Iddily-Did", with Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders Jr. is a fictional character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', voiced by Harry Shearer and first appearing in the series premiere episode " Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire." He is the good-natured, che ...
as the killer.
Remakes
This film was unofficially remade in India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
by Anil V. Kumar
Anil V Kumar (born 4 June 1975) is a television and film director and producer in India. He started his production house "Flying Turtle Films" with his partners Shabbir Ahluwalia and Sakett Saawhney in 2010. The shows he has directed include '' ...
as '' Kucch To Hai'' (2003), starring Tusshar Kapoor
Tushar Ravi Kapoor (born 20 November 1976), popular as Tusshar Kapoor, is an Indian actor and film producer working in Hindi films.
Early and personal life
Tusshar Kapoor is the son of Indian actors Jeetendra and Shobha Kapoor. His sister ...
. However, in an interview to ''Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia.
It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...
'' Kapoor denied that the makers of his film copied this particular film.
Also in 2003, another Indian Remake was made entitled '' Dhund''.
In September 2014, Sony reported that they had plans to remake the film, with Mike Flanagan and Jeff Howard writing the script. However, there has been no progress as of 2022.
Notes
References
Works cited
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* Gillespie, Jim; Mirkovich, Steve (1998). ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'': Audio commentary (DVD). Columbia TriStar Home Video.
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External links
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{{Authority control
I Know What You Did Last Summer (franchise)
1997 horror films
1997 films
1990s serial killer films
1990s slasher films
1990s teen horror films
Films about teenagers
American slasher films
American teen horror films
American films about revenge
Films about stalking
Films based on American novels
Films based on thriller novels
Films based on urban legends
Films produced by Neal H. Moritz
Films set in 1996
Films set in 1997
Films set in 1998
Films set in Boston
Films set in North Carolina
Films shot in California
Films shot in North Carolina
Independence Day (United States) films
Columbia Pictures films
Mandalay Pictures films
Original Film films
Films scored by John Debney
Films directed by Jim Gillespie (director)
Films with screenplays by Kevin Williamson
Holiday horror films
1997 directorial debut films
Films about road accidents and incidents
Films about beauty pageants
1990s English-language films
1990s American films