Smart, funny, scary and sexy, ”I know what you did last summer“Is the perfect summer entertainment, an escapist thriller that raises serious moral issues but never gets stuck with them. Both a sequel to 1997 Slasher film of the same name and a origin story for a new set of characters that coexist with series regular guests Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr.“I know what you did last summer“Denoting his predecessor (as well as 1998’s underestimated” I still know what you did last summer “) without being paralyzed by its influence – it is a movie that is so exciting in the new directions that it takes because it is satisfactory in its recreations of the first film’s pleasures.
It is also one of the most erroneous pairs of author and studio assignments in recent memory, as “do revenge” director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson Applies to her dark comic sensitivity to that IP in a way that benefits both the filmmaker and the franchise. As in “Do Revenge” (as well as her criminally borders MTV series “Sweet/Vicious”), Robinson wraps important themes related to loss, trauma, regret and revenge in a candy colored package that goes down with the infectious lightness of a Sabrina Carpenter pop song.
“I like to tell stories that can be about something dark, but that have this kind of popcorn -comparison to them,” Robinson told IndieWire about an upcoming episode of The The The The The The The Thes The The The The The Thes The The The The Thes Filmmakers Toolkit Podcast. “I think all my movies have this kind of wink to them.” When I reviewed the world of “I know what you were doing last summer”, a movie wanted characters that handled the aftermath of a shared secret crime, the director (who together wrote the script with Sam Lansky and Leah McKendrick) deep in the same towering issues as the original movie from a new perspective.
“I wanted it to be something that felt like a twin flame for the original in 1997,” Robinson said. “It was the place where I started. What does it look like today? What does the responsibility look like today? What does a story about morals look like today?” When he created a fun summer movie that would not insult the audience’s intelligence, Robinson looked at the film that created the idea of summer blockbuster 50 years ago.
“‘Jaws’ was a big one,” Robinson said as she ticked off her impact on “I know what you were doing last summer,” and noted that she, like “Jaws” director Steven Spielberg, wanted to make a movie that was both current and timeless. She also wanted to follow in Spielberg’s footsteps when it came to presenting the film’s Gore – to prevent it from postponing a public audience without cleaning up or trivializing it.
“There are jokes in this movie, it’s fun, but I didn’t want the violence to be fun,” Robinson said. “When the movie goes deeper and our core characters die, I really wanted all these moments to feel quite visceral and upsetting. But I didn’t want it to be a barrier for entry. I wanted this to be the kind of horror movie that is scary and fun, and you take your best friend and you scream in the jump clothes.
“Jaws” also had a more specific influence on the presentation of the city of Southport. A working-class fishing ham in the 1997 movie, Southport Here, has been reversed as a summer tourist destination-a change that allows Robinson to run on the site and the environment of “jaws”, with an unstoppable slasher that fills the shark.
“Gentrification of Southport gave us this ability to do something that felt like candy,” Robinson said about the change, giving the new “I know what you did last summer” to a much more lively palette than the more muted original – although Robinson is efficient in her enthusiasm for the first film’s visual style.
“I think the original is a really beautifully shot movie,” Robinson said. “There are really striking frames, like one where the camera pushes through this Scrim on Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe. I’m thinking about that shot all the time.” Another thing that Robinson thought of when she went into “I know what you were doing last summer” was the iconic look of the hooked fisherman who killed by the characters one by one. “I think the original slicker and the original hook work really well in the original films. As I said, I thought we could block it.”
In collaboration with Costume Designer Mari-an CEO, Robinson updated the killer’s costume both to suit the new killer’s identity and to strengthen the wardrobe’s more threatening properties. “I wanted the hook to be sharper, so we created a leaf on the inside of the hook,” Robinson said. “There are a couple of sequences where someone’s neck slots with the inside of the leaf. And I wanted Slicker to feel a little more utilitarian, so we gave it a hood.”
The main guiding principle of the costume was realism, in accordance with Robinson’s desire to keep the film as grounded as possible in the midst of the increased humor and fear. “We wanted it to feel that this is something that came out of someone’s wardrobe,” Robinson said. “Something that has existed for years and years and years and is now used to coat a murderer. Because this is not a supernatural villain – it is only (one person) who murder. So I wanted it to feel more real and more intense.”
That intensity was fine -tuned in the editing process, during which Robinson tried to find out when and how to reveal information in a way that would maintain voltage mounting. “It’s not only when it is revealed, but also the amount of information,” she said. “How do you tell a story in a way that does not give too much but keeps the audience engaged? It is difficult to keep people’s attention because we live in the age of iPhones and Tiktok and rolling and all this, so it is a really sensitive balance that builds a mystery like this for modern audiences.”
That said, Robinson is not only happy with where she landed but ready for more. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t have an idea of a sequel,” she said. “I love these characters. I love this world. Making this movie was so incredibly funny. So if I am invited back to do another, I would love to do it.”
“I know what you did last summer” opens in theaters on Friday, July 18. To make sure you don’t miss Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s upcoming episode of Filmmaker Toolkit, subscribe to the podcast on AppleThe SpotifyOr your favorite podcast platform.
