My History With the Film:
If you would have asked me a week ago, I would have told you I saw I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and found it to be okay. After revisiting the film, I’m honestly not sure if I ever saw it. A few scenes looked familiar, but for the most part this was like a first time viewing for me, despite owning the film on DVD for at least five years.
What The Film Is About (Non-Spoiler):
Two summers after the events that led to the first film, survivor Julie James finds herself in the middle of another mass murdering spree this time while vacationing in the Bahamas.
What I Liked About It:
-This film features another nostalgia fueled cast with Jennifer Love Hewitt (Can’t Hardly Wait), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Boys and Girls), Brandy (Moesha), and Mekhi Phifer (8 Mile). Horror legend Jeffrey Combs shows up, as well as a very obnoxious Jack Black. An unknown John Hawkes also makes an appearance as a friend of Ray.
-The abandoned beach resort was a neat setting, especially isolating it with a hurricane incoming.
-Jennifer Love Hewitt is an amazing screamer. You don’t see her get mentioned amongst the great scream queens, but she really does sell it.
What I Didn’t Like About It:
-While I liked the cast, I didn’t like most of their characters. They were poorly written, not well rounded, and their deaths had no emotional impact at all. It was like a late 80’s slasher film, where the characters are just fodder for the killer, except the killer in this film wasn’t all that great.
-Jack Black puts on his worse performance ever in this film.
-The killer’s reveal sucked big time. It was disappointing and they telegraphed it so much.
-The film attempts to play homage to the first film by having Jennifer Love Hewitt scream and challenge the killer by spinning around with a panning out camera shot. It worked in the first film; it was just out of place in the second and came off like a parody.
-The movie is filled with too many dumb moments: finding the capital of Brazil on a coffee can, Julie accepting of Will sleeping in her room, Ray getting a gun, etc.
Additional Notes:
-Due to his work on Halloween H20, Dawson’s Creek, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, and The Faculty, Kevin Williamson did not have the time to write the script for this film or Scream 3, which hurt both sequels.
-Cast members with roles in other notable horror films:
- Mekhi Phifer (Dawn of the Dead)
- Matthew Settle (Ouija)
Rating:
This movie is awful. I had no idea it was going to be so bad. I either blocked out my first viewing or I’ve never seen this movie before, and quite frankly, I’d been alright never seeing it. While the first film was a very acceptable by the numbers slasher film, this is a terribly written cash-in that unfortunately included two of the main cast members. The inclusion of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. made the film look like it was something more than shitty sequel that deserved to be released direct-to-video.
Fans of the first film will not be satisfied and someone just looking for a fun slasher won’t be either. It’s barely competent as a slasher film, and is definitely not something worth watching unless you are completionist. I’d give this film a one and a half out of five, and say skip it.