I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Jennifer Love Hewitt (from TV's Party of Five) and Sarah Michelle Gellar (Scream 2) star with Freddie Prinze, Jr., Ryan Phillippe and Johnny Galecki in this terrifying tale of a body that just won't stay dead. After an accident on a winding road, four teens make the fatal mistake of dumping their victim's body into the sea. But exactly one year later, the dead man returns from his watery grave, and he's looking for more than an apology.

As they celebrate their high school graduation, four friends are involved in a hit-and-run accident when their car hits--and apparently kills--a pedestrian on an isolated roadway. They dispose of the body and vow to keep the incident a secret, but a year later somebody starts sending them letters bearing the warning "I Know What You Did Last Summer." At that point the panicked foursome becomes the target of an elusive serial killer whose disguise consists of a fisherman's slicker and a lethal ice hook.

Part mystery and part slasher flick, this thriller was heavily hyped as a follow-up to Scream by screenwriter Kevin Williamson (who later created the TV series Dawson's Creek), and like Scream it's a showcase for a teenage cast including Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar. And while this shocker isn't as inspired as Scream, it's guaranteed to give its target audience a few good thrills as it dives toward a routine climax of mayhem and murder. Based (rather loosely) on the popular novel by Lois Duncan.

--Jeff Shannon