The sequel starts off a year after the original. Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is in college, but has a lot of bad dreams about the killer they thought they had killed a year ago, Ben Grimes coming back to get her. Her boyfriend Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.) is back in their hometown, a place Julie can't bring herself to go back to. Julie's roommate Karla (Brandy) wins a trip for four to a remote island in the Bahamas so Karla and her boyfriend, and Julie and their friend Will all head there. Ray tries to surprise her, but has a surprise in store for him instead. Once they get there, strange things start to happen, and people end up dead. It seems Ben Grimes isn't dead, and he's out to get Julie and her friends. But everything isn't what it seems to be, and everyone is a suspect. A not-so-surprising twist at the end, and a been-there-done-that explaination end the movie on a low note.
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is your run of the mill horror film. A killer out for revenge stalks a bunch of kids. Mind you, that's the same plot as the original, but the original had some class to it, while this one does not. I think the most obvious difference is that the first film had Kevin Williamson as the screenwriter, while this one had a guy named Trey Callaway. I looked up Trey on the Internet Movie Database, and this movie was the first one he's written. And it shows... Williamson has been on somewhat of a hot streak recently, but I never realized how important the screenplay is to a horror film. There was such an obvious difference in the way a scene flowed, not just the dialogue. I know a lot of people think that a screenwriter only comes up with words and dialogue, but he also puts in direction. The way a scene looks and flows is due in large part to the mind of the screenwriter. When you have someone as inventive and as in touch with horror as Williamson, a movie takes on a smooth flow with witty dialogue. When you take someone else, and assume that because the movie is a sequel to a successful original people will go see it, a horror film can, and will, fail. Horror films can't be like they were 20 years ago. Fans are too sophisticated to deal with regular horror. I don't think they should have taken an unproven writer and thrown him into a big budget horror sequel.
The other problem I had with it was the way the focused almost completely on Jennifer Love Hewitt's character. The original was more of an ensemble piece, while this one had a main character with some background players. The other thing I didn't like was how everytime Jennifer was on the screen, she was wearing something tight, or revealing, or short, or something of that nature. While from a male point of view I enjoyed it, I also got tired of it from a movie point of view. Jennifer Love Hewitt is obviously an attractive young woman, but don't try and sell a movie completely on her body. Gratuitous shots of her chest are a little unecessary if you're trying to sell this as a good movie. I just thought her body got more attention than her acting, and I'm annoyed that the director and producer thought that this was the way to make a movie. It didn't work. I don't think movie fans are stupid enough to be fooled into thinking a movie is good because its lead female star happens to walk around in revealing clothing.
Like I said before, I love Jennifer Love Hewitt, and I love watching her, and since the movie did concentrate on her, I liked that aspect. But from a movie point of view, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer was nothing special. And see? I can separate my male side from my movie side...
