I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997).

Review #2463: I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Cast: 

Jennifer Love Hewitt (Julie James), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Helen Shivers), Ryan Phillippe (Barry Cox), Freddie Prinze Jr (Ray Bronson), Johnny Galecki (Max Neurick), Bridgette Wilson (Elsa Shivers), Anne Heche (Melissa "Missy" Egan), Muse Watson (Benjamin "Ben" Willis / the Fisherman), and Stuart Greer (Officer) Directed by Jim Gillespie.

Review: 

"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."

You may or may not know that this came from the writer of Scream (1996). Yes, Kevin Williamson had written a script loosely based on the 1973 novel of the same name, which had been written by Lois Duncan...but that script was done before Scream was even a thought in his mind, with the success of the 1996 movie getting people onto the idea of maybe doing studio slashers, which is where the old script came into play. This was the feature film debut of Jim Gillespie, who previously had done work on television and music videos. Duncan went on record as stating she was appalled by the movie being based on her book (stating specifically that she had a problem with sensationalized violence made to "seem thrilling rather than terrible", particularly since she was the mother of a murdered child); incidentally, Gillespie aimed to film with as little on-screen blood as possible to try and not be gratuitous with the violence. The book was a suspense novel featured a group of teens getting into a car accident (in the book's case, a young boy on a bike) that leads to death for the kid and oddly enough, nobody else. The movie was relatively successful with audiences, at least enough to inspire a sequel called I Still Know What You Did Last Summer in 1998 to go along with a direct-to-video feature (nobody cares), a modern take of the first film for an Amazon show in 2021 (what?), and a legacy sequel in 2025 that was called...I Know What You Did Last Summer (ironically following Scream doing the same thing years earlier*). 

Sure, you remember the movie about a hook-wielding killer terrorizing four teenagers. And you probably had one question on your mind: What the hell? What the hell to any of this? This was Williamson's "straightforward" horror script? To be clear, I will say that I may or may not be a bit generous with horror movies when it comes to assessing them because, well, there are some that are just entertaining even in mediocrity. But not this one. It isn't even the barebones body count (four), and it isn't even just the fact that the characters might as well have been constructed out of a wood board. No, what annoys me the most is that this supposed modern take on the slasher movie is just the same type of hack stuff you could find in Friday the 13th. And that movie was meant to be taken seriously, but with this movie, I thought it was supposed to be a joke, right down to the scene where Hewitt twirls around before screaming into the air what is the killer waiting for. Some might be subservient to any kind of slasher movie when it comes to spectacle, but not me, not for this one. The funny thing is that the killer is pretty terrible at how he targets people, since half the people he kills had nothing to do with the thing that happened a year prior and some of the time he just sneaks up on the people just to...terrorize them (seriously, he breaks into one girl's house to cut her hair down). But it comes in such a tedious little movie, one that aims to say something, anything about what it means to make the wrong choice and have to live with it...and then the ending coughs that up anyway! 

Some folks might consider Gellar to be the highlight of the film when it comes to...acting, but in general, everyone seems to be on the autopilot you could find in any generic slasher, even with the proverbial dark cloud over their heads. They just seem more like they are waiting for the boat show rather than being spooked by what is occurring around them, suffice to say. At least Phillippe is amusing in that veneer of arrogance and privilege for a time, probably far more than you think he will go given the amount of people to be terrorized or otherwise (such as Galecki, who might as well have been a paperweight). By the time the movie has ended its reign of error, complete with the characters seemingly learning about telling the cops about what the hell is going on, you will have gotten the feeling the movie was the equivalent of a toothache. This isn't one of those times where I get mad a slasher for being a slasher, this is just one of those frustratingly mediocre movies to get mad at because there were ideas worth looking into. Why not make a mystery worth watching about people who can't cope with who they are in making the wrong choice? But nah, there was a hook story mentioned in the early parts of the movie so we can have the killer go with hooks because, uh, reasons. As a whole, I Know What You Did Last Summer has a few tiny moments of relief - the chase of Gellar near the end is probably the highlight, at least when not considering the humor at the movie's expense for sheer ludicrous things. But the real moment where you believe things will be good comes here: when you look at the fact the 101 minutes are over, and you can watch a different, more interesting slasher movie. Or just a non-slasher movie. Or, well, whatever. Anything other than middle of the road junk.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.

Next up: Pumpkinhead.

*Totally not the point, but I don't give a shit about the reasoning for Scream 5 (2022) being called Scream. It was stupid when Halloween (2018) did it, so if I ever get to the Scream movies beyond the first, you best believe I'm calling the 2022 one Scream 5. Then again, the weird people talking about Scream in recent days about 7 on both sides make me roll my eyes. 

The House of Yes.

Review #2020: The House of Yes.

Cast: 

Parker Posey ("Jackie-O" Pascal), Josh Hamilton (Marty Pascal), Tori Spelling (Lesly), Freddie Prinze Jr (Anthony Pascal), Geneviève Bujold (Mrs. Pascal) Directed by Mark Waters (#151 - Mean Girls, #204 - Freaky Friday (2003), #236 - Mr. Popper's Penguins)

Review: 

"Basically, what we wanted to achieve was a heightened reality. The situations and characters are out there, but the actors are always coming from a real place. They're not wacky cartoon characters."

Oh hell, sometimes you have to go outside the box when it comes to picking movies involving directorial debuts and, uh, movies with one standout cast member in a limited ensemble. The film is based on the play of the same name by Wendy MacLeod, which originally was brought to the stage in San Francisco for 1990; various productions have been done over the years, which included one run on off-Broadway. Mark Waters adapted the play to the screen to direct, which came after years of waiting. He had seen the play and apparently saw immediate things that he would do to make it cinematic. When he was a student at the University of Pennsylvania, he got the attention of MacLeod and got a manuscript copy from her while saying he was a film producer. It took five years and graduation from the AFI Conservatory with a master's degree in filmmaking, but he eventually found his way to making the film, which was his feature debut. Aaron Spelling and his company Spelling Entertainment helped to finance the film for who else but his daughter Tori to serve as one of the key actors (Waters had planned to fund the film from foreign pre-sales, but hey, why not Spelling and his considerable television presence?). The film was shot over the course of 24 days for a budget under $2 million. Miramax apparently liked what they saw when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997 and bought the rights to distribute it, which did not turn out to be a success in limited numbers. Perhaps an attempt at making a Gothic tale with macabre taste about an assassination was doomed from the start to do anything other than mild attention, but this was the year of other "family" films such as The Ice Storm and The Myth of Fingerprints (the latter had also premiered at Sundance that year). Of course, maybe I could do a teensy, tiny, little primer of what the film involves. It is set on Thanksgiving in 1983 and involves a main character that dresses up like Jacqueline Kennedy (Onassis) that has their own neat little secret to go with trips to the funny farm (footage from her tour of the White House is utilized with a young version of "Jackie-O", as played by Rachael Leigh Cook). Oh, and she and her brother have a certain connection that involves details of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Waters would return to the director's chair in 2001 with Head over Heels.

You know, I had a feeling that this film was going to be an interesting experience, even with its stagey execution with odd dealings. It grew on me for its 85-minute runtime beyond my expectations of just being a mild experience with only a taboo to stick out or just hints. Of course, emotional obsession can make for quite a fun time for those who take investment into that sort of thing for their dark comedies, and it works out just fine for this feature, which goes into the jaws of psychosis and finds that one really cannot stop at the bottom, regardless if one belongs to the class of the rich, who might as well be called "the house of yes". So it isn't a movie about the Kennedys but merely the myth that centers around them. Of course, the film is carried most by Posey, who was once called "Queen of the Indies" for her work within various independent films, such as Party Girl (1995). She is the best part of the film because of how confident she is with such an unpredictable role, one that is extravagantly dangerous without being pegged down as a simple loon. She is captivating in how she grips your concerns for how much obsessive and irrational love can inflict their claws on someone that could pervade everything around them until that is all there is. As such, the scenes spent with Hamilton in the throes of mental anguish provide a quality tete-a-tete between the attempts at trying to be "normal" on one side and trying to, well, see how much things having in common really matters. Bujold is the ever-watching eye that can only help but pay attention to the charade of affluent breeding. Spelling was known for her role on Beverly Hills 90210. I suppose it makes sense that she ends up playing the most "normal" of the limited cast, and she actually holds her own pretty well in being the perfect plain contrast that has the biggest crime of being "normal". Prinze Jr was actually in his second film role here, having gotten into show business because his grandfather told him to in order to "fix what your father fucked up". He may not be close to the best thing about the film, but his odd duck youthfulness gels just fine when it comes to uncomfortable amusement, spent mostly with Spelling in a different kind of charade built on warped desire. As a whole, the film doesn't become too warped in sincerity or camp value to lose sight of what matters in a film about people who are never told no that go with snappy dialogue and useful pacing to make a darkly enjoyable surprise for those who buy into that sort of thing, especially with its final fateful decision. I dug it and where it went in its stagey foundations with a good dark chuckle.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Scooby-Doo.

Review #621: Scooby-Doo.

Cast
Freddie Prinze Jr (Fred Jones), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Daphne Blake), Matthew Lillard (Shaggy Rogers), Linda Cardellini (Velma Dinkley), Rowan Atkinson (Emile Mondavarious), Neil Fanning (Scooby-Doo), Isla Fisher (Mary Jane), and Scott Innes (Scrappy-Doo) Directed by Raja Gosnell (#495 - Home Alone 3)

Review
Scooby-Doo was at always at least somewhat enjoyable, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was fine for all its flaws (the laugh track, the questionable animation), and it is probably the show most remember of the 11 shows that have been broadcast in nearly 45 years, and so they made a movie. Let me clarify that, they've made a few direct to video films (22) and telefilms, but then there's the two theatrical films, but we're only covering the first film tonight. So...yeah, what about this film? It's like the movie can't decide on what it wants to be, does it want to make fun of the show or does it want to just embrace the show and its quirks? Part of the problem is that the movie is unbalanced, it just doesn't have a proper focus, though I guess it is sometimes fun, it has it moments, the climax is actually decent, even if Scrappy-Doo is in it. The CGI is weird, maybe it's the fact that the demons look like weird stick figures, and their weakness to the sun doesn't help much. This is a movie where you really can't care if it stinks because it's not like you were expecting anything special from a movie with a competition of burping and farting between Scooby and Shaggy. The acting is fine, but the movie neither benefits nor suffers from the actors, it's just an average movie that while sometimes fun, isn't anything special. Watch at your own risk.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.