I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr)

In I Still Know What You Did Last Summer its a year after her harrowing summer, and Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is trying to forget. Though she is now at college in Boston, the memories and nightmares remain. If she and Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr) really killed deranged fisherman Ben Willis, why was his corpse never found?

So when her best friend Karla (Brandy) wins an expenses-paid Caribbean break, Julie’s delighted to accept a free ticket. Ray decides he’s too busy so classmate Will (Matthew Settle) takes the spare ticket, joining Karla’s boyfriend Tyrell (Mekhi Phifer) on the trip.

They arrive during hurricane season, leaving their swish hotel almost vacant except for a bellhop, a bartender and a crazed pool boy (Jack Black). As the storms hit, the bodycount rises, and Julie soon realises that the hotel has a certain hook-handed murderer as an uninvited guest…

Danny Cannon’s follow-up has to overcome more disadvantages than the average sequel: the killer’s identity is no mystery, and you must lose a high proportion of the cast without being able to use Kevin Williamson’s skills in genre subversion. From that standing start, the London-born director does well to produce a distinct film and while there is little emphasis on originality, scream queen Hewitt is consistently good and there’s a divine cameo from Black, whose effortless hilarity has since made him a bigger box office draw than the rest of the cast.

production details
USA | 100 minutes | 1998

Director: Danny Cannon
Script: Lois Duncan, Trey Callaway,

cast
Mekhi Phifer as Tyrell
John Hawkes as Dave
Jeffrey Combs as Mr. Brooks
Bill Cobbs as Estes
Jennifer Love Hewitt as Julie James
Freddie Prinze Jr. as Ray Bronson
Brandy Norwood as Karla Wilson
Muse Watson as Ben Willis
Matthew Settle as Will Benson
Jennifer Esposito as Nancy
Jack Black as Titus Telesco