I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer DVD Review

Horror film sequels have always been around, and for the most part, extremely bad. It almost seems silly to criticize them, because they have always been bad films which never have the creativity that the original had, but I can’t help but wonder if they didn’t used to be more fun. There once was a time where most films were seen in theaters, especially horror films. The theater experience lends itself to the horror genre, which requires attention for those jump moments, a quiet and dark environment and a large audience to scream and laugh along with you. These days many of the bad horror films are released straight to DVD, which may save us from a bad movie experience, but it could also be depriving us from enjoying the film as much as we could. The new addition to the I Know What You Did Last Summer horror series seems to be taking the series in a whole new direction. Just as Friday the 13th started with a real killer and moved on to a murderous force in the undead Jason, I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer really starts to ham up the series killer, The Fisherman. This might be at least a little bit frightening if it weren’t for the fact that the film takes place in Colorado. Even Jason waited till the fourth sequel before he left the comfort of his woods, so why has the fisherman strayed so far from the sea so early on? In I’ll Always Know…, a group of teenagers try and pull a prank on the entire town, but as a result one of their friends ends up dead. To make matters worse, it is the son of the sheriff, so the four friends decide to keep the prank a secret. A year later they are all still affected by their friend’s death as they return home to see each other again. When they begin receiving eerie notes, they realize that their secret isn’t safe any longer. From that moment on, the killing begins.

There are a few sincerely frightening moments in I’ll Always Know, but much of the suspense is ruined by a stylized edit. Instead of trusting the suspense in the material, the film is chopped up so that characters seem to jump forward in time, or simply move unrealistically fast. These edits may be attempting creepy, but for a film like this it just pulls me out of the suspense. Suddenly I remember I am watching a movie, and that is death for a horror movie. The whole point is to get lost in it and forget that there is nothing to be scared of, but once you are made aware that you are simply watching a movie the illusion is lost.

The DVD for I’ll Always Know confused me. There are three girls on the cover along with one guy. This confuses me because I remember two girls, and three guys. This may just be a marketing scheme to make a horror film without any nudity seem appealing, but it is only fair that consumers know what they are getting. The special features include a making of featurette as well as a commentary by director, Sylvain White. White gives a remarkably technical, completely useless and boring commentary. He often makes reference to his music video experience, something that should be removed from his work before he makes another film.