I Saw What You Did (1988 film)

I Saw What You Did is a 1988 American made-for-television horror film directed by Fred Walton. It is a remake of the 1965 theatrical film of the same name starring Joan Crawford. It received generally negative reviews, with only a few exceptions.[1] Nevertheless, it won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or a Special.

This article is about the 1988 TV remake. For the 1965 film, see I Saw What You Did.
I Saw What You Did
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Genre
  • Drama
  • Horror
  • Thriller
Based onOut of the Dark (novel) by Ursula Curtiss
Written byCynthia Cidre
Directed byFred Walton
StarringShawnee Smith
Tammy Lauren
Candace Cameron
Robert Carradine
Theme music composerDana Kaproff
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
Production
Executive producer(s)Jon Epstein
Wendy Riche
Producer(s)Barry Greenfield
Production location(s)Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California
CinematographyWoody Omens
Editor(s)Richard Bracken
Running time93 minutes
Production company(s)Universal Television
DistributorCBS
Release
Original networkCBS
Picture formatColor
Audio formatMono
Original releaseMay 20, 1988

Plot

Lisa Harris is a popular high school student who is more interested in her boyfriend Louis than getting good grades. She is invited to dinner by Kim Fielding, an intelligent classmate who never breaks any rules. She has to babysit her sister Julia, since her father is out of town for the night. Lisa feels she does not have anything in common with her, and she only agrees to come over to meet her boyfriend there. They meet a man named Randy, he offers mangoes. Bored and awaiting his arrival, she joins Kim and Julia in making prank calls. When it's her turn, she calls Adrian Lancer, a man with mental problems who just murdered his girlfriend Robyn Griffin because she declined a marriage proposal from him. Lisa decides to hang up and later calls people, saying "I saw what you did, and I know who you are" before hanging up.

Lisa and Kim later discuss Kim's love life, and they decide she needs an older man who appreciates her. They decide on calling Adrian again, but Lisa, afraid to seduce him, repeats the line "I saw what you did, and I know who you are." Adrian, who was caught in the act when he was burying Robyn's body, does not realize it's a prank and is determined to get rid of her. She thinks he was flirting with her on the phone and later calls him again, agreeing to meet with him. She is nervous to actually meet him, but she is convinced that she should drive by his house. Meanwhile, Adrian's neighbor and brother Stephen notices blood coming through the wall, and he starts to suspect that there is something wrong.

Adrian notices Kim and Lisa standing in front of his door and opens it. Kim, too afraid to admit she is the girl he talked to on the phone, pretends that their car broke down and that she has to use the phone to call for help. While Lisa is waiting outside, Adrian lets Kim use his phone. She pretends to call someone and mentions she is at Adrian's. Adrian immediately becomes suspicious, as he has not told his name to her. She starts to get afraid of him and leaves, but forgets her purse by mistake. After she drives away, Stephen drops by and informs him that he informed Robyn about his mental problems. Back at home, Louis and his friends finally drop by Kim's house to pick up Lisa. Not wanting to ditch Kim, she decides not to go with him. Kim still feels hurt, though, for finding out Lisa only used her for meeting friends, and Lisa soon leaves.

Stephen finds out that Adrian killed his girlfriend, but before he can do anything about it, Adrian knocks him out. He pours gasoline on him and is about to light him on fire, but he diverts his attention to silencing Kim first. He leaves and Stephen regains consciousness and reports him to the police. Meanwhile, Adrian is on his way to Kim's house, but a policeman is behind him, trying to pull him over. Adrian speeds away and loses control of his car. It goes off the road and a few moments later blows up. The police assume he perished in the explosion, but he got out of the car before the explosion and continues on to Kim's house. We also notice Randy standing in an empty yard. Upon confronting her, she admits she prank called him. They are interrupted by a phone call from Lisa, informing Kim that she just heard on the news that Adrian murdered his girlfriend and that he is now presumed dead. Kim tries to warn the police, but Adrian stops her, setting the house on fire. Julia attempts to go out, but Kim stops her, explaining that Adrian is outside, not knowing that he is in fact inside. He attempts to kill Kim, but the family dog charges into him, knocking him into the fire. During the commotion, Kim and Julia are eventually able to get outside with the help of Randy. After Kim and the police arrive, they witness Adrian running outside, burning alive and dying before he can hurt anybody else. One night, after the incident is over, Kim receives a phone call from Stephen, who says 'Kim, I know who you are. You killed my brother.' Kim screams and the film ends.

Cast

Production

In his book Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen Since the 1960s, Kim Newman argues that I Saw What You Did was responsible for the eventual creation of Dark Castle Entertainment, a production company that created remakes of horror films.[2]

Reception

In Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography, Lawrence J. Quirk and William Schoell refer to the film as "abysmall" and consider it inferior to the original.[3] Similarly, in his book Movie and Video Guide 1993, film critic Leonard Maltin refers to the film as "bland", compared to the original.[4]

gollark: Wait, isn't the bottom one basically a binomial expansion?
gollark: Also, why not reduce stuff to E³ or whatever instead of the apiaristic "EEE"?
gollark: Why?
gollark: Which they are apparently.
gollark: If they are actual numbers.

References
  1. Stanley, John - Creature features, p.274
  2. Newman, Kim (May 10, 2011). Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen Since the 1960s. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 405. ISBN 978-1408805039.
  3. Quirk, Lawrence J.; Schoell, William (September 30, 2002). Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography. University Press of Kentucky. p. 227. ISBN 978-0813122540.
  4. Maltin, Leonard (November 1, 1992). Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 1993. Plume. p. 606. ISBN 978-0452268579.
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