The I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise is an interesting brand. Infamously, none of the films have a good score on rotten tomatoes. Yet, both I Know What You Did Last Summer and the sequel are beloved by fans. This month marks the 25th anniversary of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and the horribly rated sequel – which has a horrendous rotten tomatoes score of 7% – still holds up in 2023.
To recap, Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) has survived the onslaught of Ben Willis’s (Muse Watson) wrath in the first film. The college student wins a contest after guessing that Rio De Janeiro is the capital of Brazil. After that, killer shenanigans occur at the beautiful beach resort in the Bahamas. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is filled with plot holes and head-scratching moments that make you question your sanity from time to time. Still, it’s a fun time to see people mindlessly being hooked off one by one, especially the colorful band of characters within the feature.
The Plot Holes Of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer Oddly Make The Film Exciting
The whole Rio De Janeiro was quite silly. Why couldn’t Will and Benson come up with a less convoluted solution to get Julie on the beautiful island? Despite that eye-rolling hiccup, the plot holes in the sequel somehow make the feature more fun. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is in “It’s So Bad It’s Good” camp, so moments like Ben putting a fake body in the middle of the road to get Ray to stop the car or the karaoke machine make you erupt with laughter instead.
Thankfully, the sequel doesn’t take itself too seriously in the beginning. However, there are times when the seriousness backfires. The moment Julie reveals that they got the capital wrong reaffirms the horror trope of stupid young kids in slasher films. The whole Ben Willis/Will Benson plot is simply jarring for all the wrong reasons.
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is a relatively straightforward slasher and can often be deemed boring because it doesn’t take many risks. Everyone you expect to die meets their untimely demise eventually. However, these big gaps in logic create a sense of unpredictability that makes it seem that the plot may go somewhere interesting.
The Cast Of Supporting Characters Are Great
Jack Black is simply a blast as Titus in this film. He’s easily the most entertaining part of the sequel and it was sad that he was killed off early. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer features a strong supporting cast with fun personalities. Jeffrey Combs as a smarmy smartass cast him as a perfect scapegoat for his brutal demise. Jennifer Esposito as the disgruntled bartender also has the potential to be a fun misdirect if the filmmakers wanted to take a bold risk. Brandy Norwood and Mekhi Phifer were also fun additions. Say what you will about the Benson angle, but playing off the nice guy trope was a solid idea.
Putting the locations on a remote resort was a great idea because it allowed the film to get out of its comfort zone and develop some unique characters and kills that would prevent the sequel from feeling repetitive. More importantly, adding colorful personalities gave these names a distinct personality that we can easily connect with.
The Quest For Revenge Was Laughable
Why did Ben feel the need to send Julie to an island to kill her? He had his son go undercover, so why not have Benson do his dirty deeds back at home? Or during any time she was sleeping WHEN THEY SHARED THE SAME ROOM! As previously stated, I Still Know What You Last Summer is needlessly complicated.
The kills are fine overall, though it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. But the mindless narrative of Ben going the extra mile just to get his revenge on Julie is horrendously bad. Sure, the sequel ends up being more fun than it has any right to be, but the plot is simply nothing more than a time filler to rack up the body count. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is the perfect definition of guilty pleasure. A film that has no true purpose for existing, but ends up being a memorable excursion in the slasher genre.
