# I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

### reviewed by
Jerry Saravia

I know what has happened to the slasher film genre - it has become limited and uninspiring offering little in the way of novelty or surprise. True, the "Scream" movies revived the dusty genre only because they poked fun at it, and brought a self-reflective gaze upon it. But this genre has nothing to offer unless a talented filmmaker can reinvent it and bring some level of humanity. "I Know What You Did Last Summer" is not that film, and it is as idiotic and mind-numbingly awful as you can imagine.

The premise centers on four teenagers who kill a pedestrian on the road at night during a July 4th celebration. They contemplate their dilemna and unconvincingly draw up reasons why they can't tell the police - to protect their futures beyond high school. They dump the body by the docks (though the supposed corpse never seems to be truly dead). A year later passes, and the main teen of the cast (a frail-looking Jennifer Love-Hewitt) arrives home from college to find a note in the mail indicating the film's title. Someone knows, but who? Could it be her ring of friends that night who swore never to tell anyone? Could it be the kid who drove by during that night making inquiries? Could it be the backwoods woman (Anne Heche) whose brother committed suicide that same night?

This is a mildly intriguing premise for a slasher film, but all sense of mystery and horror is thrown out the window once the killings and implausibilities set in. We have a body in a trunk full of crabs that conveniently disappears, a killer in a slicker outfit during a hot summer (how conspicuous), a girl's blonde hair chopped off while she's asleep (!), and more and more ridiculous scenarios that will shock you into laughter and boredom.

The actors are bland and forgettable (save for the cute-as-a-button Hewitt), the scares are predictable, the dialogue is sheer rubbish, and of course, there is a door left open for a sequel. Most of these movies ("Halloween: H20," "Urban Legend") are mediocre and thrill-less to being with offering little imagination or raison d'etre. Writer Kevin Williamson of "Scream" fame should have known better.

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