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One Movie Punch


Oct 18, 2019

NARRATOR: “Welcome back to Reign of Terror 2019! 31 straight days of horror movie reviews and interviews. Today’s episode will feature Ryan L. Terry, occasional contributor to One Movie Punch, who will be reviewing the 1997 slasher film, ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’. His promo will run before the review." 

NARRATOR: “But now, let’s turn our attention to the fate of our host Joseph, in Part Four of “FOUR MORE STOPS”!”

SCENE: Bayou Road 

NARRATOR: “When we last left Joseph, he was walking down a road in a bayou, having just escaped a bus full of hatchet sharpening children. He had seen and heard nothing but the sounds of the bayou and his footsteps on the ground.” 

JOSEPH: “The humidity is awful. And not a single crossroad. At least I’m walking, though, and not running.” 

NARRATOR: “Joseph had done enough running today, most of which was being chased by something or another. Now he just wanted to lay down and finally rest, but with all the creepy crawly things off the road, that wasn’t happening.”

JOSEPH: “Oh hell no!”

NARRATOR: “So, he walked. He walked until he finally heard a car approaching.”

JOSEPH: “Oh, thank goodness!”

NARRATOR: “The car was approaching on the opposite side of the road. He leaned out a bit, waving his arms, and the car flashed its lights, letting Joseph know he was seen...”

JOSEPH: “Finally! Help!”

NARRATOR: “... and just before veering to hit Joseph.”

NARRATOR: “It ended up being a glancing blow, as Joseph stumbled at the last minute, and fell just out of the way. The car came to a quick stop and opened up.” 

RYAN: “Oh, don’t worry guys, it was just an animal.”

JOSEPH: “Ryan?”

RYAN: “No one’s alive here. We can keep going.”

JOSEPH: “Actually, I think I’m fine, let me just try and stand up...”

NARRATOR: “Ryan returned to the car, threw it into reverse, and backed up, hitting Joseph again in the process.”

JOSEPH: *worse for wear* “Ryan, it’s me... I need...”

RYAN: “Nope. Nothing here again.”

JOSEPH: “Come on, Ryan! I just need...”

NARRATOR: “But Ryan was already returning to the car. Joseph pulled himself up to his knees, then stood up, as the car was getting ready to pull out.”

JOSEPH: “Ryan!" 

RYAN: “What? I don’t hear anything?”

NARRATOR: “Said Ryan from the car, reassuring his passengers that everything was fine, even as Joseph reached up for the hood.”

JOSEPH: “Ryan, I...”

NARRATOR: “But Ryan was spooked seeing Joseph there, and gunned the accelerator, which ran Joseph up on the hood of the car, blocking Ryan’s line of sight.”

NARRATOR: “Joseph was screaming.”

JOSEPH: “AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!”

NARRATOR: “Ryan was screaming.”

RYAN: “AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

NARRATOR: “Even I was screaming!”

ALL THREE: “AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

NARRATOR: “Joseph was still barely conscious, thrown to the side, but heavily bruised and bleeding out. He could only hear snippets of what Ryan was saying.”

RYAN: “Whew! Everyone okay?”

RYAN: “What?! No, I don’t think we hit anything that time, either.”

RYAN: “Well, it might have looked like a guy on the hood.” 

RYAN: “Oh, you mean THIS guy!”

JOSEPH: “Ry... an...” *delirious*

RYAN: “No, no, I have no idea who this is. But we can’t leave him here to be found... I mean, we should take the body to the hospital. You get the ankles. I’ll grab the wrists. Trust me, he’s not hurt that bad. It looks a lot worse than it seems.” 

NARRATOR: “And they picked up his body, still barely breathing, and placed him within a much less spacious trunk, closing the door, the glow-in-the-dark escape handle being the last thing that Joseph saw before fully passing out.” 

NARRATOR: “What would be the fate of Joseph? Find out tomorrow in Part One of “WORLD WITHOUT COLOR”, when we’ll be joined by Niall Cooper of the Assassinations Podcast, who will be reviewing Ed Wood’s 1959 flop turned cult classic, “Plan 9 From Outer Space”. Joseph certainly needs a plan if he’s going to survive.”

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<< RYAN L TERRY PROMO >> 

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Happy Halloween everybody!

While many horror movies take place around Halloween, other holidays have their own share, including “Black Christmas”, “My Bloody Valentine”, and even The 4th of July’s “Jaws”. While I love to watch “Jaws”, I also enjoy re-watching today’s movie right around the 4thof July, the quintessential 90s slasher “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. Written by “Scream”co-writer Kevin Williamson, directed by Jim Gillespie, starring a then all-star cast including: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”’s Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr, and Ryan Phillippe. 

Last summer, a group of four partying teenagers accidentally struck a fisherman in the middle of the road. But instead of alerting the police, they dumped his body in the ocean to cover up their crime as they all go their separate ways after high school. This summer, one of the friends receives a letter confronting them with the crime — I know what you did last summer. While tracking down the author of the letter, one of the secret-sharing group of friends is ironically run over by a man with a meat hook. The terror only increases from there, as the killer with the hook continues to stalk the rest of the friends.

It’s been more than 20 years since “I Know What You Did Last Summer”convinced us to pay attention to the roadway at night or else risk the wrath of a meat hook handed slasher, and this is consistently one of those 90s horror movies that is either loved or despised. Won’t find much middle ground here, folks. Personally, this ranks highly for me when talking 90s horror. While this movie has not seen the legacy and timeless influence that “Scream”has, there is still a lot to like, especially if you are a slasher fan or simply enjoy the excellent chemistry in our lead ensemble cast. For instance, we would not have “Scary Movie” if it wasn’t for “I Know”and “Scream”, we may not have the Hash Slinging Slasher from “Spongebob Squarepants”, and we wouldn’t have the real-life love between still-married Gellar and Prinze Jr, both of whom were in the campy, self-aware melodramatic classic “Cruel Intentions”. So perhaps the wide-reaching influence of this movie is indirect, and thus gets overlooked. 

Despite the R-rating, the violence is quite minimal in this movie, and that’s what I want to highlight here. One of the quintessential elements of most 80s/90s slashers is the entertaining, explicit, and even campy gore! Surprisingly, you won’t find a prolific amount of gore and violence in “I Know” but the implied violence works very well to drive up the tension and suspense as we try to solve the mystery of the identity of the hook-handed slasher before all the friends meet their demise. When on the one hand, it should be easy to dismiss this movie as a “Scream” rip-off, the movie saves itself from being completely dismissed because it knew precisely what it was, and unapologetically rocked it.

Believe it or not, there is a hidden strength in the story that rarely gets talked about. It’s a great psycho-social commentary on perception as reality and the cognitive development of a young adult. Moreover, “I Know”’s real genius is in how it confronts each of the lead cast with questions that all of us ask ourselves, such as simply knowing who we can trust, fight or flight, and varying degrees of self-centeredness. It functions very well as a study of every individual teen’s mental state. Just like the characters in the movie, we (the audience) are wondering exactly whocan be trusted. Sure, if you think too much about the movie, the plot falls apart, but isn’t that the case with many slashers? Everything from the twists and turns, to the suspense, to the red herrings, a murderer screaming “you’ve got no place to hide”, not to mention the classic horror score, deliver a movie that is fun to watch, highly entertaining, and even rewatchable. 

Rotten Tomatoes: 42

Metacritic: 52

IMDb: 5.7

One Movie Punch: 6.0/10

You can find “I Know What You Did Last Summer” streaming on most major streaming outlets.