1997 I Know What You Did Last Summer

• Directed by: Jim Gillespie
• Written by: Kevin Williamson, Lois Duncan
• Stars: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sara Michelle Gellar, Anne Heche
• Run Time: 1 Hour, 41 Minutes
• Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEnCEM48QaY
• Watch it: https://amzn.to/3FUIB9Y

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

When a group of young people accidentally run over someone and cover up the incident, it triggers a slow act of revenge when, many months later, someone seems to know what they did last summer and wants them to pay for it. There’s some thrills and chills and a death or few, but it’s a little bit on the tame side. It’s well made overall, but it’s not our favorite of the genre. 

Spoilery Synopsis

We open on a twisty and turny road next to the open as a dark version of “Summer Breeze” plays ominously. A young guy sits on the cliff’s edge and looks depressed. 

In town, the fireworks go off; it’s time for the “Croaker Queen” beauty contest. Friends Julie, Barry, and Ray cheer on Helen, who is a participant. Helen wins! 

There’s a big party afterward. Max hits on Julie. Helen’s older sister Elsa is mean. Barry is a party animal. The four friends leave the party and go to the beach, where they tell horror stories about a man with a hook for a hand (yeah, it’s that story). They all have a different version of the story. Afterward much sex has been had. 

On the way home, it’s clear that Barry’s had way too much to drink, and he causes all kinds of distractions until the car, being driven by Ray, hits something on the road. Julie finds a boot on the road, so they quickly learn they didn’t hit a deer. Ray checks the man’s pulse; he’s dead. 

The four all argue about what to do. Ray was driving, but he wasn’t drinking, but no one’s going to believe that when a bunch of booze got spilled in the car. Barry suggests dumping him off the cliff into the ocean. Julie is against the idea, but the other three convince her. 

Before they can do anything, Max drives up in his truck. Julie tells him that Barry is drunk and puking on the side of the road. When Max leaves, the others carry the man’s body to the dock. 

Turns out, he’s not completely dead. The man grabs Helen’s crown as he sinks, and Barry dives into the water to retrieve it. “We’re going home now, and we’re never, ever going to discuss this ever again.” We see that someone has lost their wristwatch on the scene. 

One year later, Julie is back home for a school break. She’s just about to fail out of school, and her mother’s disappointed. She’s gotten a letter in the mail: “I know what you did last summer.” 

Julie goes to the store to find Helen, whose life hasn’t gone the way she’d expected, either. She shows Helen the note, and Elsa, Helen’s older sister, is nosy. Barry says the note is nothing. “His name was David Egan,” explains Julie. She looked it all up– they found the body three weeks later. Barry suspects it was Max who sent the letter. 

Max is working at the cannery. Barry confronts Max about it, but he doesn’t know anything about any letter. They run into Ray at the docks, and he’s a fisherman now. Everybody leaves angry with each other. 

Back at the cannery, someone uses Max’s ice hook to kill him. Not long after, Barry gets a familiar-looking note. The killer runs down Barry and, dressed in a fisherman’s raincoat and hat, attacks him with the same hook – not fatally.

Julie wants to go to the police. Barry is still adamant about not going to them. Julie and Helen research David Egan and learn about his family. They make a trip there and talk to David’s sister, Missy. They try to bluff the woman into talking about David; she mentions that he only had one friend, cute and smart, whose name was Billy Blue. David’s own girlfriend died on that road one year before, and that was him we saw sitting out there in the opening scene. David’s sister is weird and more than a little suspicious of the two girls. 

Helen goes home and says hello to her oblivious father. We see the killer come in behind her. In the morning, she wakes up to find someone has cut her hair. 

Julie finds Max’s body in her trunk, mostly eaten by crabs. She brings Helen and Barry to see, but he’s not there late. They all know why the bad guy is doing this, but what’s he waiting for? Ray shows up; he’s got a letter too. They track down Billy Blue from the high school yearbook. 

It’s been one year, and whatever’s going to happen is going to happen tonight. Julie goes back to see Missy, who’s still weird. Julie explains that what happened to David wasn’t an accident, but Missy says she thought it was suicide, since he left a note. It says, “I will never forget last summer.” Julie figures out that David wasn’t the guy they hit. 

At this year’s beauty contest, Helen is on stage as last year’s winner. She sees Barry on the balcony, just as last year. She watches as the man in the raincoat kills Barry. Helen tells the deputy all about it, but there’s no evidence, and he laughs at her. The killer quickly proves him wrong. The killer chases Helen all over town and into her sister’s store. Elsa doesn’t live long after that, but neither does Helen. 

Julie finds Ray and explains that David isn’t the killer, but then she figures out that Ray’s boat is “Billy Blue” and comes to the conclusion that he’s the killer. She seeks help from another fisherman, who is obviously the killer. Ben Willis, the father of the girl that David killed accidentally two years ago, killed David in revenge, and that’s who they hit with their car and didn’t finish off properly. 

Ben takes Julie out on his boat, and Ray tries to follow in his dinghy. Ray and Ben fight as Julie mostly hides and finds bodies. Ray knocks out the baddie, but doesn’t finish him off. The man loses a hand and goes overboard, but they don’t find a body, only the hand. 

One more year later, Julie’s doing much better at school. She gets a note– oh no, it’s just a party invitation. Then she sees “I still know” written on the mirror. 

Brian’s Commentary

For years, I had this mixed up with the “Urban Legend” series of movies. After watching one of the early scenes of this, I remembered why– it’s all about the man with the hook. 

We know who are going to be the victims, we just don’t know why, exactly. I guess in the end, it all makes sense. 

It’s not an “A” list series, but it’s OK. 

Kevin’s Commentary

I’d never seen this before, and I found it surprisingly tame. It’s based off a novel by Lois Clark Duncan which does have the basic plot and a stalker, but no body count at all. It’s said the author wasn’t on board at first with it being upped to a slasher movie, but I don’t think they went far enough with it. It’s well made, the cast looks good and does a nice job in their roles, but I’d rate it just okay. A 6 or 7 in my book.