Terry's Reviews
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I Know What You Did Last Summer / I Still Know What You Did Last Summer - Double Feature Columbia Tri-Star Home Entertainment – 2005 |
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| It’s very cool
that Columbia Tri-Star Home Entertainment has put together these two movies. The first
film is much better than the sequel but it’s fun to get both films together as one
DVD package. |
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I Know What You Did Last Summer
– Special Edition Columbia Tri-Star Home Entertainment – 2005 Directed by Jim
Gillespie Starring |
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| Two
young couples hit and kill a man with their car on a winding road next to the ocean.
Before anyone can find out what they have done, the young friends decide to get rid of the
body in the ocean. After the man’s body is dumped off the end of a dock, they make a
pact to never tell anyone what happened. Flash-forward a year, as each one of the four people mysteriously receives the same handwritten note "I know what you did last summer." This begins a tense, paranoid state of mind each will live in until the truth is uncovered or someone kills them. A rain coat-wearing person in fishing hat is stalking each one of them. The real question is did they kill the man the year before or is he still alive? Based on Louis Duncan’s novel, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER features top-notch production values and outstanding direction from Jim Gillespie. Kevin Williamson wrote the script but it’s Gillespie’s brilliant visual eye and ability to coax honest, realistic performances from the young actors that makes this film work. Plus I don’t think Jennifer Love Hewitt or Sarah Michelle Gellar have ever looked better. Gillespie does a superb job of working with Director of Photography Dennis Crossan to give a startling visual look to the film. Some of the scenes where cinematography stand out include the opening 2 1/2 minute helicopter shot, the make out scenes on the beach, the car accident, the department store sequence and alleyway killing are brilliantly conceived and executed. Gillespie engineers true suspense using the shots, editing and John Debney’s classy score to maximize tension. I doubt I will ever like Jennifer Love Hewitt anymore than in this film. Her tiny curvy frame is put into some dramatic situations and she does a pretty good job of eliciting terror. Sarah Michelle Gellar comes across as a much more seasoned actress and actually gives the best performance in the film. Hewitt and Gellar are put in the tightest, tiny tops imaginable and the resulting cleavage isn’t something I’ll complain about. Ryan Phillippe is cast perfectly as the hotheaded Barry William Cox, who is more of a jerk than a friend. Subdued Freddie Prinze Jr. brings a little balance against Phillippe’s out of control anger. The other real draw to the film’s appeal is the scenic locations courtesy of the northern coast/Bodega Bay, California and Southport, North Carolina. These places give the film the feel of a small seaside town. I learned a lot about the production in the Audio Commentary by Jim Gillespie and Editor Steve Mirkovich. One of the comments that really struck me and made me more consciously aware of what Jim Gillespie was trying to do was filling the film with props and imagery that made you think of the ocean (Ben Willis a.k.a. the Fisherman). By doing this, the threat of the fisherman was always on screen even if only on a subconscious level. I’ll list a few examples. The production team hauled and set up the dilapidated boat onto the beach for the make-out scenes. The beauty pageant that Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) wins is nautically themed. The parade in town is submersed in oceanic costumes and props. Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) discovers her friend’s body when she hears movement (crabs) coming from the trunk of her car. When Julie goes to see Melissa Egan (Anne Heche), 'Missy' is gutting a fish. Of course most of the film takes place in a small sea town so there are boat marinas, sailboats, and ocean in the background. The killer uses a fishhook for a weapon, you get the picture. The DVD also comes with the Theatrical Trailer. I was greatly disappointed that the DVD did not have the other Special Features listed on the back of the DVD. I don’t know if I had a faulty copy or that the other features were not ever added to the DVD? I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER is a very underrated slasher film that stands above most films like it because of the sure handed direction and sensational production values. |
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I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
– Double Feature Columbia Tri-Star Home Entertainment – 2005 Directed by Danny
Cannon Starring |
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| A year
after the first film, Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is still fighting the symptoms of
posttraumatic disorder. She’s having nightmares and is really bummed out until her
college roommate Carla (Brandy) comes to the rescue. Carla wins a trip for four people to
the Bahamas from a local radio station. After a little coaxing, Carla gets Julie to agree
to go on the trip. Julie asks Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.) to go along, but Ray
refuses playing hard to get (when he actually has an engagement ring to give). Carla
brings her boyfriend Tyrell (Mekhi Phifer) and Will Benson (Matthew Settle) a friend who
is interested in dating Julie. Ray’s co-worker influences him to change his mind and they race together to try and get to Julie so he can fly to the Bahamas with her. Unfortunately along the drive, the two guys come across a body lying in the road next to a crashed car. Ray gets out to help the person. When he gets to the body, he finds that it is a dummy and quickly turns around to see that the fisherman has returned to finish what he started in the first film. In the Bahamas, Julie, Carla, Tyrell and Will find out that they have arrived just before a massive storm will be hitting the island. Worse yet, the island is pretty much closed down and that most people have left, except for a few hotel workers and someone in the familiar rain-slick outfit, hat with a fishhook for a hand. The characters are definitely not as connected as the first film, the acting more uneven and the direction lackluster. John Frizzell’s score telegraphs horror and the Mexico shooting location does not hold the same allure as the previous film shooting locales. This film kind of dumbs down the characters, focuses on gore and Love Hewitt’s bust a little too much. I don’t mind the bust aspect but when it’s all that is really keeping the film going, the bosom value becomes somewhat diminished. There were some recognizable actors who played small supporting roles that make this film a little more interesting. These include Jennifer (TAXI) Esposito, Jeffery (REANIMATOR) Combs, Bill (FLUKE) Cobbs, Mark (DEADBIRDS) Boone Junior and Jack Black uncredited. The Special Features include: a fluff making of Featurette where the cast and producers gush over themselves, not even realizing that they have made a film that doesn’t come close to the first one. There are three Trailers for Jennifer Love Hewitt films and a Music Video for "How Can I Deal" where Love Hewitt pouts about losing a boyfriend. This sequel was made for the wrong reason with talent inferior to the original. |
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