Given the juggernaut that the “Scream” franchise grew to become, it seems like that property is the apparent and uncontested champion of the wave of youngster horror movies that it spawned. Not so quick, Ghostface — whereas different contenders just like the “City Legend” and “Dracula 2000” films petered out way back, the Fisherman manages to maintain coming again for extra.
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That is proper: One other Kevin Williamson-penned horror movie, 1997’s “I Know What You Did Final Summer time” has spawned two sequels, a reboot sequence in 2021, and a legacy sequel due out in 2025 (on the time of writing). Whereas that is not but sufficient to rival “Scream,” it is spectacular that the franchise is way from useless, particularly contemplating what number of weird twists and turns the property’s continuity has taken over its comparatively quick lifespan. The central hook of the primary movie — a gaggle of teenagers trigger after which cowl up an unintentional demise, solely to seek out themselves being menaced by somebody who is aware of their secret a 12 months later — is undeniably a robust one (a premise that Williamson tailored from the 1973 Lois Duncan novel of the identical identify). But, a cursory look on the franchise is all one wants to appreciate that the sequels may’ve gone any variety of methods.
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To that finish, filmmaker Mike Mendez (a veteran of B-movies like “The Convent” and “Massive Ass Spider!”) advised Bloody Disgusting in 2022 that, following the unique movie’s success, he was invited to pitch his take for an “I Know What You Did Final Summer time” follow-up. Columbia Footage was clearly desperate to capitalize on the primary film’s recognition, seeing as “I Nonetheless Know What You Did Final Summer time” — the sequel the studio finally wound up making — got here out nearly precisely one 12 months after its precursor in November of 1998. Directed by Danny Cannon and written by Trey Callaway, the movie adopted Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Julie (one of many two survivors of the primary film) as she’s suffering from a not-quite-dead Fisherman (Muse Watson) and his son (Matthew Settle) at a distant resort within the Bahamas.
Had Mendez gotten the prospect to make a sequel based mostly on his pitch, nevertheless, it may’ve taken the franchise in a totally completely different and distinctive course.
Mendez used the 2 killers concept cleverly in his Final Summer time sequel pitch
As Mendez described it, his pitch for a “Final Summer time” sequel wouldn’t have concerned the Bahamas (or Jack Black’s unlucky dreadlocks) in any respect, however would’ve picked up on the primary movie’s ending by setting the complete film at Julie’s school. It additionally would’ve elaborated on the unique film’s hints at Julie’s boyfriend, Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.), probably being a killer. The implication is one thing which the primary movie solely makes use of as a crimson herring, however Mendez thought it could possibly be used once more in earnest due to a sure line Ray has within the unique film:
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“From what I bear in mind, my idea was mainly this: Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character went off to varsity. It was taking part in off of that factor that Freddie Prinze Jr. says to her within the first film, one thing like ‘I will all the time be there, I will all the time be watching over you,’ one thing like that. It is really sort of creepy, the way in which he says it.”
Because the film Mendez pitched would’ve continued, Julie can be threatened because the killings began up once more, and it would not be clear whether or not it was Watson’s Fisherman (aka Ben Willis) or Prinze Jr.’s Ray behind the murders. When the eventual unmasking would happen, Mendez deliberate on using Williamson’s shock twist of two Ghostface killers from the primary “Scream” in a novel approach — by revealing that Ben and Ray had each been murdering folks of their pursuit of Julie, however with out being on the identical facet. As he defined it:
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“So there are two Fisherman killers which can be each attempting to kill Julie … It ends in sort of an homage to ‘Kid’s Play 3,’ in an enormous funhouse with each killers attempting to get her. However additionally they hate one another, so the killers can be popping up, attempting to combat one another, in addition to nonetheless attempting to get her. I needed to make it an enormous, zany setpiece that had a lot of scares.”
Though the precise “Final Summer time” sequel ended up with the reveal of two killers as an alternative of 1, it did so in typical “Scream” vogue, whereby the killers had been associated to one another and their pursuits had been aligned. By the sound of it, Mendez’s pitch was extra of an “Alien vs. Predator” scenario that had Closing Lady Julie getting caught between two murderers who weren’t working as a crew — an idea which nonetheless feels fairly unconventional right now.
The Final Summer time franchise did find yourself entering into a fairly distinctive course regardless
Though Mendez’s recollection of “I Know What You Did Final Summer time” and “Scream” was a bit inaccurate (he referred to them as cold PG-13 movies, two issues that aren’t true), the overall notion of each franchises tends to align with Mendez’s, i.e. that they are “poppy, shiny sort of modernizations” of old-school slashers. Whereas each properties undeniably sport a hip, populist strategy, surely they’ve extra chew to them than one may anticipate. The place “Scream” goes deep into themes of life imitating artwork, generational trauma and the origins of poisonous habits, the “Final Summer time” franchise is successfully the “Friday the thirteenth” to that movie’s “Halloween,” leaning on the theme of guilt and a curse that may by no means be damaged. To wit: neither of the primary two “Final Summer time” films has a definitive ending, as Julie seems to be attacked by the Fisherman in ways in which may both be actual or just be her deep seated guilt and paranoia torturing her.
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With the third movie within the property, 2006’s “I will At all times Know What You Did Final Summer time,” all bets had been formally off. That is as a result of the film disposed with the prior two entries’ pretense of verisimilitude and went forward and made the Fisherman a completely supernatural entity. Equally, the place the primary two movies concerned the human Ben Willis with the ability to pull off some pretty elaborate pranks and set-ups for his victims, the third “Final Summer time” installment by no means has to justify the Fisherman’s talents. It’s, to proceed the “Friday the thirteenth” comparability, the “Friday the thirteenth Half VI: Jason Lives” of the “Final Summer time” franchise, i.e. the entry the place the property stops taking part in coy with stretching credulity and dives headfirst into the paranormal. Though the direct-to-video title is just loosely related to the primary two films, it does really feel like a pivoting of the franchise’s lore reasonably than a full-on reboot.
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A reboot might certainly be the ethos behind the 2025 “Final Summer time” sequel, which appears to be a direct sequel to solely the primary two “Final Summer time” movies (a la 1998’s “Halloween H20”). Whereas it is unlucky the concept of a supernatural Fisherman appears to be getting shelved, the truth that it occurred in any respect — together with Mendez’s previous pitch — signifies that the Fisherman might but show to have extra tips and surprises up his hook-handed sleeve.
