As a millennial, the slasher genre was a big part of my movie education as Scream revitalized the sub-genre when I was ten. Thanks to the many name drops in the first film, I was able to write down a list of classic slashers to rent and fall in love with. Luckily, this beckoned Hollywood to drop lots of money on new movies in hopes of jumpstarting their own new franchises. I Know What You Did Last Summer was a huge hit and didn’t hurt that it was also written by Scream’s Kevin Williamson. Rather quickly, the sequel, I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, was churned out with mixed results, but now we finally get a 4K release which is also a mixed bag.

Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is experiencing nightmares after surviving the massacre of her friends the year prior. Her new best friend, Karla (Brandy), convinces her to go on a vacation to The Bahamas after winning the trip in a radio contest. Joined by Tyrell (Mekhi Phifer) and Will (Matthew Settle), the four find out they’re staying during a storm, which isolates them on the island. It doesn’t help that a ghost from Julie’s past just won’t die and starts killing off those who stuck around. Meanwhile, Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.) has his own deadly encounter back home and is determined to save Julie.

I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER tries to recreate key moments of the first film that made it so iconic, but audiences had become more knowledgeable at this point. As a result, some scenes come off as parody, especially when Julie yells at no one, in particular, to “Come and get me!” It works more as fan service to those who worship its lead star as her vocal talents are given their own showcase and even recorded an original song that’s on the soundtrack (yes, the music video is included on the Blu-ray). Still, anyone reading this has probably already seen this movie and generated their own opinion.

This 4K presentation has some issues, most notable in the early scenes outside Julie’s college campus. The best way to describe it is to say it has quite a bit of a digitally compressed look. Honestly, it has torrent file vibes until they get to The Bahamas and the color schemes clear up a bit. I haven’t seen this movie in several years so I don’t know how previous releases look. Maybe I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER always had compression issues, but this new presentation doesn’t do it any favors.

The new Dolby Atmos track is also problematic. While the jump scares are loud and do their job, some of the busier scenes are difficult to get through. For example, scenes involving loud music aren’t leveled correctly so I had to turn on subtitles in order to know what the characters were saying. The track is loud which isn’t a complaint, but doesn’t feel finished. This release includes a Blu-ray disc with previously released interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. The Jennifer Love Hewitt music video is essential viewing and am so glad they included it.

Aside from the new tech specs, the 4K disc includes a newly recorded commentary track with director Danny Cannon. While Danny looks back with a positive attitude towards the film, the track isn’t exactly informative or really entertaining as he is very quiet. The track is mainly random bits like “I like that shot” or just narrating what we already see on the screen. I’m not sure if it’s new, but the included Muse Watson (the killer from both movies) interview was new to me and more enjoyable at a quick 12 minutes.

I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER has a problematic 4K disc with a sloppy video presentation, but this is probably the best we are ever going to get.

I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER is now available on 4K.

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Jovy Skol

Jovy grew up loving all kinds of horror movies which is ironic because his parents hated them. CANDYMAN still scares the shit out of him and it doesn’t help that he lives in the Chicago suburbs. He loves venturing into lesser-known exploitation films of the 70s and being introduced to new movies. Along with movies, Jovy loves horror video-games and books, including comics. Some of his favorite franchises include SILENT HILL, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, and the RESIDENT EVIL games.

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