Let’s be real for a second. Mentioning I Still Know What You Did Last Summer usually gets a polite eye-roll from horror purists. It’s that 1998 sequel that took everyone to a tropical island during a hurricane. It has Brandy. It has Jack Black with dreadlocks. It has a killer who somehow manages to navigate a luxury resort without anyone noticing a giant hook and a heavy raincoat in ninety-degree weather.
But honestly? It’s kind of a blast.
While the 1997 original is often credited with helping the post-Scream slasher boom, the sequel is where things got weird, bloody, and surprisingly atmospheric. It didn't try to be a meta-commentary on the genre. It just wanted to be a high-stakes, rainy slasher flick. If you revisit it today, you'll find a movie that understands exactly what it is. It’s a time capsule of late-90s pop culture, messy character choices, and some of the most creative kills of that era.
The Tropical Trap: Why the Setting Works
Most slashers stick to the woods or a suburban street. Moving Julie James and her friends to the Bahamas was a stroke of genius, even if the logic getting them there was totally flawed. Remember the radio contest? The DJ asks what the capital of Brazil is. Karla (played by Brandy) shouts out "Rio!" and they win.
Except the capital is Brasília.
That’s the first hint that something is horribly wrong. The "free trip" is a setup. By the time they arrive at Tower Bay, the storm is rolling in, the staff is disappearing, and the isolation kicks in. Setting a slasher on an island during a hurricane creates a natural "locked-room" mystery. There’s no way off the island. The radio is down. The boats are gone. You’re stuck with a guy in a slicker who really, really wants to finish what he started in North Carolina.
The cinematography by Vernon Layton actually does a lot of heavy lifting here. The transition from bright, saturated tropical blues to the dark, muddy, neon-lit nightmare of the storm feels visceral. It’s moody. It’s claustrophobic. When the power goes out and the emergency lights flicker on, the movie looks better than half the horror films coming out today.
Jennifer Love Hewitt and the Burden of the Final Girl
Jennifer Love Hewitt was the "It Girl" of 1998. Between Party of Five and the first film, she was everywhere. In I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, she plays Julie James as a woman suffering from massive PTSD. It’s actually a pretty grounded performance for a movie that features a scene where a guy gets stabbed through a tanning bed.
Julie is jumpy. She’s failing her classes. She sees Ben Willis everywhere. People give her grief for being "crazy," which is a classic horror trope, but Hewitt plays it with a genuine sense of exhaustion. You feel for her. When she finally snaps and decides to fight back, it feels earned.
Then you have the supporting cast. Brandy brings a ton of energy as Karla. She’s the upbeat foil to Julie’s gloom. Mekhi Phifer plays Tyrell, the hot-headed boyfriend who provides most of the tension within the group. And then there's Matthew Settle as Will Benson. If you know, you know. His name is literally "Ben's Son." The movie isn't trying to be subtle, and honestly, that’s part of the charm.
The Jack Black Factor
We have to talk about Titus Telesco. A pre-fame Jack Black plays a white guy with dreadlocks who deals drugs and hangs out at the resort. He is incredibly annoying. He’s supposed to be. His death is one of the most satisfying moments in the film because he just won't stop talking. Seeing a future A-list superstar play a stoner caricature in a slasher sequel is the kind of specific joy only 90s cinema can provide. It’s a reminder of how many careers started in the "teen scream" genre.
The Kills: Upping the Ante
The first movie was relatively restrained. It focused more on the psychological torment of the four friends. The sequel? It went full slasher. Director Danny Cannon, who had previously done Judge Dredd, brought a more aggressive visual style to the kills.
The tanning bed scene is legendary. It’s every 90s kid’s nightmare. The hook through the throat in the gym? Brutal. The way Ben Willis uses the environment of the storm-ravaged hotel makes him feel like a force of nature. He isn't just a guy with a hook anymore; he’s a ghost story come to life.
There’s a specific sequence involving a glass-bottomed boat and a frantic crawl through a laundry press that still holds up. It’s tense. It’s well-choreographed. The movie understands that the "chase" is often more important than the "kill." It drags out the suspense just long enough to make you uncomfortable before the hook finally makes an appearance.
The Legacy of the "Bad" Sequel
Why does I Still Know What You Did Last Summer still matter? It represents the peak of a very specific era. This was before horror went "elevated." Before everything had to be a metaphor for grief (though Julie’s trauma is a major plot point). It was a time when a studio would throw a decent budget at a sequel, hire the biggest TV stars of the moment, and just try to scare teenagers for 90 minutes.
It’s a transitional film. It bridges the gap between the classic slashers of the 80s and the more polished, cynical horror of the early 2000s. It’s also surprisingly diverse for its time. Having two Black leads in a mainstream slasher in 1998 was a big deal, and the movie doesn't make a "thing" out of it—they're just part of the friend group.
Critics hated it at the time. Roger Ebert gave it one star. He called it "witless." But audiences didn't care. It made over $80 million worldwide. It proved that the "Summer" franchise had legs, even if the third installment, I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, eventually went straight-to-DVD and lost the original cast.
Common Misconceptions and Plot Holes
People love to point out the flaws. Yes, the "Rio" answer is wrong. Yes, Ben Willis survived a lot of damage in the first movie. Yes, the ending is a bit of a "was it a dream?" cliché.
But look at the logic of the genre. Jason Voorhees died three times and kept coming back. Freddy Krueger is a literal dream demon. Expecting airtight logic from a slasher sequel is missing the point. The fun is in the ride. The fun is in yelling at the screen when they go into the dark basement alone.
One thing people often get wrong is the timeline. The movie takes place one year after the original events. Julie is a sophomore in college. The sense of "the past coming back to haunt you" is literal here. It’s not just a killer; it’s the weight of the secret they kept. Even though they "dealt" with it in the first movie, the consequences are permanent.
Actionable Insights for Horror Fans
If you're planning a rewatch or diving into this franchise for the first time, here is how to get the most out of it:
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- Watch the 1997 original first. It sounds obvious, but the emotional payoff for Julie’s character arc depends on seeing how much she lost in the first film.
- Pay attention to the background. Danny Cannon hides the Fisherman in several shots before he actually attacks. It’s a great bit of foreshadowing that mimics the characters' paranoia.
- Look for the cameos. Beyond Jack Black, you’ll see Jeffrey Combs (of Re-Animator fame) as the creepy hotel manager, Mr. Brooks. He’s fantastic.
- Check out the 2021 Amazon series. If you want to see how the "secret" trope has evolved, the TV adaptation offers a much more modern, albeit controversial, take on the source material.
- Keep an eye on the 2025/2026 rumors. There has been constant talk about a "legacy sequel" bringing back Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. The nostalgia for this specific era of horror is at an all-time high.
The Final Verdict
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer isn't a masterpiece of cinema. It’s not trying to be Hereditary or The Witch. It’s a popcorn movie. It’s a rainy-day-in-October movie. It’s a movie that reminds us why we fell in love with slasher films in the first place: the atmosphere, the jump scares, and the sheer survival instinct of a great Final Girl.
Stop worrying about the capital of Brazil and just enjoy the hook.
To get the full experience, track down the 4K Ultra HD release. The HDR makes those rainy, neon-soaked scenes pop in a way the old DVDs never could. Once you've finished the film, look into the production history of the Tower Bay resort—most of it was filmed at the El Conquistador Resort in Puerto Rico, and the BTS stories about the actual weather conditions during filming explain why the cast looks so legitimately miserable and wet.