I Know What You Did Last Summer

This article is about the film. For the novel by Lois Duncan, see I Know What You Did Last Summer (novel).

I Know What You Did Last Summer
Directed by	Jim Gillespie
Written by	Lois Duncan Kevin Williamson
Produced by	William S. Beasley Neal H. Mortiz
Starring	Jennifer Love Hewitt Sarah Michelle Gellar Ryan Phillippe Freddie Prinze, Jr. Johnny Galecki Bridgette Wilson Anne Heche Muse Watson
Music by	John Debney
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	October 17, 1997 (USA)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$17,000,000
Box office	$125,500,000

I Know What You Did Last Summer is a 1997 horror/slasher film starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze, Jr. The screenplay was written by Kevin Williamson, writer of Scream, and very loosely based on a popular novel by Lois Duncan of the same title. The film was followed by the sequels, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and the straight-to-DVD I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer. A possible prequel is currently in talks.

Plot

After teenager Helen Rivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) wins the annual Croaker County Beauty Pageant, she and her boyfriend Barry William Cox (Ryan Phillippe) party on the beach with their respective best friends: Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and her boyfriend Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.). As they swerve home along a shoreline road, they accidentally hit a fisherman when a drunk Barry drops his liquor bottle and distracts Ray's driving. They don't turn to the police, fearing their post-high school dreams will be shattered: no college football for Barry; no law school for Julie; no heading to New York for Helen or Ray. Barry convinces his reluctant friends to help him dispose of their victim's body. They take the body to the pier and dump it in the water. Moments before his water burial, he woke up and stole Helen's crown, which Barry promptly jumped in and retrieved. The four swore each other to secrecy.

A year later, after her first year at college, Julie returns home. She has been performing poorly in school due to the guilt she feels from the past incident. At her mother's home, she receives a mysterious letter which reads, "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER!" Julie reports the letter to Helen, who never made it to New York, and works at a department store, under the supervision of her elder sister Elsa (Bridgette Wilson). Ignoring Elsa's objections, Helen and Julie head off to find Barry, who is the only one of the four who has felt little or no guilt from the incident. He immediately suspects Max of sending the letter. Julie remarks that the man was still alive when they dumped him in the water. The police found a body caught in a shrimp net near the area three weeks after the incident last year, and he was identified as David Egan.

Later, Max is murdered by a man wielding a hook, who also runs over Barry with his own car. Julie and Ray visit Barry in the hospital, where he and Helen await them. Doing some quick research, Helen and Julie discover that two years ago, David Egan accidentally killed his girlfriend, Susie, in the same location that they ran him over. They find the location of David’s sister, Missy Egan, and they decide to visit her to gather information. During the course of their conversation, Missy mentions Billy Blue, a young handsome man, who visited her, saying he was best friends with David Egan. Julie and Helen now suspect that David’s friend Billy Blue is trying to avenge his friend’s death.

Julie drives Helen home. The fisherman enters the house and hides into Helen's closet. Helen's sister Elsa comes in and says that she needs Helen to work at the store tomorrow. Helen replies that she has the parade tomorrow, while brushing her long hair. Elsa says that she and her hair are pathetic. The next morning, Helen awakens to find herself wearing her old "Croaker Queen" crown. To her horror, her hair has been cut off to the shoulder and left on her pillow; the word "SOON" is written in lipstick on her mirror. Helen promptly calls Barry and Julie, both of whom she tells about the incident. While rushing over in her car, Julie hears a scratching noise in her trunk. She stops the car to investigate, and finds the murdered Max wearing Barry's stolen jacket with crabs crawling all over the corpse. Julie screams, shuts her trunk and flees for Helen's. Barry and Helen come to see but the trunk is now empty. Julie speculates that the fisherman must have taken the body, perhaps to demonstrate that he can set them up with it if they try to go to the police. He's just "out there watching and waiting."

The next day, Helen is due to participate in the Croaker Queen Pageant, but is frightened that the fisherman will attack her. Before the pageant, Barry holds Helen tightly and promises he will protect her. During the pageant, the Fisherman attacks Barry from behind on the secluded balcony. Helen sees the killer dragging Barry out of sight. She begins to shout and cry for someone to help him, but the crowd restrains her, thinking she is insane, and Barry is murdered during the commotion.

The policeman taking her home via car is forced to take the back alley with Helen in the back. The fisherman sets up a car block and impales the policeman with his hook. Helen escapes and manages to run to the safety of her sister Elsa's sprawling store.

Elsa enters the back storage room as the back door closes. Helen calls the police. The Fisherman swiftly kills Elsa. Helen follows and is attacked. She rushes upstairs, leaps out a window onto debris and flees through some back alleys. Stepping away from a rousing parade, she hears a sound and turns to look. The killer appears in front of her and drags her behind some tires. The parade masks the sounds of her death.

Meanwhile, Julie at last figures out David Egan's true identity. After meeting with Ray, she solves the mystery. They didn't run over David Egan one year ago, but someone else. Because the face was disfigured and bloody, they were unable to truly identify who the person was; Julie believes that Ben Willis, Susie's father, tried to avenge his daughter's death by killing her boyfriend/murderer, David Egan. Missy, believed that David committed suicide due to guilt and depression. David was actually murdered by Ben Willis and was set up to look like a suicide. His body was the one found by the police in the docks. Ben Willis was the man that Julie and her friends ran over, he lived and returned to kill them. The fisherman is Ben Willis; this is revealed to Julie when he pulls out the large fishing-hook from his jacket. The older man is also wearing dirty Wellington boots, the same boots Julie found at the incident a year ago. Julie begins to run and tries to jump off the boat but they are too far away from the dock. She flees down inside the boat and locks the door. Ben starts trying to open the door so she runs into the fish storage room, filled with ice cubes. She finds the corpses of Barry and Helen in the ice and screams in horror. Ray comes aboard and saves Julie from Ben. The chase ends with Ben getting his hand chopped off by the pulley, and then thrown overboard. Although later, nobody can find his body, only his hand gripping the fish hook. The sheriff says not to worry; the body "usually" turns up.

A year later, Julie is back at college. (Ben Willis’ body remains missing.) Julie's friend Deb passes by and tells Julie that she has mail: a letter which looks exactly like the one Julie received last year, the letter which started her entire nightmarish ordeal. To Julie's relief, it is only an invitation to a pool party. Returning to her shower room, she finds the words "I STILL KNOW" written on the glass shower-door. A shadow of Ben Willis bursts through the glass.

Alternative Ending

The film originally had a different ending where Julie is chatting online with Ray. Her roommate hands her a white envelope with Julie James written in black marker on it. She opens it up and finds an invitation to a pool party. Someone else begins to chat with Julie then types 'I Still Know' to her and the fisherman jumps through the window and attacks Julie. This ending was used as a teaser trailer for the sequel.

Cast

• Jennifer Love Hewitt as Julie James
• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Helen Shivers
• Ryan Phillippe as Barry Cox
• Freddy Prinze Jr. as Ray Bronson
• Bridgette Wilson as Elsa Shivers
• Johnny Galecki as Max Neurick
• Anne Heche as Melissa 'Missy' Egan
• Muse Watson as Ben Willis
• Stuart Greer as Officer David Caporizo
• Deborah Hobart as Mrs. James
• Rasool J'Han as Deb
• Jonathan Quint as David Egan

Production

Kevin Williamson's screenplay was purchased before his screenplay for the movie Scream. It was only after Scream's success that producers rushed Williamson's screenplay for I Know What You Did Last Summer into production. Scottish director Jim Gillespie was hired by producer Neal H. Moritz to make his debut feature film on the strength of his 10-minute short film "Joyride". The film was shot in Southport, North Carolina, which also served as the film's setting.

In pop culture

• The film inspired The Simpsons Halloween episode Treehouse of Horror X sequence called "I Know What You Diddily-Iddily-Did".
• Spanish tv show Sé lo que hicisteis... (weekly "se lo que hicisteis la ultima semana" and monthly "se lo que hicisteis el ultimo mes" and specials "se lo que hicisteis el ultimo año") is a spoof of the Spanish title of the film "se lo que hicisteis el ultimo verano"
• The movie was mentioned in Aquamarine. When Hailey, one of the characters, said to Claire "he knows what you did last summer", about an employee at the beach hut of Claire's grandparents.
• The movie is referenced in "Horror Show", an episode of Ghost Whisperer. In the episode, Melinda Gordon and Professor Rick Payne are examining a list of horror films. Payne reads them out, reaches I Know What You Did Last Summer, and pauses, turning to Melinda (played by Jennifer Love Hewitt), and raises an eyebrow before continuing.
• The first Scary Movie is a parody of this film and Scream.
• This film has been parodied by the Garfield book "Lights, Camera, Hairballs!", giving it the name "I Know What You Ate Last Summer" due to Garfield's large appetite.
• In the Disney sitcom, That's So Raven, there is an episode called Cake Fear which is similar to this movie.
• In the beginning Dawson's Creek episode, "The Scare" from season 1 shows the characters Dawson and Joey watching the movie during one of their film nights the night before Friday the 13th.

Awards and nominations

Year	Ceremony	Category	Result
1997	ASCAP Award	Top Box Office Films, John Debney	Nominated
1998	Saturn Award	Best Horror Film	Nominated
1998	Blockbuster Entertainment Award	Favorite Female Newcomer, Favorite Actress, Jennifer Love Hewitt	Won
1998		Favorite Supporting Actress - Horror, Sarah Michelle Gellar	Won
1998		Favorite Actor - Horror, Freddie Prinze Jr.	Nominated
1998		Favorite Actress - Horror, Jennifer Love Hewitt	Nominated
1998		Favorite Supporting Actor, Ryan Phillippe	Nominated
1998	IHG Award	Best Movie	Nominated
1998	MTV Movie Awards	Best Breakthrough Performance, Sarah Michelle Gellar	Nominated
1998	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress, Jennifer Love Hewitt	Nominated

Reception

The film opened to $15.8 million in 2,524 theatres on October 17, 1997. The movie stayed in the top position for three consecutive weeks. The end result was a total of $72.5 million in the US and a worldwide theatrical gross in excess of $125 million.

Critics, however, were mixed in their reviews. Critic Roger Ebert wrote in his review, "The best shot in this film is the first one. Not a good sign."

DVD & Blu-ray Disc Release

The film has been released on DVD multiple times. The only special feature was a commentary, but on newer releases it features commentary, a featurette, music video and a trailer. It was released on high definition Blu-ray Disc on July 22, 2008. It will include the same features as the newer DVDs and also BD-Live.

See also

• List of characters in I Know What You Did Last Summer series

External links

• I Know What You Did Last Summer at IMDb
• ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› I Know What You Did Last Summer at AllMovie