I Know What You Did Last Summer

I Know What You Did Last Summer was a screenplay penned by Kevin Williamson several years beforehand, which was then rushed into production by Columbia Pictures upon the success of the Williamson-written Scream (1996).[9] It was based on the 1973 novel of the same name by Lois Duncan,[10] a youth-oriented suspense novel about four young people who are involved in a hit-and-run accident involving a young boy.[11] Producer Erik Feig pitched the idea of a screen adaptation to Mandalay Entertainment, and subsequently appointed Williamson to retool the core elements of Duncan's novel, rendering a screenplay more akin to a 1980s slasher film.[4][11] Inspired by his father, who had been a commercial fisherman, Williamson changed the setting of the novel to a small fishing village, and made the villain a hook-wielding fisherman.[5]

The killer's arming of himself with a hook is a reference to the urban legend "The Hook," which the four main characters recount at the beginning of the film around a campfire.[11] According to Williamson, he wrote the scene as a way of indicating what was to come: "Basically what I was doing was I was setting the framework to say, 'All right, audience: That's that legend. Now here's a new one.'"[11] Unlike Williamson's screenplay for the film's contemporary, Scream (1996), which incorporated satire of the slasher film, I Know What You Did Last Summer was written more as a straightforward slasher film.[11] Gillespie commented in 2008: "The joy of this film for me as a filmmaker was in taking [the] elements that we've seen before, and saying to the audience: 'Here's something you've seen before'—knowing that they're saying 'We've seen this before'—and still getting them to jump."[11] Gillespie also claimed that he felt Williamson's screenplay did not resemble a "slasher horror movie," and that he saw it rather as simply "a really good story" with a morality tale embedded within it.[11]

According to producer Stokely Chaffin, the producers sought out actors who were "beautiful, but likable."[11] Director Gillespie recalled that, though he had been unfamiliar with the screenplay's source material, that "roughly 60 to 65%" of the young women auditioning had read the novel as children.[12] Jennifer Love Hewitt, who at the time was mainly known for her role on the television series Party of Five, was cast in the lead of Julie James based on her "ability to project vulnerability," which the producers, director Gillespie, and writer Williamson unanimously agreed upon.[11] Initially, Hewitt was considered for the role of Helen.[11] For the role of Barry, the crew had envisioned an actor with a "6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) quarterback" appearance, as the character had been written as an intimidating figure.[11] Ryan Phillipe was ultimately cast in the part based on his audition, despite the fact that he was not as physically tall as the script had called for.[11] Director Gillespie chose Freddie Prinze Jr. for the role of Ray, because he felt Prinze himself had an "everyman" quality much like the character.[11]

Sarah Michelle Gellar was the last of the lead performers to be cast in the role of Helen.[11] Like Hewitt, Gellar was also known to American audiences at the time for her roles in television, primarily as the titular Buffy Summers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.[11] Gillespie commented on casting Gellar: "I wanted an actress that had a warmth to her, but could still come off as being a bitch."[11] For the supporting role of Missy, Gillespie sought an actress with significant screen presence, as the character, despite appearing in only two scenes, is central to several major plot points.[11] Anne Heche was cast in the role, which she recalled as being two days' worth of work that required her to "be scary."[11]

The cliff and rock shown at the beginning of the film, shot at Kolmer Gulch near Jenner, California

Scottish director Jim Gillespie was hired to direct the film after being suggested by writer Williamson.[11] Star Hewitt would later state in 2008 that Gillespie was to date her "favorite director [she's] ever worked with."[11] Principal photography began on March 31, 1997[13] and took place over a period of ten weeks[14] throughout the late spring-early summer of 1997.[lower-roman 1] Approximately seven weeks of the ten-week shoot took place at night, which Gillespie says was difficult for the cast and crew, and also created commotion in primary small-town locations in which they shot.[13] Gillespie devised a color scheme with cinematographer Denis Crossan which was marked by heavy blues throughout, and a notable lack of bright colors.[16]

The blind curve where the car accident occurs early in the film, shot at Kolmer Gulch near Jenner, California

For the beginning of the film, coastal areas of Sonoma County, California stood in for North Carolina, where the film is set. The opening shots of the sun setting on a rugged coast were filmed at Kolmer Gulch, just north of the town of Jenner, on Highway 1.[17] The car crash scene was also filmed on Highway 1 in the same area. The scene in which the four friends are seated around a campfire on the beach next to a wrecked boat was inspired by a painting Gillespie had seen in a reference book; to achieve the image, the art department purchased an old boat in Bodega Bay, cut it in half, and placed it at the beach location.[18]

The majority of the film was set in Southport, North Carolina.

The remaining scenes were filmed primarily around the town of Southport, North Carolina.[17] Specific sites included the Amuzu Theater, where the beauty pageant is held, the Old Yacht Basin and Southport Fish Company.[19] Julie's house is on Short Street just north of Southport Marina.[20] The daytime sequences shot on the marina show multiple vessels traversing the water; though real vessels, the boat traffic was orchestrated by a marine traffic coordinator to make the waterway appear lively.[21] The Shivers Department Store setting in the film was discovered on location in Southport by director Gillespie, who was so impressed by the location that he reworked elements of the script in order to incorporate it into the film; it eventually became the primary setting for Helen's extended chase sequence with the killer.[11] The exterior sequences of Julie's Boston college campus were in fact shot at Duke University,[22] while the hospital sequence was filmed at Southport's Dosher Memorial Hospital in an unused wing of the hospital.[23]

The final sequence on the boat was shot on an actual water-bound vessel on the Cape Fear River, which proved difficult for the actors and crew.[11] According to Gillespie, the filmmakers nearly lost the boat while attempting to dock it due to the volatile waters, after which they were forced to leave and shoot other footage until the following day.[11]

Gillespie chose to film virtually no onscreen blood as he did not want the film to be overly gratuitous in terms of violence.[13][11] The scene in which Elsa has her throat slashed while standing against a glass door had originally been shot from behind without any blood appearing on the glass. However, producer Feig worried that the scene appeared "medically impossible," after which Gillespie re-shot it (post-principal photography) with a visual effect of blood spattering across the glass.[11] Upon test screenings of the film, Gillespie and the producers decided that a death sequence needed to occur earlier in the film to establish a sense of legitimate danger for the main characters.[11] The scene in which Max is murdered in the crab factory was subsequently filmed and implemented into the final cut to achieve this (in the original script, his character was not killed).[11]

The original ending of the film featured a sequence in which Julie receives an email reading: "I Still Know."[13] This ending was scrapped for the more dramatic ending featured in the final cut of the film, in which Julie finds the same message scrawled on a shower stall just before the killer comes crashing through the glass.[13] This footage was also shot after principal photography, on a soundstage next-door to where Hewitt was filming Party of Five.[24]

In anticipation of the film's release, distributor Columbia Pictures began a summer marketing campaign that presented the film as being "From the creator of Scream."[13] Miramax Films subsequently filed a lawsuit against Columbia, arguing the claim was inaccurate as the director of Scream was Wes Craven, not Williamson.[13] The week following the film's theatrical release, a federal judge awarded Miramax an injunction requiring that Columbia remove the claim from their advertising campaign.[25] Williamson had requested its removal prior after seeing it on a theater poster.[26]

Miramax won a subsequent lawsuit against Columbia during a March 1998 hearing. In a press release, executive Bob Weinstein noted plans to "vigorously pursue" damage claims against Columbia Pictures for their use of the claim.[26]

I Know What You Did Last Summer opened theatrically in North America on October 17, 1997.[27] The film had been made on a $17 million budget,[4] yet already in its opening weekend it grossed $15,818,645 in 2,524 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking number one; it remained in the number one position for an additional two weekends.[27] By the end of its theatrical run in December 1997, it had grossed $72,586,134 in the U.S. and Canada[4] and $53 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $126 million.[3][27]

According to data compiled by Box Office Mojo, I Know What You Did Last Summer is the sixth highest-grossing slasher film as of 2019.[27]

The film received mixed reviews upon release, inevitably drawing both positive and negative comparisons to Scream, also written by Williamson. Mick LaSalle thought it inferior to Scream,[28] but Richard Harrington compared it favorably, stating that it was "... a smart, sharply drawn genre film with a moral center and a solid cast of young actors to hold it."[29] Variety was also enthusiastic, calling it a "polished genre piece with superior fright elements that should perform at better than average theatrical levels."[30] Critic Roger Ebert gave the film one of four stars and wrote in his review, "The best shot in this film is the first one. Not a good sign."[31] An Entertainment Weekly columnist praised Hewitt's performance, noting that Hewitt knows how to "scream with soul."[32]

Lawrence Van Gelder of The New York Times wrote of the film: "This isn't real life. It's the Grand Guignol of I Know What You Did Last Summer, laying its claim to succeed Scream as a high-grossing, blood-drenched date-night crowd-pleaser. And why shouldn't it?"[33] James Kendrick of the Q Network wrote that 'Williamson's characters are all generic types, but they're still believable as people and they react realistically according to the situations," adding that the film was "head and shoulders above earlier "dead teenager movies.""[34] TV Guide's Maitland McDonagh awarded the film two out of five stars, noting: "Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson takes a step back and writes the kind of movie Scream mocks. You can see him now, soaking up videos of Friday the 13th and Halloween—not to mention the lesser likes of He Knows You're Alone, Terror Train, and My Bloody Valentine—and saying, "I can do that!" And he can."[35]

Critic James Berardinelli credited the film (along with Scream) as igniting a new boom of slasher films, adding: "There is one minor aspect of the plot that elevates I Know What You Did Last Summer above the level of a typical '80s slasher flick -- it has an interesting subtext. I'm referring to the way the lives and friendships of these four individuals crumble in the wake of their accident. Guilt, confusion, and doubt build in them until they can no longer stand to be with each other or look at themselves in the mirror. Sadly, this potentially-fascinating element of the movie is dismissed quickly to facilitate a higher body count. And, as I said before, a few extra deaths can only make a slasher movie better, right?"[36]

Film scholar Adam Rockoff notes in his book Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978–1986 that at the time of its release, many critics branded I Know What You Did Last Summer as an imitation of Scream. However, he contends that it is a "much different film," even in spite of the fact that their respective screenplays were penned by the same writer:

Whereas Scream relied heavily on self-conscious references and its pop culture veneer, Last Summer was a throwback to the slasher films of the early '80s. While, like Scream, it employed the services of a group of young, sexy and almost impossibly good-looking actors, Last Summer played its horror straight. Those looking for a good old-fashioned slasher film were pleasantly surprised.[2]

Modern reception has continued to be mixed and on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 42% approval rating, based on reviews from 66 critics. The consensus summarizes: "A by-the-numbers slasher that arrived a decade too late, the mostly tedious I Know What You Did Last Summer will likely only hook diehard fans of the genre."[37] Metacritic reported an aggregate score of 52 out of 100 based on reviews from 17 critics.[38] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.[39]

In 1973, Lois Duncan's I Know What You Did Last Summer was published. It was republished as a tie-in to the film in 1997 and once again in 2018 with some of its content modernized. The film adaptation reenvisioned the story of the novel as a violent slasher film, as opposed to the slow-burn mystery nature of the novel.

I Know What You Did Last Summer has been referenced in various films and television series, and its central plot was parodied at length in the spoof film Scary Movie (2000).[46]

It was also spoofed in The Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror X" as “I Know What You Diddily-Iddily-Did”, with Ned Flanders as the killer.[47]