A-Z #98: I Know What You Did Last Summer

You can pick up hundreds of DVDs for a round-pound each - it doesn't matter. It's never about quantity, it's about quality. A-Z is my way of going through my collection, from A-Z, and understanding why I own the films ... or you can tell me why I should sell 'em

#98 - I Know What You Did Last Summer

Why did I buy it?

Way back in the day, this was a cool film to watch with your friends - it was horror and hot Jennifer Love-Hewitt. In fact, it was also Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillipe and Freddie Prinze Jnr. At the time, these were cool cats who could lead films all on their own! Or at least went on to lead films. It was also written by Kevin (Dawson's Creek) Williamson. At any rate, that was why I bought it anyway ...

Why do I still own it?

Primarily because of the Horror genre. The new slasher-craze post-Scream seemed to take on a life of its own and I Know What You Did Last Summer was successful enough to warrant a sequel. In fact, it earn't two sequels, but I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer was only in the last couple of years whereby teen-nudity would simply sell anything. You only need to go so far as Cruel Intentions 3, Wild Things 3 and any sequel Neal H. Moritz produces to prove my point. But - and I may be wrong about this - I was always under the impression that Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer were the two films that started the craze ... maybe it was just Scream because I haven't seen this film in a long time and yet still sits on my shelf ...

A-Z #55 Cruel Intentions

You can pick up hundreds of DVD's for a round-pound each - it doesn't matter. Its never about quantity, its about quality. A-Z is my way of going through my collection, from A-Z, and understanding why I own the films ... or you can tell me why I should sell 'em

#55 - Cruel Intentions 

Why did I buy it?

At the time, it was cool. It was hip. It was one of the few films that was on DVD months before it was released on VHS. It had hotty Sarah Michelle Gellar in it. It has stunner Reese Witherspoon in it and, most importantly, it was about sex. At 16 years old, that was pretty much at the forefront of my mind.

Why do I still own it?

At the time this was the film to show when people came around. On the one hand, diluted down sex - its not porn - whereby everyone can enjoy it. It has a few good talking points - should you wait until marriage for sex? Not if Ryan Phillippe has anything to do with it. Is it classed as incest if the two step-brother and step-sister have sex? I mean, they are not blood-related. When Reese Witherspoon pulls those faces, does it highlight her playfulness or, more importantly, how freakishly big her forehead is? Its a tough call.

Its an adaptation of Dangerous Liasons and so, you could argue, there is a literary starting point - raising the film that little bit higher than American Pie and Save the Last Dance. In all honesty, I think it is a classy teen-movie and very few of these exist. Other than Cruel Intentions there are no other teen-romances which come across as so smooth and, for want of a better word, 'cool'. I mean, the kids are all in the upper-class world of New York. They have incredibly sweet cars and dress immaculately. The soundtrack is awesome - Placebo, Elisabeth Fraser and Craig Armstrong and - to top it off - it ends with The Verve's 'Bittersweet Symphony'.

I think, too often, I may have shown this to girls I fancied as a teenager in the hope that - for some inexplicable reason - they would look at me and think "y'know, he is alot like Ryan Phillippe..." and we would make love (or at least make out) until the early hours (I say early hours, probably more like 10 o'clock because both our parents wouldn't be too keen on letting us stay up so late) and I would simply imagine myself writing in a journal about my conquests. Unfortunately, this never happened, which meant there was no need for a journal. If I had a journal - rather than having intricate drawings of rosary-beads that hide cocaine and collages of newspaper clippings, it would simply read: "So, I put on Cruel Intentions on and we watched it. Then she left. Again. We both agreed it was a good film."

Should I sell it though?