I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (1998)

 

(1998; director: Danny Cannon. Screenwriter: Trey Callaway.)

 

Review

A year after the events of the first KNOW film, Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt, from the first film) is traumatized by her friends’ murders. She and her ex-boyfriend, Ray Bronson, now have intimacy issues. The body of Ben Willis, a.k.a. the Fisherman, who tried to kill her and Ray, were never recovered─and there was that ham-fisted ending of the first film.

Julie and her friend, Karla Wilson (Brandy Norwood), win a radio contest for a vacation in the Bahamas, on Tower Bay Island. Karla brings her horny boyfriend, Tyrell (Mekhi Phifer), and Julie invites Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr., also from the first film). Unfortunately for Ray and his co-worker/friend, Dave (John Hawkes), they encounter the Fisherman─who may not be Ben Willis. . . Taking Ray’s place on the vacation is Will Benson (Matthew Settle), who wants Julie to ditch her long-distance flirtation with Ray.

When the four college students show up on Tower Bay Island, they’re told that their arrival falls on the last day of tourist season, an odd booking, made stranger by an impending tropical storm. The bearer of this alarming news is Mr. Brooks, their hotel manager, given fun, snarky life by the always-entertaining Jeffrey Combs (THE FRIGHTENERS, 1996). Also stuck on the largely deserted island with the Fisherman: Nancy the bartender (a smart, tough Jennifer Esposito); Estes (another hotel employee, played with gravitas by the inestimable Bill Cobbs, THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, 1991); Titus Telesco, a white, dreadlocked drug dealer (an uncredited Jack Black, MARS ATTACKS!, 1996), and a few others.

This by-the-numbers, film-only sequel with its mostly dumb characters (especially Julie) is a silly and tired melodramatic mess with a few okay kill scenes and notable supporting actors (including Mark Boone Junior, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, 2007, as a pawnbroker, and Red West, as Paulsen, a fisherman).

Some viewers may be put off by three of the characters (who were racially inappropriate even in 1998): Titus (a white guy sporting bad dreads and a supposed-to-be-funny pseudo-Jamaican attitude); Karla, whose practical-for-a-player advice to dump Ray indicates deeper character flaws; and whinging, c**k-blocked Tyrell, a probable cheater who flirts with every attractive female within range. The first two KNOW films were obviously rooted in the 1990s, but these characters embody that point to the nth degree. 

Unless you’re a die-hard fan of any of its players, avoid STILL. Followed by I’LL ALWAYS KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (2006).

NECRONOMICON (1993)

 

(a.k.a. NECRONOMICON: BOOK OF THE DEAD and H.P. LOVECRAFT’S NECRONOMICON; directors: Christophe Gans, Shûsuke Kaneko, and Brian Yuzna. Screenwriters: Brent V. Friedman, Christopher Gans and Kazunori Itô)

 

Review

Plot: This four-part anthology film, inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s “fiction” (says one librarian monk), revolves around Lovecraft visiting a library of rare books, a grieving man who inherits a house with supernatural issues, a murder-beat reporter interviewing a strange woman in freezing circumstances, and a serial killer whose crimes are the tip of a cosmic iceberg.

 

In “The Library” (NECRONOMICON ‘s frame story), set in America in the 1920s, a plotting H.P. Lovecraft enters an arcane library maintained by secretive monks─a place where he’s a regular visitor. When he goes into an off-limits area, he unwittingly(?) courts cataclysmic events.

Jeffrey Combs (HOLIDAY HELL, 2019) played a nervous, thrilled Lovecraft.  Tony Azito (THE ADDAMS FAMILY, 1991) played a “Librarian.” Juan Fernández (THE COLLECTOR, 2009) played an “Attendant.” “Library” director Brian Yuzna played Lovecraft’s “Cabbie.” Brent V. Friedman (TICKS, 1993) wrote “Library”’s screenplay.

 

“The Drowned” centers around Edward De Lapoer, a grieving widower, who inherits his family’s empty oceanside hotel, a business with a supernatural history─one that threatens his immediate, housebound circumstances.

Bruce Payne (HOWLING VI: THE FREAKS, 1991) played Edward Da Lapoer. Richard Lynch (HALLOWEEN, 2007) played Jethro Da Lapoer. Belinda Bauer (SERVANTS OF TWILIGHT, 1991) played Nancy Gallmore. Maria Ford (SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE III, 1990) played Clara Lapoer, Edward’s dead wife. Denice D. Lewis (END OF DAYS, 1999) played Emma Da Lapoer, Edward’s ancestor. An uncredited Vincent Hammond (THE RELIC, 1997) played “Darkman,” a seaborne creature who brings Edward a horrifying gift.

Christophe Gans (SILENT HILL, 2006) directed “Drowned,” and co-authored it with author Brent V. Friedman.

For those inclined toward reading, “Drowned” sports elements seen in Lovecraft’s real-life 1923 story “The Rats in the Walls.”

 

In “The Cold,” based on Lovecraft’s 1926 story “Cool Air,” a Boston-based reporter (Dale Porkel) interviews a young woman in a gelid apartment while she tells him about a former occupant (Emily Osterman) whose meeting with the strange but seemingly harmless Dr. Madden radically changes her life.

Shûsuke Kaneko (DEATH NOTE, 2006) helmed “Cold,” co-penning it with writers Kazunori Itô (GHOST IN THE SHELL, 1995) and Brent V. Friedman.

Dennis Christopher (FADE TO BLACK, 1980) played Dale Porkel. Bess Meyer (HEATHERS, 1988) played Emily Osterman. David Warner (THE OMEN, 1976) played Dr. Richard Madden. Millie Perkins (THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA, 1976) played Lena, Dr. Madden’s intense, longtime assistant.

 

“Whispers” concerns a pregnant police officer, Sarah (Signy Coleman) and fellow officer Paul investigating a series of murders committed by the media-dubbed “Butcher,” a task made more difficult when a car crash in a bad warehouse area opens them to more brutal, occult terrors.

Obba Babatundé (THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, 1991) played Paul, Sarah’s frustrated partner in love and cop-work. Judith Drake (HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, 2003) played Mrs. Benedict. Don Calfa (THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, 1985) played Mr. Benedict.

“Whispers,” inspired by Lovecraft’s 1930 novella The Whisperer in the Darkness, was directed by Brian Yuzna, who co-wrote it with (again) Brent V. Friedman.

 

NECRONOMICON is a standout portmanteau film, from its excellent actors (putting in genre-true, often over-the-top performances), wow-worthy gore FX (provided by Tom Savini, Screaming Mad George and others), its all-around behind-the-scenes talent, and mostly solid pacing (the last two segments run a scoche long). As a Lovecraft-based work, it’s one of the better adaptations, NECRONOMICON is worth checking out, if you’re looking for a great-talent-creating-a-B-movie flick, and don’t expect it to reinvent the horrifying anthology subgenre.

HOLIDAY HELL (2019)

 

(Directors: Jeremy Berg, David Burns, Jeff Ferrell, Jeff Vigil. Screenwriters: Jeremy Berg, Jeff Ferrell.)

Storyline

An antiques and curiosities shopkeeper tells the tales relating to the items he’s trying to sell to a last-minute customer.

Review

In the wraparound tale (“Nevertold Casket Co.”), a young woman (Amelia) visits the titular antiques and curiosities store.  Its owner (Thaddeus Rosemont, a.k.a. The Shopkeeper) helps her find a gift for her sister─which entails an obligatory backstory for each object. The consistently excellent Jeffrey Combs (I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, 1998) is his usual, entertaining self here, as Thaddeus, a courteous, dark-vignette-telling retailer.

Thaddeus’s first tale (“Dollface“) is prompted by a mask. A group of young adults party in a murder house where a female killer (Dollface) used to live. The characters are generic, and the acting and the dialogue is terrible for the most part. The killer, with her nightgown, long black hair and spooky mask, makes for an interesting figure when she offs the kids who tormented her and her sister years before. There’s an okay twist at the end, one that’s telegraphed early in this lackluster segment.

In “The Hand that Rocks the Dreidl,” an old German rabbi doll is the source of terror for a theft-minded babysitter (Lisa) and her wannabe gangsta boyfriend (Tre). The acting is solid in “Dreidl,” as is the plot (despite its by-the-numbers predictability).

The third story, “Christmas Carnage,” is inspired by a brown-stained Santa suit, once belonging to a “disturbed man” (according to Thaddeus). The man in question is Chris, a sober-for-a-year alcoholic stuck in a marriage with a cold, materialistic woman. His longtime sales job, where he’s taken for granted, is just as bad. During an unpleasant company Christmas party, he falls off the wagon. Will he resist the urge to enact his bloody, off-camera revenge?

Joel Murray, a consistently good actor, is convincing as the barely-hanging-on Chris. The other actors, lesser known, vary from bad to solid.

“A Room to Let” is a tale told by Amelia (Meagan Karimi-Naser), its source object a skull in a glass case and her ring, once worn by her mother. Cut to a young woman, moving into a boarding house on bucolic Jenne Farm. Its owners are friendly even if the townspeople are terrified or hostile. Also, a clowder of black cats have gathered in the barn, where something feels off.

A pleasing, well-foreshadowed twist caps the end of this wraparound tale, one that makes up for the lackluster elements of this often generic, relatively goreless and suspenseless film. I would not watch HOLIDAY more than once, other than to appreciate certain performances (Combs’s, Murray’s and Karimi-Naser’s) and the fun plot pretzel at the end of “Room.”

Jeff Ferrell directed “Nevertold Casket Co.” and “The Hand that Rocks the Dreidl.”

Jeff Vigil directed “Dollface.” David Burns: “Christmas Carnage.” Jeremy Berg directed “Room to Let.”