Well, they can't. Contrary to how these things are supposed to be done, the early "shock" scenes in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer don't really work if you're unfamiliar with the setup.
Furthermore, if I had seen the original, I would have set aside my delicate sense of dignity and feigned an attack of agoraphobia or the plain old screamin' meemies in order to avoid squandering another 101 minutes on such a transparent gobbler.
The first film was a surprise hit among young audiences, a fact that can be chalked up to either clever marketing or the long-term effects of this nation's decline in education. It benefited from the "hot new kid" name recognition of screenwriter Kevin Williamson, as well as from the presence of Jennifer Love Hewitt, who appears in one of those TV shows whose proliferation is one of the many reasons I am a film critic rather than a TV critic.
But alas, the overstuffed stew pot of television occasionally slops over into the film world, and the stardom of Ms. Hewitt is yet one more little gravy stain on the domain of cinema.
To be fair, Hewitt is not the main problem with Summer pere or fils. Blame for the former should be placed squarely on Williamson and director Jim Gillespie; for the latter, on screenwriter Trey Callaway and director Danny Cannon.
For those who missed the original, a brief recap: Two teenage couples returning from a high school graduation romp run over a shadowy figure. In an attempt to cover up the accident, they toss the body into the sea, even after discovering that their victim is still alive. A year later one of the quartet, Julie James (Hewitt), receives a note that reads, "I know what you did last summer!" A hooded figure starts to stalk the four, wantonly killing others along the way for no discernible reason. After much plot misdirection, Julie and boyfriend Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.) identify the killer as fisherman Ben Willis and dispose of him. Or so they think.
The sequel opens with Julie, exactly a year later, having a nightmare about Willis. Her roommate, Karla (Brandy), tries to cheer her up, but Julie is just a neurotic ol' gloompuss. An obnoxious DJ calls the girls' unlisted number--hint, hint--and asks, "What's the capital of Brazil?" When Julie and Karla answer, "Rio de Janeiro," he informs them that they've won an all-expenses-paid vacation for four at a beautiful tropical resort. (Just about now those of you who got a B or better in geography will realize that there's something fishy about this radio giveaway.)
When Ray craps out on the trip, Julie finds herself paired off with Will (Matthew Settle), a lovesick swain with the demonic grin of Tom Cruise. Together with Karla and her boyfriend, Tyrell (Mekhi Phifer), they take off for the Tower Bay Hotel, arriving in what seems to be a popular Caribbean paradise filled with bikini-clad babes and muscle-bound menschen. But it turns out that this is the last day before hurricane season kicks in. Amazingly, the entire island is deserted within hours, though some quick calculating--capacity of ferry multiplied by time remaining for ferry trips equals way fewer people than we see in the establishing shots--suggests that the filmmakers are no better at math than their characters are at geography.
The quartet find themselves trapped on the island with only the hotel manager and his "marginally trained off-season staff of five" for company--or so it seems, until a hooded figure starts picking off staff and guests, slashing them open with his prosthetic hooked hand.
Time elapsed from the figure's first appearance to the film's end is slightly more than an hour--an hour as devoid of genuine suspense as the original film. While it can be said in the sequel's defense that it's not quite as downright dull and plodding as its predecessor, it is still no more effective. Cannon and Callaway have exactly two tricks in their bag: the fakeout shock cut (there's someone behind you! eek! oops, it's just a friend) and the menacing figure scurrying through the background of a shot in which we can see him but the onscreen character can't.
Like the first film, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer ends with a shock teaser: It defies logic, but it sets up yet another sequel. Be sure and warn me before it comes out; I'll need time to lay in a supply of botulin toxin for my alibi.
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.
Directed by Danny Cannon. Written by Trey Callaway. Starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Brandy, Mekhi Phifer, Matthew Settle, Freddie Prize Jr., and Jeffrey Combs. Opens Friday.
