Ich weiß, was du letzten Sommer getan hast

"I Know What You Did Last Summer" joins "The Spy Who Shagged Me" and "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" as being yet another film that doesn't even come close to living up to its inspired title. All are bad enough to make me angry at the thought of a good title being squandered.

Kevin Williamson's script suggests nothing so much as a man trying, and failing, to capture the charm of the first couple of seasons of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" - this is more obviously a good description of "Scream", but "Scream", and this may surprise some people who've seen it, is better. -Or maybe he wasn't even trying. I'm not sure which is worse. I think Williamson WAS trying for a quality we might term "cred", by having his central characters bitch and squabble all the time. Friends in "Buffy", on the other hand, genuinely support one another. That's a large part of the show's charm. It's a charm that could only have helped Williamson's script, if only by making it more realistic: however much his central characters might have fought amongst themselves in the ordinary course of events, faced with a powerful EXTERNAL threat, they would surely have closed ranks.

Neither this nor "Scream" is particularly bad. The main trouble is that "I Know What You Did Last Summer", as well as wasting a good title, also wastes a good premise. Some teenagers feel guilty after their car accidentally knocks someone down; they hide the body and then they THINK they can just safely sneak back to their old lives ... the story could have gone in many good directions from here, and it's a pity all that occurred to Williamson was to head for regions slasher-horror so well travelled I'm surprised they don't sell souvenirs.

Exactly, everyone should - but why? Because it is an excellent film, containing a good storyline (though not one of the best) and some promising new actors and actresses. In regards to the storyline, not many viewers realise that the film was actually based on a novel written before Kevin Williamson even thought up the idea to create another horror flick - therefore the general outline is not his, and so some people's comparisons between this and Scream can be considered as wrong. However, they are right in the sense that the typical horror elements are all there, and some are similar to Scream. I feel that the statement on the video cover "scarier than Scream" is to some extent true, especially the climatic ending (I won't spoil it for any of you left to see the film)!

I enjoyed the acting performances, though sometimes the screams did get slightly out of hand - near the end, one popped up every other minute or so! Despite this, the characters were portrayed very well, and you could really notice the distinctions between them, and which characters you were likely to prefer. However one drawback to the characters was how obvious it was to spot who was going to bite it - all my sister had to do was look at the characters in a group and guess straight away.

On the whole though, I found it to be a good horror film, done proud by the talents of writer Kevin Williamson and of the cast. If you are looking for a good scare, or simply taste other films after experiencing the wonder that is "Scream", then "IKWYDLS" should be your first choice - with its many 'jumps' making you enjoy the ride all the way!

ENJOY, and most importantly, SCREAM ON!!!

During the 4th of July holidays, four teens Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Barry William Cox (Ryan Phillippe) and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.) are driving after drinking on the beach. Barry distracts Ray as he runs over a guy on a desolate road in the middle of the night. They argue convincing Ray to dump the body. Max (Johnny Galecki) drives by but Julie lies to him. The body has a hook for a hand but he's not actually dead as he makes a final grab at Helen. The friends agree to keep it a secret after dumping him in the harbor. Then one year later, Julia comes back to town from college and she gets a note with "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER!" Helen is working for her sister Elsa and broken up with the jerk Barry. Barry suspects Max as the one who wrote the note. Ray is now a fisherman following his father's footsteps.

The movie has some of the best young actors of Hollywood at the time. Kevin Williamson works over the script. It's a pretty simple teen slasher movie. It has some psychological aspects and mystery of the note. In the end, it's slash and splat. It works well and gets a couple of passable scares. It never really gets truly gritty or realistic. It's just an old fashion slasher flick. It's all about the old fashion 80s kills.

This film is great! The ACTING IS BETTER THAN IN MOST HORROR FILMS ALSO. Freddie Prinze Jr i the only one that fails to capture emotion. Jennifer Love Hewitt gives great acting in the actual scene where they hit the man, but other than that she is okay. Ryan Phillipe is also great, but its easy to play an air head that curses and is mad at everyone. The best performance has to be given by Sarah Michelle Gellar. She is great going from a natural beauty, to a scared off helpless girl. She conveys emotions well and her chase scene in this film is a classic. I would recommend this film for that reason only. Its fun, but kinda forgettable after a while. Anne Heche also gives a very good performance, even if its small. See it. You will be entertained.

It's hard to believe 'I know what you did last summer' was made over two decades ago. This classic teenage slasher is still one of the most memorable movies in the genre.

Although a slasher, the film has substance. The very idea of what these teenagers are going through, makes one wonder: what would I have done if I were in that situation? The event leading to the revenge killings can so easily happen to anyone of us. Its believable and quite honestly a daunting thought. What would you have done?

What happens after the accident, off course is pure slasher material, but it still has substance. 'I know what you did last summer' is a creepy film with well crafted suspense. Naturally, there are a number of false scares and some credibility issues and coincidences, but in general this was thoroughly enjoyable. The performances were very good and the film itself has style and from the opening moments just felt memorable. The title alone is enough to make you want to watch it out of curiosity.