Review of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

Quick rating followed but fun with spoilers (lots of immediate spoilers):

• Story/Plot is a 3, just forget about plot point logic or character intellect
• Acting is a 6, a lot of screaming but the acting isn't stilted. It's not award winning for sure but even better horror movies often have worse performances
• Production value is a 4, definitely below average for a theatrical release but better than straight-to-video. Inexpensive sets and I think their lighting budget must've been $50. Efficient, I guess, but could be worse
• Horror/scarce/tension value is a 2, the editing just doesn't lend itself to scares. The movie kicks things off right off the bat with the killer being present and there's just no time to set the stage for what's to come

--Spoiler time-- The one thing I noted about this movie is just how brilliant the Fisherman is at tactical planning. It's just impressive.

The first thing to note, and the biggest letdown of a twist, is that the Fisherman's son, Will, is in on the whole thing. Yes, the Fisherman has a son. And he felt it was appropriate to involve his college-age kid in a murder/vengeance plot that is just incredibly convoluted.

1. Sending Will to the same college as Julie

• Wow, how much planning did this require? I think this takes place a year after the end of the first movie, so it's been two years since the accidental murder-and-run the group performed to kick off the first movie. This means that the killer had this college plan in mind right away. Will must've transferred to the school or applied immediately and was accepted. The first movie is Julie's freshman year in college, so this movie is her Sophomore year.

• So, the Fisherman knew he was going to let Julie live for the first anniversary just so he could set a really convoluted series of traps using his son, who not only attends her college but also attends at least one of her classes and befriends both her, Karla, and Tyrell. The execution to make that happen is applaud-worthy. Just impressive. Also possible that the college thing was an incredibly lucky coincidence. Seems unlikely. Then again, having a son at all for this guy seemed unlikely.

2. The radio show: the killer's only blunder

• We learn that Will called Julie's phone, posing as the local radio station. Will, younger and less experienced than his father, obviously must've planned this trick because it almost stops the plan in its tracks.

• Mistake 1: as soon as the phone rings, Julie vocalizes that her phone number is unlisted. Whoops. She forgets this right away once hearing that it's a local radio station so it's all good.

• Mistake 2: giving Julie and Karla a trivia question that they didn't actually know the answer too. The girls gave the wrong answer to the trivia question of, "What is the capital of Brazil?" The killer has no choice but to swallow that pill of accepting the incorrect answer and hoping for the best. Whoopsie. Again, neither girl ever really follows up until it's far too late to learn that information.

• Mistake 3: July 4th trip. I know it's the anniversary but it seems like a longshot that college kids would have no 4th of July plans a few weeks out from the holiday. This goes double for Julie since she should clearly have some nervousness about this time of year and may not want to just be accepting invites from strangers.

3. Masterful fake car crash scene

• The Fisherman puts together a full-on crash-site reconstruction that Ray and his buddy happen across on their way up to meet Julie. How... HOW was he to know that they'd be specifically coming up that way at that time? Ray clearly said he wasn't going to the vacation to Julie over the phone and, unless the Fisherman was keeping close tabs, he wouldn't know.

• After Ray's arrival on the scene, The Fisherman KNEW that Ray would stop and get out of the car, leaving his buddy behind. The killer knew Ray's car and was patient enough to just sit and wait, probably checking his watch frequently and muttering to himself, "...should be here by now..." over and over.

• The crash scene had a mannequin dressed in full-on fisherman gear, just laying on the ground with an apparently crashed car. Ray goes up to the mannequin which was apparently a ruse at which point the Fisherman just murdered the heck out of the friend
• Ray's buddy dies quickly while Ray fights the killer off enough to be able to get to some kind of urgent care in the sketchy part of some city
• The killer cleans up the entire crime scene by the time cops can get there. Now, the killer has shown himself to be a master at this (reference the ability for the killer to completely fill/clean a trunk with a dead body, live crabs, and a ton of ice in the first movie)
• Anyway, this move was to keep Ray off the island, getting Will invited as backup. Seems like it'd have been easier for Will to be hired to work at the island for the summer but hey, I'm not a genius murderer out for revenge

4. Hotel selection and activities

• Killer is able to book a really crappy hotel that literally has no other guests, so all four are alone with a skeleton crew of cleaners and hosts
• The hotel also has characters that are easy pickin's for a talented murderer to have a field day
• The killer tampered with a Karaoke tape which means he knew the bartender would recommend the machine, that the kids would be interested in the machine, and that they'd just go with the default song, the ironic and iconic I Will Survive.

5. Master of Weather

• The Bahamas doesn't close for July. I looked it up. Therefore the killer must've spent a long time posing as a weather expert. Obviously he fully convinced the owner to shut down the gorgeous island resort during the summer holiday. No other explanation at all and all off camera, of course.

• I have no words, just brilliant. Good on you, Fisherman, for rolling a nat 20 on your charisma check.

6. Dramatic Killing Order and Reveals

• Not only does the Fisherman murder hotel staff one-by-one, he does so in a wide variety of island locations. We know it wasn't Will doing all this since he was always with Tyrell or Julie.

• The killer then stashes the bodies in locations that then get uncovered individually by the group. Each location hidden enough to go unnoticed by anybody except specific characters so that everybody gets to find one.

• Sticking a body in an active industrial clothes drier for Karla to find was another masterstroke. She was attracted by the noise of a bulky object in the machine because she wanted proof that it was ok to put sneakers into a clothes drier. Um... it isn't, please don't. Also, why you going around opening the industrial washer/drier units? So rude.

• The killer then moves ALL the bodies AGAIN into a single location so that the group can all stumble upon this hidden treasure together for EXTRA drama and thrills. Chef's kiss. Chef's kiss. Chef's kiss. Bold move that paid off, amazing style points on this one.

7. Another major gamble by making the team think they won

• The killer is gutsy and that's what makes him truly special. He obviously knows that the group aren't going to double-check their predator's demise all that closely, and also knows that they won't mortally wound him.

• Allowing himself to be shot and tossed into the open grave he dug (seemingly for the kids) was just the kind of thing that would surely lower their guard again for next year. Will, he must hope, also lives through his own injuries. But clearly the art of successfully terrorizing these kids is enough for him to risk his own son's life.

In short, The Fisherman is just dedicated to his art and it's always fun to watch somebody with that level of talent and love for his work do his thing. BUT, I'm still giving it a 4. He's the only gem in the bunch and just can't shine brilliantly enough to make up for the rest of the trash heap.