the camera zooms in incredibly close . 
it focuses on the closed eyes of a person presumed dead . 
all of a sudden , with a thunderous sound effect and an eerie sounding musical pulse , his eyelids open . 
the camera zooms in incredibly close . 
it focuses on one of the characters desperately running for her life . 
then , with a thunderous sound effect and an eerie sounding musical pulse , she bumps into the killer . 
the camera zooms in incredibly close . 
it focuses on a door from where seemingly strange sounds emanate . 
all of a sudden , with a thunderous sound effect and an eerie sounding musical pulse , the doors swing open to reveal what's inside . 
close-up thrill-shots such as these seemed to elicit more laughter from the audience rather than genuine fear , which is a pretty good sign that you're not watching the thriller that the director had originally envisioned . 
rather , you adopt the opinion that the characters are so goofy and so unaware of the trouble that they're in , that you stop caring about who lives , who dies and where the story goes . 
instead , you become more interested in how the characters get killed off . 
the four young teenagers who are the potential sacrificial lambs for this movie are helen and barry and julie and ray - two couples and dear friends to one another . 
during the summer just after high school graduation , they take a fateful drive down a dark mountain highway . 
suddenly , without warning , their car hits someone whom the teens presume was killed as a result of that collision . 
fearing jail time and possible manslaughter charges if they confess , they instead decide to dump the body into the ocean and make a pact never to discuss the episode again . 
a year goes by and things among the four friends begin to change . 
relationships fizzle , future dreams crumble , and attitudes change . 
but , they can not forget what they did . 
and apparently , neither can someone else . 
someone begins to send letters to all four of the teens with the frightening message : " i know what you did last summer . " 
the letter-writer ( a figure in a rubber slicker wielding a large metal hook ) soon makes his presence known and begins to hunt down the four teens . 
it's now up to the four of them to try to figure out who the killer is before it's too late . 
while this movie has some nice visually eerie effects , too much of it's impact had to be generated with extreme close-ups , while the level of suspense was choppy at best . 
there is so much more that this movie could have been , but decided to give us nothing but cheap thrills . 
it could have been a clever whodunit , but discovering who ultimately was the killer made me just shrug my shoulders . 
it could have explored the changed friendships after a year of adulthood , but seemed to only include that aspect to add 15 more minutes to the film . 
it could have given us smarter characters who knew that anytime you're alone and you see shadowy figures moving about , you don't walk towards them yelling " hello " . 
once you yell " hello " , you can expect an extreme close-up , a thunderous sound effect and an eerie sounding musical pulse . 
it's difficult to be in suspense when you know what's about to happen . 
the only redeeming aspect of the movie is that i now have a neat idea for a halloween costume , but i'm not sure if the local costume store sells rubber slickers and hooks . 
the horror that i experienced from this film is realizing that i actually went to see it .