I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) - Cannon slashes possible franchise with repititious turkey

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Four sexy young actors in scarlet-colored light about to be ripped apart on this effective poster for Danny Cannon's I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

Julie and her boyfriend are in college, and they haven't done more wrong (since the preceding summer's fatal hit-and-run car accident on a skid road), and yet as they head to the Bahamas for vacation, a cloak-wearing maniac tracks them, spreading terror and death.

 

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is written by Trey Callaway (Phobia (2001, TV movie)) and directed by Danny Cannon (Strangers (1991)). It is a sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997).

The plot is pointless, and the film meticulously copies elements from the successful predecessor, even including having lead Jennifer Love Hewitt (Time of Your Life (1999-00)) do hysterical pirouettes in public while screaming to the killer.

Jack Black (The School of Rock (2003)) is a funny dope-dealer who is (predictably) killed. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is deadly boring and about as intelligent as an ironing board.

Related post:

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 24 mil. $

Box office: 84 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 3.5 times its cost)

[I Still Know What You Did Last Summer was released 13 November (USA) and runs 101 minutes. Shooting took place from April - July 1998 in California, including Los Angeles) and in Mexico. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit The Waterboy, to a 16.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5) and grossed 40 mil. $ (47.6 % of the total gross). The film in some sites has a listed budget of 65 mil. $, which must be wrong, (the original film from the year before had a 17 mil. $ cost.) 65 mil. $ may likely be the cost including prints and advertising, expenditures that are normally not included in the budget. Roger Ebert gave the film a 1/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Cannon returned with Björk: Volumen (1999, music video) and CSI: Miami (2003-04) prior to his theatrical return with Goal: The Dream Begins (2005). Hewitt returned in Hercules (1999, TV-series) and theatrically in The Suburbans (1999); Freddie Prinze Jr. (Brooklyn Rules (2007)) in Vig (1998, TV movie) and theatrically in She's All That (1999). I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is rotten at 7 % with a 3.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer?

Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Snyder's great remake of Romero's classic

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+ Best Gore Movie of the Year  + Best Remake of the Year + Best Zombie Movie of the Year

The grisly poster for Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead

QUICK REVIEW:

A society is struck by a sudden zombie attack, and a group of survivors arrive at a mall, where they find shelter under a fascistic mall cop.

Dawn of the Dead is the outstanding remake of master filmmaker George R. Romero's classic masterpiece Dawn of the Dead (1978). Debuting Wisconsinite master filmmaker Zack Snyder (300 (2006)) makes the material very much his own and only retains from the original that it's about zombies and a group of survivors, who seek refuge in a mall, a famous line and three cameos of actors from the original.
The new cast is solid and includes Sarah Polley (Splice (2009)), Ty Burrell (The Skeleton Twins (2014)), Mekhi Phifer (8 Mile (2002)), Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)) and Kevin Zegers (Transamerica (2005)), - the latter adorning the screen beautifully, giving the zombie grossness a welcomed contrast.
Dawn has a Johnny Cash-fueled opening, gruesome, now super-fast zombies and style to boot. It doesn't equal the original in terms of ingenuity and societal commentary but it is a very good and entertaining, brutal time at the movies.
James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)) wrote the script, with Scott Frank (Minority Report (2002)) and Michael Tolkin (Nine (2009)) contributing an uncredited rewrite.

Related posts:

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Dawn of the Dead (1978) or, Mall of Death! 

In lieu of a trailer, not currently on Youtube, here is the awesome first 2½ minutes of the film, in which the stage is effectively set with a mix of stock footage, sound effects and Johnny Cash's The Man Comes Around. - This is from an Italian version of the film, so pay no heed to the Italian dub

Cost: 26 mil. $
Box office: 102.4 mil. $
= Big hit
[Dawn of the Dead was released March 19 and runs 100 minutes. Most of the film was shot on location in Ontario, Canada, including in a defunct mall. The boat and island scenes were shot as an answer to unsatisfied test responses to the suddenness of the original ending. The film opened #1 to a 26.7 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it grossed 59 mil. $ (57.6 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 10 mil. $ (9.8 %) and Japan with 4.7 mil. $ (4.6 %). Dawn of the Dead is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Dawn of the Dead?
Other very good horror remakes in your opinion?