I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER

Name: I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER
Item: I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER
Author: Review

"Unrelieved Fears"

Family Content: -3 Excessive sex, violence, immorality, and/or worldview problems. (Sometimes excessive content such as violence is in otherwise redemptive movies.)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

Hollywood’s Horror Machine keeps running strong in I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, the sequel to a 1997 movie. Julie James, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt, is guilt-ridden and tormented by horrifying hallucinations from the last movie. Her high school sweetheart Ray doesn’t understand her concerns. A July Fourth weekend in the Bahamas with three friends promises relief, but the killer knows where they are and begins to kill off the hotel staff, working his way to Julie and her friends. Once again, Julie runs for her life as the killer leaves a bloody trail, and her boyfriend Ray comes to the rescue.

This movie is filled with bloody, excessive violence. Intelligent audience members will also be upset by the stupidity of some of the scenes. Others will be put off by the excessive obscenities. Interestingly, the movie begins with Julie walking into a Catholic church and then into a confessional booth. Apparently, she is a practicing Catholic. Later in the movie, also, Julie practices sexual restraint. Nothing further is made of this, however, so the question remains: will attractive stars, modern rock music, and contemporary attitudes be enough to recoup costs? Does Dracula sleep during the day

Content:

(PaPaPa, C, O, VVV, S, N, A, DD, M) Strong Pagan worldview of pagan college students avoiding a serial killer with one scene of girl confessing her sin to a priest & implied voodoo practices by old man; 55 obscenities & 11 profanities; extensive violence including stalking, numerous killings with large fishing hook, knifings, impalings, threats with knives, car chases after man, fighting, kicking, shooting, man punches woman; sexual innuendo, man continually states his desire for sex, but no depicted or implied fornication; no nudity but men & women in skimpy swim suits & some cleavage-bearing low cut dresses; stoned man tries to sell marijuana, man uses marijuana & smoking; 19-year-olds drink alcohol in the Bahamas where it is legal; and, vomiting, images of occult items & severe compulsion to kill.

More Detail:

Technically, it should be titled I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID TWO SUMMERS AGO, but the audience for I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER doesn’t mind. Baby kaboom teenagers can still ogle at Jennifer Love Hewitt and Brandy for a bigger slice of the baby kaboom dollar in this tired, bloody sequel to I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.

Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is guilt-ridden, paranoid and tormented by horrifying hallucinations. While sleeping in class at a college in Boston, she dreams of going to a priest to confess her sin of murder, only to discover the man in the confessional booth is not a priest, but the murderer himself. Her high school sweetheart Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) is confused by her tormented life. Ray thinks Julie is leaving him because she won’t return to her ocean side home.

Karla Wilson (Brandy) is Julie’s spunky best friend and roommate, who wins an all-expense paid Bahamas vacation for four during the July 4th holiday weekend. Relief from Julie’s past seems immanent when Karla’s main squeeze Tyrell Martin (Mekhi Phifer) and Julie’s classmate Will Benson (Matthew Settle) are invited to tag along. Will comes along only after Ray doesn’t show up the morning they have to depart. In fact, Ray was nearly killed by the infamous slicker-clad fisherman with a hook on the way to Boston.

At the hotel, they discover that the other guests are leaving. They have arrived just in time for the beginning of the hurricane season. Yet, the killer knows where they are and slowly begins to kill off the hotel staff as he works his way up to killing Julie and her friends. Once again, Julie James runs for her life as the killer leaves a bloody trail, and, once again, her boyfriend Ray comes to the rescue.

This movie is filled with bloody, excessive violence, enough to keep the discerning young moviegoer at bay. The killer is very sick. In addition to merely slicing and hooking his victims, he also traps Julie on a tanning bed, intending to roast her. Finally, the killer involves his son in his gruesome act, making the mayhem a family affair. Some of the reviewing audience had regrets about attending, claiming the stupidity of some of the scenes. Indeed, logic is thrown out for cheap thrills and scares. Many will be put off by the excessive use of obscenities by the leads.

Interestingly, the movie begins with Julie walking into a Catholic church and then into a confessional booth. Assumedly, she is a practicing Catholic. Later in the movie, she practices sexual restraint, not wanting to sleep with Will. Likewise, Karla keeps her lustful boyfriend at arms length, perhaps only teasing him before their intended fornication which is disturbed by the killer. Yet, following the rules of older horror movies, the killer does seem to attack the highly sexed, the drug user and the strange, while leaving the purer women unscathed.

Following the success of SCREAM, PARTY OF FIVE and BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, it is not surprising that I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER earned $125 million dollars domestically. Hence, this sequel was put on a fast track just one month after the original’s release. Hoping to recapture as much or more dollars, African- American Brandy and Mekhi Phifer were added to capture a larger demographic. However, with the absence of its original scribe, new horror king Kevin Williamson, this movie turns into a mundane slasher thriller. The question remains: will attractive stars, modern rock music and contemporary attitudes be enough to recoup costs? The discretion or indiscretions of the baby kaboom may reveal the answer.