While it is always nice to see Brooke Nevin in anything, the fact she is in I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, does not elevate this straight to video 2006 sequel of the original fisherman with a hook horror films. Not even the presence of Torrey DeVitto has elevated the film’s status (if you do not know who DeVitto is check out Pretty Little Liars. Still, the film was entertaining-ish and apart from the flashing moments that the director Sylvain White (The Losers, Stomp the Yard) deemed necessary the movie is not too jarring.
The plot of I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer is not too bad. The urban legend of the fisherman with his big hook (Sorry, I simply could not resist.) has morphed into something less personal. Apparently once Jennifer Love-Hewitt left the mix the fisherman, and his little friend, have moved onto other teens with terrible secrets. Now all that is required for him to show up and do a little slicing and dicing is a group of homicidal teens who inadvertently murder one of their own and then cover it up.
At the beginning of the film, Colby (played by David Paetkau who will always be lottery Winner Evan Lewis who gets impaled by the fire escape ladder in Final Destination 2 to me, sorry David.) and his friends set up a prank at the County Fair where the Fisherman shows up with his hook and chases Colby and company around the fairground. Unfortunately for one of their crowd, P.J. (who gets killed off in the first reel and does not make an appearance again except for one brief “that could have been anyone long-shot”) and afterward his pals all agree to stay “stum” and it is this that brings hook guy back.
As teen horror slasher films go, the movie is not too bad, certainly not worth the paltry 3.5 that its earned on IMDb. Of course the use of that “flashy filming,” a technique that Sylvain proudly explains in the commentary as “turning the camera on and off really quickly,” must rate as the most obtrusive and irritating use of a camera ever on a film. Take that out and the “Summer” sequel would have rated a lot better in my humble opinion.
There are some things in the film that make no real sense. For instance, the pairing up of Brooke Nevin’s character with Ben Easter’s Lance was a “huh?” moment. Apologies to Easter, but the character came across as fairly creepy. Of course, Nevin’s Amber was with Colby earlier so perhaps she just has poor taste in boyfriends.
Considering this DVD was in the “bargain bin” section of movies in the local Family Dollar Store, it was not bad entertainment for $4. If horror fans have decent Internet, it would behoove them to stream this film for a couple of dollars versus buying it. Although it is almost worth it to hear Sylvain White proudly describing his filming technique and how well he thinks it works on his second ever feature length film.
While I may not like his use of the flashy moments, others may like it or not even be bothered by it. In terms of plot, again not too shabby, and the overall “kill factor” I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer does entertain to a degree and therefore earns a 3 out of 5 stars. The extra star is there because of Nevin, DeVitto and Paetkau…
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