Summer, sun, seaside and… a serial killer. It’s the perfect time to (re)discover the “Remember… Last Summer” films available now on Prime Video.
Year 1996. The Scream phenomenon is worldwide. Slashers – those horror films that feature serial killers and teenagers – are coming back to the fore and for Hollywood, the opportunity is far too good to be satisfied with a single success. Screenwriter Kevin Williamson – already at the origin of Wes Craven’s film – is then called upon to contribute. He pulls out of his drawers an old script adapted from a children’s novel written by Lois Duncan, Remember… last summer.
The project is carried by a quartet of young actors who alone represent the decade of the nineties: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Ryan Philippe and Sarah Michelle Gellar – who is not, at that time , not yet propelled by the “Buffy mania”. The film was shot in a few weeks, starting in March 1997, and was released in the United States in October 1997 – at the end of January 1998 in France.
Once in the room, it’s the jackpot! Remember… Jim Gillespie’s last summer was a hit, taking advantage of the enthusiasm generated by Scream and its sequel. For a small budget of 17 million dollars, it brings in 125 million. In France, more than a million spectators travel to discover it at the cinema. However, the story is the opposite of Wes Craven’s film, thus falling into a much more serious and dramatic tone.
Columbia Pictures
But the story in all this? On the evening of the American National Day, four friends run over a man in a car. Convinced that they have just killed him, they get rid of the body. A year later, when they thought they could turn the page, they received a letter: “I know what you did last summer”.
Much less considered than its model released a year earlier, Remember… Last Summer is nonetheless a staple of American horror cinema. Between its original killer, armed with a hook, its fishing town setting, its chase scenes and, of course, its headliners, the film manages to keep a certain aura, symbolizing the spirit of nineties. To sum up: a perfect Proust madeleine.
Columbia Pictures
Its sequel, Remember… Last Summer 2, was released a year later, in 1998. This time, the survivors find themselves on an island… in the Bahamas and, of course, the nightmare begins again. You will certainly have understood it with this “exotic” pitch, this second part exists only to capitalize on the success of the first opus. The plot could be that of a skit and yet… it works.
Without ever being a good film, Remember Last Summer remains a real entertainment that assumes itself as such, punctuated by a thundering soundtrack and surprising appearances like that of Jack Black, who refused to be credited in the credits – one wonders why.
Some may not know it, but a third film was released in 2006. Released directly to video – first bad sign – this third installment more or less takes up a plot similar to that of the first film with some supernatural elements. Advice: avoid at all costs, unless you have a taste for risk.
The movies Remember… Last Summer are available on Prime Video.