IKWYDLS released just a year after the first Scream and the same year the second one came out. It features the same screenwriter and Sarah Michelle Gellar, who was also killed in Scream 2. Unlike Scream, this film was based on the book of the same name, but most of the plot was changed to resemble Scream movie and to make it a typical teenage slasher. I Know What You Did Last Summer was successful in financial respect, but is it as good as Wes Craven's picture? Certainly not.
There are several reasons of this film's inferiority to Scream. The first problem is directing. Watching I Know What You Did Last Summer I noticed that director Jim Gillespie had little experience, especially comparing to Wes Craven. Then goes the script. It's not as interesting and as gripping as it should be and has some flaws. For instance, instead of the kid the characters ran over in the book, this time they knock some old fisherman down. It would be a miracle if a real person survived such a collision at all, but this man doesn't even become disabled. Moreover, just a year after he chases and easily kills young people. And his killings are not justified enough. The creators want us to believe that his motivation is to take a revenge, but he kills several absolutely innocent people. Also, I don't get it why he tried to scare them at first if he could have had problems, whereas killing them silently would be a better way. And finally, the plot develops in a slightly dull way. The third problem concerns all the characters. They're just not written on a decent level. Unlike charismatic characters from Scream, these are not interesting at all. If not for the famous cast, they would be completely out of place. The actors worked better than their characters were written. Only Freddie Prinze Jr. Didn't perform good enough, but the rest are OK for a teenage slasher. Still, there's no serious chemistry between them, so I don't care about these people. They just don't look like real friends and couples. There is also a problem with a slasher part. All the murders in Scream were inventive and memorable, but in this movie we have only 1 such murder out of 4.
Thus, the fim is watchable, but only for one time and only if you don't raise your expectations.
There are several reasons of this film's inferiority to Scream. The first problem is directing. Watching I Know What You Did Last Summer I noticed that director Jim Gillespie had little experience, especially comparing to Wes Craven. Then goes the script. It's not as interesting and as gripping as it should be and has some flaws. For instance, instead of the kid the characters ran over in the book, this time they knock some old fisherman down. It would be a miracle if a real person survived such a collision at all, but this man doesn't even become disabled. Moreover, just a year after he chases and easily kills young people. And his killings are not justified enough. The creators want us to believe that his motivation is to take a revenge, but he kills several absolutely innocent people. Also, I don't get it why he tried to scare them at first if he could have had problems, whereas killing them silently would be a better way. And finally, the plot develops in a slightly dull way. The third problem concerns all the characters. They're just not written on a decent level. Unlike charismatic characters from Scream, these are not interesting at all. If not for the famous cast, they would be completely out of place. The actors worked better than their characters were written. Only Freddie Prinze Jr. Didn't perform good enough, but the rest are OK for a teenage slasher. Still, there's no serious chemistry between them, so I don't care about these people. They just don't look like real friends and couples. There is also a problem with a slasher part. All the murders in Scream were inventive and memorable, but in this movie we have only 1 such murder out of 4.
Thus, the fim is watchable, but only for one time and only if you don't raise your expectations.
