I Saw What You Did

This film is a remake of the 1965 William Castle classic of the same title. It was made for TV, although that's not such a big problem on paper as the plot is very simple and there's not a lot of room for bloodshed anyway. The film also features a distinctly eighties style, which firmly puts the story in the time in which the film was made. Unfortunately, however, the focus of the film is spread thinly over a lot of different areas and as a result; the central plot suffers as its not fleshed out very well and the characters suffer too as we never really get to know anything about them. The plot focuses on two kids babysitting a younger one. They're bored and decide to get some kicks by making prank phone calls. The game soon gets round to "I know what you did", which involves phoning someone and simply saying that phrase. Unfortunately, however, they decide to call a Mr Adrian Lancer, a disturbed man that happens to have just murdered his wife...

The original film featured the same basic plot, so to call this one unlikely and the original not would be unfair. However, the fact that the original is so much better handled means that this version really struggles to get the plot across. The big coincidence of the girls' game and the murder isn't glossed over with any kind of gimmick which makes it stand out like a sore thumb. Furthermore, the girls themselves have very little character and Robert Carradine looks bored in his role as the murderer and so doesn't bring forward any tension or suspense. The plot is played rather straight for most of the film, which means things rather just drone on and it gets tiresome quickly. Tammy Lauren stands out in her role, though that's only because of her awful eighties haircut, while Shawnee Smith is mostly incognito. It soon becomes clear that the film isn't going to present any surprises and indeed the ending is rather typical. We do finish off with a final twist that is both nonsensical and redundant. Overall, I highly recommend giving the original a look if you want a fun lightweight thriller; but don't bother tracking this version down.

I Saw What You Did (1988)

This actually a TV remake, The plot some-what the same but there a lot different from movies.

This was felt little more face paced the the older black and white movie but I didn't really find any of these movie that creepy at the whole.

First i just found some of the script in this movie was ever weak, Some lines in this movie don't make sense at all. I Know it TV movie, Come on.

The acting in this movie was not that good at all, I thought everyone acting in this movie very wooden from most of the cast.

I not sure what to think of that cheap ending at all if wanted to get scared of that it was wrong done and it didn't work, I found that last scenes really silly.

Not near as good as The original

As this was TV remake there are rumours of yet another remake of this.

4 out of 10

I assumed this was an 80's remake of the modest William Castle sleeper with the same title that came out in 1965, but apparently both movies are just based on one and the same novel by Ursula Curtiss. So, "I Saw What You Did" isn't really a remake, but merely a re-imagining. Or simply another version, if you wish. It's a fun little movie with a very simplistic but effective plot, fresh young actresses' faces and the two coolest Carradine brothers starring as actual brothers. There are some big differences between this version and the aforementioned William Castle film, but the most rudimentary plot concept naturally remained the same. Two teenage girls, whilst babysitting the younger sister of one of them, are bored senseless and decide to entertain themselves by making prank calls to randomly selected names in the phone book. They arrive at the name Adrian Lancer, but he just killed his girlfriend because she didn't want to marry him. When the girls stupidly make up a prank like "I saw what you did and I know who you are", Adrian naturally assumes that somebody witnessed the murder and goes even further out of his mind. Meanwhile the girls stupidly begin to fantasize about Adrian's voice and bizarre music and can't resist driving over to his house to catch a glimpse… "I Saw What You Did" is fun and charming, but also unmemorable, mainly because there's very few action. I personally prefer the Castle version, because there John Ireland depicts the psychopath and there's a terrific sub plot involving the creepy Joan Crawford as his sickly amorous neighbor. In this film, that particular sub plot gets replaced by Adrian Lancer's brother showing up to help keeping his violent tendencies under control. The film is competently directed by Fred Walton. That guy must really like telephone-terror, as he also made the more or less genre classic "When a Stranger Calls". I guess the absolute best thing about watching "I Saw What You Did" now is how it catapults you straight back to the glorious eighties! The girls (Shawnee Smith and Tammy Lauren) are genuine 80's beauties, with typical dress code and hair styles, and back then it was still possible to make a horror movie about ordinary old-fashioned telephones instead of gadgets like mobile phones, Skype, Caller-ID or IPods.

A remake of William Castle's 1965 film of the same name, I Saw What You Did is a tepid made-for-TV thriller that will most likely only be of interest to fans of horror babe Shawnee Smith, best known for the '88 remake of The Blob and the Saw franchise.

Smith plays goodie two-shoes high schooler Kim Fielding who invites friend Lisa Harris (Tammy Lauren) over to her house for the evening. With Kim's father away for the night, the girls (and Kim's younger sister Julia, played by Candace Cameron Bure) entertain themselves by making prank calls, picking people at random and telling them 'I saw what you did, and I know who you are'. Unfortunately, the man that Kim speaks to, Adrian Lancer (Robert Carradine), has just murdered his girlfriend and is understandably concerned about the mystery phone call.

It's a great premise but the script piles on the contrivances and improbability: in a really dumb move, the friends decide to pay a visit to Adrian because they like the sound of his voice (seriously, the guy could be in his 50s and weigh 350lbs, but they like his voice). And in an even more unlikely turn of events, Kim accidentally leaves her purse in his apartment, thus enabling him to find out where she lives. How girls this devoid of common sense made it as far as their teens is a mystery to me.

The ending is reasonably well handled, as the psycho -- a pyromaniac -- breaks into Kim's home and sets the place on fire, but this being a TV movie, director Fred Walton can only take matters so far, delivering zero gore (and no gratuitous shower scene).

I hated the original- i thought it was cheesy and corny, and it wasnt scary at all! But this one came out when i was about nine years old, and it scared me half to death. i loved it, and i have been looking for it ever since i saw it, way back then. i always try to tell people about it, but no one i know has ever heard of it. but my sister and i loved it...