“I Know What You Did Last Summer” (1997)

Here’s an ostensibly straightforward slasher film, (from the screenwriter of Scream, no less) that was inexplicably popular when it first came out, and now has mostly fallen by the wayside. And there is a reason for this. Despite its decent high-concept premise, (admittedly one they took from a 25-year-old suspense novel, and had it retrofitted into a slasher film) it’s just not a good film. This isn’t good enough to meet the standards of being even a basic, generic, marginally engaging slasher film. The film is littered with plot holes, the killer is dull and boring, the characters are inconsistent, the acting is mostly bad and some moments are just absolutely ludicrous and are impossible to take seriously, even for this subgenre. Quite frankly, this film is just a mess. While this isn’t the worst thing ever, as there are signs of life, like the first part of the climax is actually kind of okay, there’s nothing good here that even comes close to making this a watchable experience. This isn’t a bad film because it’s a bad adaptation, it’s a bad film because it’s just bad. Honestly, if you want to see this concept done better, just read the original book.

Rating: 1.5/5