[Review] I Know What You Did Last Summer: Book vs Movie
The Argentine Canadian writer Alberto Manguel said, during his speech for the 2017 Ortega y Gasset seminar, that once a reader is aware that they’re reading the translated version of a book instead of the original, their perception and expectations for the text is altered. I believe this also applies when it comes to the screen adaptations of books, as is the case with the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), which was based on Lois Duncan’s 1973 homonymous novel. The screenwriter Kevin Williamson (known for the Scream franchise) took upon the task of translating the book into a different media (a movie) and a different genre (slasher). According to Manguel, when the individual is aware that what he’s reading/seeing is a translation, they tend to treat that piece as a fake copy, something that is merely trying to pass for the “real thing.” This outlook keeps the individual from appreciating the movie (or any adaptation/translation) for what it is, only judging them by how similar they are to the work they were based on.
One of my favorite scenes in the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) is when the four teens are sitting around the fire and arguing over what is the “real” version of the urban legend “The Hook Man.” Each one of them has heard it a different way, but, regardless of the variations, they have the same core (The Hook Man), which makes them all real. I find that is also the case with book-to-movie adaptations, although you might prefer one over the other, they have the same core, and both have their merits. It simply boils down to the matter of which works best for you. This might come as a surprise for fellow bookworms, but I found that the movie was far more enjoyable than the novel. As I’ve said above, both pieces of entertainment have their bright spots, however, I believe that Williamson was able to elevate Duncan’s work to a more complex and engaging tale.
A story consists of a combination of plot and characters and, depending on the author’s skill set, one of them tends to shine brighter than the other. As he has proved time and time again with the Scream franchise and countless other productions, Williamson is an expert when it comes to writing complex and multifaceted characters. On the other hand, his plots (in my opinion) tend to be a little convoluted and overly complicated, with so many twists and turns that it’s almost impossible for me to lift Coleridge’s weight of disbelief. With Lois Duncan, we have a writer that can craft simple and gripping plots; however, her characters are one dimensional and incredibly dull. To me, the worst sin a story can commit is having cardboard characters that are impossible to relate to and empathize with, especially when it comes to horror.
Having characters that fall flat in the way that Duncan’s do is a flaw further exacerbated by, as pointed out by Williamson himself in Fangoria Magazine about I Know What You Did Last Summer, “it’s very much a character-oriented piece.” Coupling this with the fact that there can’t be a slasher movie without deaths, the screenwriter’s need to change parts of Duncan’s work is very understandable. As I’ve mentioned above, what he did was elevate her characters by giving them nuance, in the movie Julie (Jennifer Love Hewitt), Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr), Helen (Sarah Michelle Gellar), and Barry (Ryan Phillippe) all have redeeming qualities and moral failures. Adding to this the stellar performances from the main cast, I became much more emotionally invested while watching the film than I did reading the book. Another contributing factor to my preference for the movie is that Williamson took advantage of the media to add thrilling chase sequences to the story, not one of them failed to make me breathless and anxious. Was I deeply disappointed with the actual murderer plot? Yes, but, as Noah Foster (from the Scream Netflix series) put it, “Gotta remember that the whodunit may not be as important in our story [...] you root for them, you love them, so when they’re brutally murdered, it hurts” (Scream S1, Pilot. 2015).
References:
Randy Palmer, “The Scream of Summer” Fangoria (November 1997), 14.
Alexandra West. The 1990s Teen Horror Cycle, Final Girls and a New Hollywood Formula (Locais do Kindle 3772). McFarland. Edição do Kindle.
Duncan, Lois. I Know What You Did Last Summer. 1973.
Gillespie, J. (Director). (1997). I Know What You Did Last Summer. [Film]. Mandalay Entertainment.
