I Finally Watched: 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'

It’s time for me to get serious about freeing space on my DVR. It’s also time for me to change things up and spice up my life, so I’ve decided to watch a movie I’ve never seen (or have but have not written about) every Sunday night.

For my first Sunday night watch party, I decided to watch the second movie on my “I Finally Watched” list (which is still hanging out on my desk): I Know What You Did Last Summer.

I Know is the story of four teens who vow to keep a disturbing secret—a secret someone else knows too.

After enjoying Fourth of July festivities and unsupervised fun on the beach, the foursome hits and apparently kills a man on the drive home. Instead of getting help, they opt instead to dump the body in the ocean, vowing to keep the incident among themselves for life. They assume nobody else knows, but then the letter comes and harassment starts. Someone knows what they did last summer and is eager to hunt them down one by one.

Released in 1997, I Know is one of the iconic horror movies of my teen years. Along with Scream, I Know helped revive and modernize the slasher genre—if a well-worn genre can be modernized.

I’ll admit that I’ve seen I Know before. The first time I watched it was the day after Christmas in 2016. It was the same showing I recorded on my DVR and watched again Sunday. I enjoyed that first viewing with a few pints of Thomas Beck Black IPA (a growler full of it has become an annual Christmas present). Unfortunately, I did not drink any beer on Sunday but still enjoyed the movie.

I Know is a decent, enjoyable flick. Yes, it kept me wondering the first time; like a Fear Street novel, the puzzle pieces don’t fit together until the end. It’s suspenseful and scary at times. Also like a Fear Street novel, it’s absurd and amusing, illogical and convenient.

Is it believable? Could something like it happen in real life? I suppose. The hit-and-run and subsequent coverup are not that far-fetched, but the unfortunate series of events that befall the four teens afterward is unrealistic. But this is a horror movie! Realism be damned! That’s part of the fun of horror movies. It’s hard for me to keep that in mind, especially since I’m a realist at heart.

Much like Scream, I Know is a fun trip down memory lane. It’s not an in-your-face or over-the-top nineties flashback, but it has developed an enjoyable patina. It is a snapshot in time, and I love picking out small but telltale features of a bygone era. Julie uses a clunky, big laptop (which looks like an IBM ThinkPad since it has the iconic red pointing stick), Elsa puts away rental movies (not exclusive to the nineties but synonymous in my mind), and Julie looks fly in overalls (chicks in overalls was the best part of junior high).

Excuse me for being a heterosexual man, but Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar are very easy on the eyes. I’m sure Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Ryan Phillippe offer the same for the ladies (or guys). Watching Hewitt crouch, climb, crawl, and run in her perfect-fitting jeans and crop top for much of the movie is something I won’t complain about.

Speaking of Scream, I Know shares the same screenwriter, which explains a permeating familiarity. (Here’s something I did not know: I Know is based on a 1973 novel of the same title by Lois Duncan.) The films also seem similar stylistically, though it may have more to do with the filmmaking trends of the era. Also like Scream, I Know is hard to watch without thinking of the Scary Movie franchise since I Know is mocked incessantly in the first installment. I could not watch the beauty pageant scenes without thinking about Scary Movie’s hilarious treatment with Ms. Fellatio.

I Know has an incredible opening scene. I love the coastline flyby with Type O Negative’s version of “Summer Breeze” providing a moody, dark, foreboding soundtrack. It’s perfect! (I love the original version of “Summer Breeze,” but I have a special place in my heart for the Type O Negative version. I heard the band perform it live on Rock 108 one night in 2003 or 2004 while drinking and playing NCAA Football with E-Tone. The station was broadcasting a Type O Negative concert for some reason, and the live version of “Summer Breeze” was so enthralling that we stopped everything to listen and appreciate.) Though the story takes place in North Carolina, and much of the movie was filmed there, the opening scene and accident were filmed at Kolmer Gulch near Jenner, California.

“Summer Breeze” is the first of a couple remade songs in the movie. Modern versions of “Hey Bulldog” and “Hush” are also featured. Remakes seem to be a hallmark of horror movies in the nineties; I think a couple were used in Halloween H20 and Scream. I assume it has something to do with acknowledging a new generation, or a new generation’s disregard for their parents’ cherished tunes.

Besides the remakes, I Know has an unmemorable soundtrack. The Offspring’s “D.U.I.” is playing in Barry’s car before the fated drive (fittingly), and a Mighty Mighty Bosstones song is also included.

Another hallmark of horror movies in the nineties is an obsession with urban legends. (I think there’s even a movie called Urban Legend, though I’ve never seen it.) I Know is no different. “The Hook” legend is prominently featured: it is discussed by the main characters at least twice, and the villain menaces them with a hook.

Here are some additional, itemized thoughts about I Know:

• Leonard! I’m not a fan of The Big Bang Theory, but Johnny Galecki will probably be forever known as Leonard—more so than David from Rosanne, which is how I know him best. Though he has a small role in I Know, it’s fun to see him, especially since he has an attitude (“Don’t test me, motherfucker!”).

• Julie drives a Chrysler K-car, a Dodge Aries. K-cars were all over the place in the eighties and were common beaters when I was a teenager. It made me smile, along with a late eighties Honda Accord.

• Barry is supposedly a star quarterback, but he doesn’t have a football physique. He is way too thin to be a football player.

• The scenes with Missy, played by Anne Heche, are awkward and creepy—which means they work perfectly. Though they provide pivotal information, they are my least favorite parts of the movie.

• The hook-wielding fisherman is always wearing a rain slicker, which I assume would be very noisy. However, he’s able to sneak around without being heard in a number of scenes.

• Elsa is a jealous bitch. I’m happy she died.

• So what happens to Max’s body and all the crabs? The fisherman would need to retrieve them in broad daylight in the middle of a residential neighborhood. I’m being a realist again, but it’s hard not to wonder. If you looked out your living room window and saw a man remove a body and crabs from the trunk of a Dodge Aries, wouldn’t you be suspicious?

• The weather at the Fourth of July parade changes from overcast to sunny and back again depending on the camera angle.

• The downtown area is conveniently deserted (on the Fourth of July) when the fisherman is chasing Helen.

• In the boat at the end, the killer has a picture of Helen while she’s riding in the parade earlier that day. He would have been using a film camera, so I’m trying to remember how quickly film could be processed. Was one-hour development that common? It’s sad to say, but I don’t remember, probably because I never needed film developed that quickly; I think I always used 24-hour development.

• Why doesn’t Julie jump off the boat at the end? Why try to hide in an unfamiliar boat when one can easily escape by jumping overboard?