I Know What You Did Last Summer

Several teens celebrate the end of term with a margin of excess when they run a poor guy down on country roads, and then rather than owning up to the situation they decide to dump his body in the sea.  The problem being (as if there weren't enough) it looks like he was alive at the moment they pushed him in, meaning that they're now technically murderers.  Forbidding each other to speak of the act ever again they attempt to move on with their guilt-ridden lives.  Then, a year later, they begin receiving notes suggesting that someone saw what happened.  Following that a psychotic individual begins his vengeful murder spree...

Following hot in the dust-cloud left behind by Scream in the new wave of slashers, I Know What You Did Last Summer, released in 1997, appeared at the time to be a second-rate attempt to aspire to the success of Craven's film.  Unsurprisingly the screenplay was written by the man who also wrote Scream and its sequel.  Years on I actually prefer watching Jim Gillespie's less popular foray into this particular sub-genre.  The teen leads are appealing, particularly in the case of young, very sexy Jennifer Love Hewitt and cute Sarah Michelle Gellar.  Freddie Prinze Jr.'s turn as the poor boy stumbling into a rich world is sympathetically likable while Ryan Phillippe is the punchable bully boy really responsible for the whole mess.  Anne Heche also shows up briefly as the messed-up sister of the man run down by the teens.  It's an attractively shot film, efficiently edited with some rousing music along the way.  Taken in the right mood, and without expecting high class cinema, this is one of the most enjoyable entries in the slasher film's final stab at mainstream popularity.  Oh, and occasionally it's quite violent (the killer carrying around a very nasty hook), though the absence of nudity is lamentable.  Is it original?  No, of course not - I don't think I've seen a slasher film that is especially original.  However, it entertains on its own level, and that's the important factor.

The US Blu-ray looks pretty good, backed up by a powerful Dolby TrueHD audio track.  There's also a half hour making-of (in standard definition) and Gillespie's short film Joy Ride along with a couple of other bits.  Surprisingly the director has not been too busy, going on to do D-Tox with Stallone, and Venom but little else.