I Know What You Did Last Summer
Director: Jim Gillespie
Cast: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Geller, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze Jr. Muse Watson, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Johnny Galecki, Deborah Hobart
After a tragic accident occurs on a winding, coastal road, four teens make the fatal mistake of dumping their victim's body into the sea. The friends make a solemn pact to take this secret to their graves, hoping to bury the truth in the sea, along with this stranger. But exactly one year later, their unnamed victim returns from his watery grave, and he is looking for more than an apology. The bloodletting only increases from there, as the killer continues to stalk Julie and her friends, Helen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and Barry (Ryan Phillippe) determined to exact his revenge.
Isolation is a powerful theme in this film, and nowhere is isolation reflected more perfectly, than in the character of Julie James, and how isolation in her character serves as both a means of protection and a tool by the killer to torment her.
When we see Julie one year after the murder, she is a ghostly shell of her formerly vibrant self and she has isolated herself behind well-built walls, struggling to cope with the tragedy that occurred on that fateful night, one year prior. Following David Egan’s premature death, Julie isolated herself by breaking up with her boyfriend, Ray, she lost her friendship with Helen, and she has isolated herself from her mother, as well. Julie went away to college and isolated herself by not returning home…but she is not thriving in college, either, because her grades are suffering.
While the death of David Egan (later discovered to be Ben Willis) is the catalyst which compels Julie to isolate herself, it is the letter that Julie receives one year later, which reconnects her with friends she lost on that tragic, July 4th night. As the anniversary of his death comes around again, Ben Willis uses isolation as a tool to manipulate Julie and take his revenge on the teens who left him for dead. Ben Willis’ motive for revenge seems to be “a life for a life.” Because David Egan was responsible for the car crash that killed Ben Willis’ daughter, Susan Willis, Ben Willis took David Egan’s life as revenge by luring him to an isolated spot and pushing him off a cliff. Julie later learns from David Egan’s sister, Missy, that David also received a calling card from his killer before he died…a note that vowed that Ben Willis would never forget what happened exactly one year prior, when David’s reckless driving caused the death of Ben Willis’s daughter.
History repeats itself, one year later, when Julie and her friends accidentally collide with Ben Willis in the road, and rather than confessing to the police that they killed him, they dump his body in the sea and leave him for dead, vowing never to speak of this tragic night ever again. But Ben Willis made a vow of his own…to take revenge on the teens who left him for dead. While Ben Willis kills Max with barely a second thought, he is more patient and assiduous when it comes to exacting his revenge on Julie and her friends. He does not want to merely kill the teens who left him for dead… he wants the teens to suffer first. He first takes the possessions that both Barry and Helen value most - for Barry, this is his car, and for Helen, her crown, and her beauty – and he destroys these things, leaving both of Barry and Helen feeling violated and traumatized (i.e., he stole Helen’s crown and then chopped Helen’s hair off, leaving the crown on her shorn head, and he crashed Barry’s car after tormenting Barry at the gym) and with a threatening one word promise of “soon” from their tormentor. He kills Barry and Helen to further isolate Julie and draw her into his final moment of revenge. While her friends just want to bury the memory of that horrible night beyond sight and memory and never let it become exposed, Julie carries a deeply rooted guilt for what transpired that night on the road. She doesn’t see Ben Willis’s death as a mere accident… she believes that they committed murder that night and this has caused Julie to be consumed by a deep and crushing guilt; a guilt which leaves her feeling isolated and fragile when Ben Willis leaves Julie his ominous calling card, taunting her with the cruel reminder about what transpired that night, even after she is reunited with her friends. As Julie attempts to unravel the truth of what happened, she finds herself having to face this truth – and Ben Willis – alone. It is only after Ben Willis is cast into the sea and presumed dead, that Julie allows Ray back into her heart and her life, and they get married.
The necklace plays a symbolic role in connecting the deaths. When we see the boy sitting alone on the seaside cliff, he is holding a silver necklace that is engraved with the words “I love you.” This is David Egan, and he is returning to this spot to mourn the death of his lost girlfriend, Susie Willis, who died exactly one year before. When we see the necklace for the second time, it is laying on the ground when the teens dump Ben Willis’s body into the water…a silent clue that a loving father has avenged his daughter’s death by killing David Egan. When we see the necklace for a third time, it is in the possession of Ben Willis…and he is isolating Julie to finally take his revenge on her for leaving him to die one year prior.
© 2024 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.
Director: Jim Gillespie
Cast: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Geller, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze Jr. Muse Watson, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Johnny Galecki, Deborah Hobart
After a tragic accident occurs on a winding, coastal road, four teens make the fatal mistake of dumping their victim's body into the sea. The friends make a solemn pact to take this secret to their graves, hoping to bury the truth in the sea, along with this stranger. But exactly one year later, their unnamed victim returns from his watery grave, and he is looking for more than an apology. The bloodletting only increases from there, as the killer continues to stalk Julie and her friends, Helen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and Barry (Ryan Phillippe) determined to exact his revenge.
Isolation is a powerful theme in this film, and nowhere is isolation reflected more perfectly, than in the character of Julie James, and how isolation in her character serves as both a means of protection and a tool by the killer to torment her.
When we see Julie one year after the murder, she is a ghostly shell of her formerly vibrant self and she has isolated herself behind well-built walls, struggling to cope with the tragedy that occurred on that fateful night, one year prior. Following David Egan’s premature death, Julie isolated herself by breaking up with her boyfriend, Ray, she lost her friendship with Helen, and she has isolated herself from her mother, as well. Julie went away to college and isolated herself by not returning home…but she is not thriving in college, either, because her grades are suffering.
While the death of David Egan (later discovered to be Ben Willis) is the catalyst which compels Julie to isolate herself, it is the letter that Julie receives one year later, which reconnects her with friends she lost on that tragic, July 4th night. As the anniversary of his death comes around again, Ben Willis uses isolation as a tool to manipulate Julie and take his revenge on the teens who left him for dead. Ben Willis’ motive for revenge seems to be “a life for a life.” Because David Egan was responsible for the car crash that killed Ben Willis’ daughter, Susan Willis, Ben Willis took David Egan’s life as revenge by luring him to an isolated spot and pushing him off a cliff. Julie later learns from David Egan’s sister, Missy, that David also received a calling card from his killer before he died…a note that vowed that Ben Willis would never forget what happened exactly one year prior, when David’s reckless driving caused the death of Ben Willis’s daughter.
History repeats itself, one year later, when Julie and her friends accidentally collide with Ben Willis in the road, and rather than confessing to the police that they killed him, they dump his body in the sea and leave him for dead, vowing never to speak of this tragic night ever again. But Ben Willis made a vow of his own…to take revenge on the teens who left him for dead. While Ben Willis kills Max with barely a second thought, he is more patient and assiduous when it comes to exacting his revenge on Julie and her friends. He does not want to merely kill the teens who left him for dead… he wants the teens to suffer first. He first takes the possessions that both Barry and Helen value most - for Barry, this is his car, and for Helen, her crown, and her beauty – and he destroys these things, leaving both of Barry and Helen feeling violated and traumatized (i.e., he stole Helen’s crown and then chopped Helen’s hair off, leaving the crown on her shorn head, and he crashed Barry’s car after tormenting Barry at the gym) and with a threatening one word promise of “soon” from their tormentor. He kills Barry and Helen to further isolate Julie and draw her into his final moment of revenge. While her friends just want to bury the memory of that horrible night beyond sight and memory and never let it become exposed, Julie carries a deeply rooted guilt for what transpired that night on the road. She doesn’t see Ben Willis’s death as a mere accident… she believes that they committed murder that night and this has caused Julie to be consumed by a deep and crushing guilt; a guilt which leaves her feeling isolated and fragile when Ben Willis leaves Julie his ominous calling card, taunting her with the cruel reminder about what transpired that night, even after she is reunited with her friends. As Julie attempts to unravel the truth of what happened, she finds herself having to face this truth – and Ben Willis – alone. It is only after Ben Willis is cast into the sea and presumed dead, that Julie allows Ray back into her heart and her life, and they get married.
The necklace plays a symbolic role in connecting the deaths. When we see the boy sitting alone on the seaside cliff, he is holding a silver necklace that is engraved with the words “I love you.” This is David Egan, and he is returning to this spot to mourn the death of his lost girlfriend, Susie Willis, who died exactly one year before. When we see the necklace for the second time, it is laying on the ground when the teens dump Ben Willis’s body into the water…a silent clue that a loving father has avenged his daughter’s death by killing David Egan. When we see the necklace for a third time, it is in the possession of Ben Willis…and he is isolating Julie to finally take his revenge on her for leaving him to die one year prior.
© 2024 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.