I wish I could tell you I was watching something more gruesome and horrific this past mischief night but the fact is, I was taking in the 1988 T.V. movie I SAW WHAT YOU DID. Melody M.'s recent traumafession on the same year's THE BLOB reminded me that there is never enough SHAWNEE SMITH in my world. Like THE BLOB, I SAW WHAT YOU DID is an eighties update of an earlier classic (the 1965 original was directed by WILLIAM CASTLE and starred JOAN CRAWFORD) and no matter how you feel about remakes, who among us is strong enough to resist an eighties flavored spin on anything?
They sure picked the right director for this tale of phone abuse, FRED WALTON previously helmed the at least partially terrifying WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (not to mention its sequel and the much loved APRIL FOOL'S DAY). Although he sometimes makes you wonder what the difference is between suspense and stalling, there's no mistaking that this isn't WALTON's first terror by telephone rodeo. Joining our pal SHAWNEE is future WISHMASTER foe TAMMY LARUREN and FULL HOUSE's CANDACE CAMERON BURE as kid sis Julia. Our story involves the girls learning what we all must eventually learn, that if you keep making random prank phone calls you run the risk , at some point, of contacting at least one CARRADINE brother and that's never a good prospect.
All right, maybe this flick won't scare you but it's fun, brimming with the giddy nostalgic pleasure of misbehaving as a kid whenever your left alone long enough to do so. It's s tame for the most part but it's not without a rather creepy slippery slope undercurrent. It sort of operates like a cross between 1985's SMOOTH TALK and one of those paranoid educational films that offers up the worst case scenario for mischievous girls who stray from the proper path. As always, because it's on YouTube you should not take it for granted that it will always be there and a DVD release is pretty unlikely, so I say check out below while you can and party like it's 1988!
I remember watching this when it originally aired. I didn't see the original until many years later, and I like both a lot.
And this makes me want to see Lisa again. It's time!
I LOVE Tammy Lauren, btw. She's fantastic.
I was thinking about you when I watched this one Amanda!
I like both versions too. Oh and LISA! I forgot about that one. They'd make a great double feature.
What the… ? Like Unk I'll watch pretty much anything with Shawnee Smith in it, but the end of this one had me scratching my head.
Spoilers ahoy!
First, was there any surprise at all when David Carradine popped up at the end? When someone gets gas poured all over them and we see the killer clearly NOT set them on fire, they are going to show up again – guaranteed. But I am befuddled – he was a bad guy too? I thought that he might appear and say something like "Hey, I'm really sorry about Adrien – I'm sad that he is dead but I understand that you were only defending yourself." Again, confusing.
But the capper is the absence of the Hero Dog shot. Come on! That doberman totally saved their butts and it presumably gets roasted along with the big bad? I was 100% expecting to see it come crashing through the picture window – maybe a little singed – and have a happy reunion with the kids.
Chuckles!
That ending is a head shaker! "You killed my brother" I imagined that his next line was…"And I'd like to thank you for that. He was crazy and tried to burn me alive."
And you're right! They really missed a golden opportunity by forgetting the dog. I can't believe I didn't catch that. I usually spend all my time when watching a movie with animals wondering where they are and if they are safe.
I'm going to assume the dog is with Paul from friday the 13th 2.
I remember watching this movie on a 13" black and white TV in my room one night in 1988.
At one time I was trying to remember this trauma, but looked it up a few years ago. I was remembering it incorrectly—I thought the guy they were calling was none other than David Byrne from Talking Heads.
Psycho Killer—Qu'est-ce que?
^Oops. That should have read Psycho Killer—Qu’est-ce que c'est?