Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth
Alright, fellow tape travelers, let’s rewind to the very specific, slightly strange twilight of the VHS era – the year 2000. The slasher revival sparked by Scream (1996) was still echoing through multiplexes and, more importantly for us, dominating the 'New Releases' wall at Blockbuster. And right alongside the genuine slashers and the big-budget parodies sat this glorious slice of absurdity: Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth. Yes, the title alone tells you exactly what you're in for, a kitchen-sink approach to spoofing every late-90s teen horror cliché imaginable. Found this one nestled between a worn copy of Varsity Blues and a slightly-too-pristine American Pie? Yeah, me too.
Straight-to-Video Shenanigans
Now, let's be clear. This wasn't the Scary Movie juggernaut that hit theaters the same year. Oh no. Shriek took the humbler, perhaps more fitting, path straight to video store shelves. And maybe that’s part of its charm now. It feels like a slightly rebellious, less polished younger sibling. What’s fascinating, though, is a bit of Retro Fun Fact timing: Shriek (originally filmed under titles like I Know What You Screamed Last Semester) was actually shot before the first Scary Movie! Studio politics and release strategies meant the Wayans brothers beat them to the punch theatrically, leaving Shriek feeling like an echo rather than a precursor. But knowing it was developed concurrently gives it a different context – less a quick cash-in, more a parallel thought in the pop culture hive mind.
The director, John Blanchard, came seasoned from the world of brilliant Canadian sketch comedy, having helmed episodes of SCTV and The Kids in the Hall. You can feel that sensibility here – it’s less about sophisticated satire and more about a rapid-fire barrage of sight gags, puns, and wildly unsubtle references. Does every joke land? Absolutely not. But the sheer density of them is something to behold, a hallmark of parodies from this specific period. Remember the relentless gag-a-minute style of Airplane! (1980) or The Naked Gun (1988)? Shriek tries to bottle that energy, albeit with decidedly more juvenile and pop-culture-specific targets.
The Usual Suspects, Dialed to Eleven
The plot, such as it is, mashes together Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) with reckless abandon. We're at Bulimia Falls High School (subtle, right?), where a group of hormonal teens are stalked by a killer known only as... well, The Killer. Leading the pack is Tiffani Thiessen as Hagitha Utslay (get it?), playing delightfully against her wholesome Kelly Kapowski image from Saved by the Bell. She leans into the absurdity, clearly having fun with the role of the Final Girl archetype reimagined as a hyper-aware, perpetually exasperated target.
Surrounding her is a cast gleefully sending up horror tropes. You’ve got the jock, the nerd, the promiscuous one, the film geek – all present and accounted for, their characteristics exaggerated to cartoonish levels. And then there’s Tom Arnold as Deputy Doughy. Arnold does what Tom Arnold does best: loud, slightly obnoxious, but weirdly endearing in his commitment to the bit. His presence feels like peak late-90s/early-00s stunt casting. And let’s not forget a truly baffling appearance by Coolio as the school's Principal, hilariously named "Principal Interest." Why? Because it was the year 2000, and sometimes things just happened. It’s the kind of random celebrity cameo that feels perfectly at home in a film destined for the rental market.
Parody Over Polish
Unlike the slick production of Scream, Shriek embraces its lower budget and direct-to-video roots. There aren't groundbreaking practical effects here; instead, the humor often comes from mocking the conventions of slasher movie violence and suspense. The kills are played for laughs, the scares are intentionally telegraphed, and the mystery of the killer's identity is treated as the running joke it often became in lesser slasher sequels. Remember how obvious some of those reveals felt back in the day? Shriek takes that feeling and runs with it until it trips over its own feet, laughing all the way.
The film throws references at the screen like spaghetti – Friday the 13th, Halloween, Dawson's Creek, Baywatch, even nods to older slashers pop up. It’s a relentless pop culture assault. Watching it now is like opening a time capsule filled with forgotten trends and fleeting celebrity jokes. Some gags have aged better than others, naturally, but the sheer commitment to throwing everything at the wall is oddly admirable. It lacks the sharp satirical edge of Scream or the gross-out consistency of Scary Movie, occupying a middle ground of determined silliness.
So, Does it Still Shriek?
Look, Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth isn't high art. It wasn't even necessarily good art back in 2000. But viewed through the lens of VHS Heaven, it represents something specific: the tail end of the 90s horror boom colliding with the parody craze, packaged perfectly for a Friday night rental with friends when expectations were low and the pizza was hot. It’s goofy, often groan-inducing, but undeniably energetic and packed with a certain kind of nostalgic charm for anyone who remembers that era of filmmaking and movie-watching. It's a time capsule of Y2K humor, celebrity cameos, and genre self-awareness.
Rating: 5/10
Justification: It achieves exactly what it sets out to do – be a dumb, rapid-fire parody of late-90s slashers for the home video market. It’s loaded with jokes (quantity over quality, perhaps), features a game cast led by a fun Tiffani Thiessen, and captures a very specific moment in pop culture history. It’s far from perfect and often relies on lazy gags, but its sheer commitment to silliness and its status as a rental-era artifact earn it a perfectly average, affectionately remembered score.
Final Thought: It may not be the sharpest knife in the parody drawer, but Shriek is a loud, goofy echo of a specific time – like finding that half-forgotten mixtape, full of tracks that make you chuckle precisely because they haven’t aged perfectly. Sometimes, that's exactly what you want from the dusty shelves of VHS Heaven.