I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer is entertaining enough to make you wish for a fourth one
Plot: When four teens, Amber (Brooke Nevin), Colby (David Paetkau), Zoe (Torrey DeVitto), and Roger (Seth Packard) plan a prank that goes horribly wrong and results in the death of one of their best friends they agree to keep their involvement in the prank a secret. Flash forward a year the four friends have each gone their own way until Amber receives 50 messages on her cell phone stating that someone knows what she did last summer. She reunites with her former friends and soon it becomes clear that somebody does know and that their lives are in great danger.
The Good News: This is not as bad as everybody is making it out to be. One of the great things is the cinematography. The director feeds us images of trees and mountains that help create the atmosphere. There were some decent and jump out of your seat scares and then tension leading up to the scares was well built up. The acting is another strength, Brooke Nevin displays strength well and is ready to go up against the killer, Ben Easter does great in a role which ends up crucial to the plot and has a charismatic edge to him, David Paetkau also is a rising star and has had some previous horror film experience in Final Destination 2, Torrey DeVitto has screen presence, and Seth Packard gives his performance two thumbs up in the short time he is on screen. Another good thing is the gore. It looks realistic and flows natural. The death scenes are well built up and end with a bang and almost everybody gets a chase scene. My favorite is Colby's death, but I won't ruin it here as you have to see it for yourself. The Fisherman also has some good attacks on his victims such as when Amber is riding a gondola down the mountain all by herself and she spots the Fisherman in another gondola behind her and Colby's late night swim are fantastic suspense scenes. The idea to resurrect Ben Willis as a crazy zombie is a neat idea and I think I would have been disappointed if it had been somebody else. What I mean is that they spent two films telling us that this guy cannot die and it is also never a good idea to establish a series about a certain villain and then throw it out the window. With Ben Willis resurrected as a zombie makes him more imposing as he can just appear anywhere at any moment. The climatic ending is well thought out and concludes the film nicely.
The Bad News: The flashy constant cuts can get annoying very easily and sometimes during the chase scenes the cuts get in the way of you seeing what is happening on screen and also the film uses a lot of black tones and that also sometimes makes it hard to see what is going on. There are plot holes galore, but this film was meant with the sole purpose of being entertaining and that it is.
Conclusion: In the end this film is gory, entertaining, and makes you hope a fourth movie. Recommended
Rated: R for Horror Violence
Plot: When four teens, Amber (Brooke Nevin), Colby (David Paetkau), Zoe (Torrey DeVitto), and Roger (Seth Packard) plan a prank that goes horribly wrong and results in the death of one of their best friends they agree to keep their involvement in the prank a secret. Flash forward a year the four friends have each gone their own way until Amber receives 50 messages on her cell phone stating that someone knows what she did last summer. She reunites with her former friends and soon it becomes clear that somebody does know and that their lives are in great danger.
The Good News: This is not as bad as everybody is making it out to be. One of the great things is the cinematography. The director feeds us images of trees and mountains that help create the atmosphere. There were some decent and jump out of your seat scares and then tension leading up to the scares was well built up. The acting is another strength, Brooke Nevin displays strength well and is ready to go up against the killer, Ben Easter does great in a role which ends up crucial to the plot and has a charismatic edge to him, David Paetkau also is a rising star and has had some previous horror film experience in Final Destination 2, Torrey DeVitto has screen presence, and Seth Packard gives his performance two thumbs up in the short time he is on screen. Another good thing is the gore. It looks realistic and flows natural. The death scenes are well built up and end with a bang and almost everybody gets a chase scene. My favorite is Colby's death, but I won't ruin it here as you have to see it for yourself. The Fisherman also has some good attacks on his victims such as when Amber is riding a gondola down the mountain all by herself and she spots the Fisherman in another gondola behind her and Colby's late night swim are fantastic suspense scenes. The idea to resurrect Ben Willis as a crazy zombie is a neat idea and I think I would have been disappointed if it had been somebody else. What I mean is that they spent two films telling us that this guy cannot die and it is also never a good idea to establish a series about a certain villain and then throw it out the window. With Ben Willis resurrected as a zombie makes him more imposing as he can just appear anywhere at any moment. The climatic ending is well thought out and concludes the film nicely.
The Bad News: The flashy constant cuts can get annoying very easily and sometimes during the chase scenes the cuts get in the way of you seeing what is happening on screen and also the film uses a lot of black tones and that also sometimes makes it hard to see what is going on. There are plot holes galore, but this film was meant with the sole purpose of being entertaining and that it is.
Conclusion: In the end this film is gory, entertaining, and makes you hope a fourth movie. Recommended
Rated: R for Horror Violence