Do You Wanna Know a Secret? (2001)

Nobody on this site has reviewed this movie since it turned ten years old. As the hype over the Scream movies has passed, I feel like this movie has aged pretty well. While I saw this movie as a child and didn't realize its shortcomings, today I certainly don't pick up a video-rental caliber rip off of a 90's slasher and expect it to be impressive. I just hope for some suspense, corny characters that can keep me entertained and an unpredictable killer reveal. In my opinion, Do You Wanna Know a Secret? hit all of those notes and therefore is a passable movie.The highlights: I actually liked that they kept most of the kills off screen. It helped this low budget movie stay believable and really helped amplify the impact of what we actually do see towards the end. This has been a sore spot for some other reviewers, but I like to believe that it was a stylistic choice more than a budgetary restriction. (I could be wrong about that, but it still works for me)I was really surprised by the killer reveal. I won't spoil anything but I'll say that at the beginning of the final act I made a list of all the characters I thought would be the killer, and the person who really did it was half way down the list, with 3 or 4 characters I thought more likely. That means to me that the red herrings - while subtle - were effective, which is key in any slasher from the wave that came directly post-Scream.The cinematography was exceptional for a straight-to-video release in 4:3. I have no complaints in this regard. The makeup was also very good. One scene that calls to the movie's title has stuck with me for years. I will simply never forget it. I also enjoyed the humor, and the gardener's brief appearance really made me laugh.The sore spots: Let's be frank, this is nothing that you haven't seen before. From the college setting at the beginning to the party house, the locations are all standard and far from flashy. They aren't utilized in any ways that make them seem important and are just there to let the meta-slasher formula run its course.In a post-Scream slasher, the best thing about the script is frequently meta references and in-jokes for horror fans. This movie stays pretty much clear of that content which was disappointing. The killer reveal was fresh, but the characters were very by-the-numbers and not in a spoofy way. Oh, and yeah…the killer mask. It's pretty hilarious. To sum things up, I didn't come to DYWKAS with the expectation of greatness or high quality. I was entertained and got what I wanted out of this, even with a 5-dollar price tag that could have gotten me 3-4 new releases from Redbox. I recommend it to any slasher fan who can go in with the same moderate expectations.

I normally have no problem walking away from a bad movie, however this was an unique case. This movie was so bad that I actually sat through the whole thing almost praying it would have one minute of good movie time to justify the hour and a half that was wasted. Needless to say I was brutally disappointed. Set at a beach house where a group of college friends are celebrating vacation, this movie suffers from numerous problems making it not worth seeing. First, there are gaping plot holes. Second, very few of the C-list (i don't even dare call them B) actors can act worth a damn, so any scenes that have potential fail miserably. Third, the rate of the film is very choppy and awkward to watch most of the time making suspense building very difficult, leading to very few surprises for the audience. Fourth and most importantly, the ending is completely anti-climatic partially because of how it ends (setting/who the killer turns out to be) and partially because the dialog is just atrocious. To the films credit, it is the only movie that I will ever say is the worst movie I have ever scene, and i've seen a lot.So, just like a bad joke you would have been all the happier never hearing, the next time someone asks you if you want to know a secret you will be yelling no, you really don't as you run in the opposite direction.

Do you guys wanna know a secret?. This movie sucks. Well actually i don't know because if you allow yourself to be indulged by plagiarised versions of original movies, then perhaps you may find this movie astounding (this movie being a plagiarised copy of i know what you did last summer). The first 30 minutes of the movie is based on a typical story setting; a bunch of so-called cool teenagers relishing their vacation in Florida and being themselves by behaving very much like the juveniles they are. The only insight we get at this point is the extent to which the director succeeded in illustrating a pretentious sense of adolescent decadence within the characters. The second half hour of the movie gains a little momentum and begins to illustrate a start to the no- where-near unprecedented killings. The third half hour of the movie will most definitely remain a mystery to me because i switched it off before i could further delude myself into thinking that the movie may still have something interesting and original left to show. As far as the story is concerned, it can easily be explained in a few lines. A bunch of teenagers go to Florida on vacation. While they are busy partying, they slowly (and i mean SLOWLY) begin to get killed because they know some sort of silly secret. The only thread to the killings is that all victims were matriculates of a common high school. One thing that did however amaze me about this movie, was how much betty (im not sure about her name..the blonde character) looks like reese witherspoon. Another thing that amazed me about the movie was that it made me jump from my seat a few times. Does that make it a work of art? absolutely not because my 12 year old niece made me drop a glass of orange juice because she "boo'ed" me when i was just about to go through the guest room door..whats the difference between the director and my 12 year old niece???? Do you wanna know a secret??? I'm not sure about you guys, but i don't..

wow -- lit like a soap opera, acted like a lost episode of "saved by the bell", and populated by intergenerational television has-beens, this one is really something special. this incomprehensible film starts in connecticut (i think) with a scene stolen out of "exorsist 3" and then moves to florida (i think) where we're treated to all the fun trappings of direct-to-video horror, namely: rich kids with the run of a gigantic house, nudity-free sex, booze, racial profiling, "raves", random FBI involvement, goofy masks, murders unrelated to the plot, and horrendous music. i mean, REALLY horrendous music. i will admit that there were a few clever scares (the fold-up ironing board, a tried-and-true gag since "clue", is still effective here), but mostly it was horribly contrived. chad allen somehow reminds me of anthony michael hall in his awkward "johnny b. good" phase, only with an added prescription medication addiction. take note of the name of the lead actress - and avoid ever watching anything with her in it EVER AGAIN. and it shakes me to the bone that i am about to write this -- joey lawrence is one of the strong points of the movie. whew. i said it. words of the day: overlit, unresolved, grating, stagey, joey.