Kill-meister Ben Willis is back to wreak havoc once again on Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt). This time Ben, who still looks strikingly like the Morton’s Fisherman (the guy on a box of frozen fish sticks) stalks Julie and her three friends to the Caribbean in the middle of rainy season to continue the revenge he started in the first film. However this time, it seems they left the suspense back on the mainland.
The main problem with the film, besides the fact that it should have been called, “I Know What You Did Two Summers Ago”, (the story takes place one year after the original), is that it lacks humor. Unlike “Scream”, this film is more of a horror-drama, with everybody taking themselves way too seriously. Director Danny Cannon didn’t have any fun with the horror conventions, and missed every opportunity for humorous tension breakers. They were too busy making a conventional slasher film to have a little fun.
The film opens a year after the first film, when Kate (Brandy) wins an all expenses paid trip to the Bahamas on a radio promotion. She decides to take her roommate Julie (Hewitt), her boyfriend (Mekhi Phifer), and their new friend (Matthew Settle) on the getaway. Julie is still uneasy one year after she was nearly killed by a bloody stalker and feels the Bahamas is safer than her hometown, where the horrible incident took place. Once at the exotic resort, a whole cast of suspicious islanders (kind of an R-rated version of Gilligan’s Island) are systematically eliminated, leaving Julie no choice but to explain to her friends that Ben Willis’ body was never found. Our four heroes must fend for themselves as they realize that they are the next victims of the fish sticks guy.
Unfortunately, nothing in this movie is very surprising. I was more afraid of what was in my popcorn’s butter-flavoring than I was of what was up on the screen. Of course a hurricane is moving in and all the phone lines are down, and of course the people who say “stay here, I’m gonna check out the shed” don’t come back. The slow pace of the film really gave me time to wonder why this Fisherman is so obsessed with this girl. So she tried to kill you one day and left you for road kill. So what. Give it up. Get some therapy. GO ON WITH YOUR LIFE! Or at least try to reason with her, it might make for a more interesting movie.
