Julie James

Julie James is the Final Girl of the film I Know What You Did Last Summer, and its sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. She was played by actress Jennifer Love Hewitt.

I Know What You Did Last Summer
After her friend Helen wins a beauty pagent, Julie James and her friends go to the beach to celebrate. On their return, Barry, the driver, hits and kills a man. Instead of following Julie's suggestion of calling the police, Barry and the others agree to dump the body of the man, apparently dead, in the ocean and treat the accident as though it never happened. Julie, apprehensive, goes along with it.

A year later, and Julie returns home from college to find out that her friends lives have changed. Helen never left for Hollywood; her ex-boyfriend Ray is now working on his father's old fishing boat. Julie receives a message informing her "I Know What You Did Last Summer". Alarmed, Julie goes to the others. Barry brushes it off, but goes and attacks a guy named Max, who had driven by when it had happened.

Barry is hit by a car. Julie goes to the hospital to visit him. Doing her research, Julie is under the impression that they had hit a man by the name of David Egan. Helen and Julie go and visit his sister. Upon Julie's return, she attempts to convince his sister that her brother did not convince suicide, but she does not succeed. She is asked to leave.

The killer leaves the body of Max, covered in crawfish and crabs, in the trunk of her car. When she attempts to show it to her friends, her trunk has been cleaned up.

After the deaths of her friends Barry and Helen, Julie learns that they had hit not David Egan, but a man by the name of Ben Willis, who had killed David Egan. David had been in a car accident that had killed Ben's daughter. Blaming him, Ben had made it appear like a suicide. The killer convinces Julie to get on his boat after she thinks Ray is the killer, and she goes, soon learning that it's not the case. She finds the bodies' of her friends in the chase. Ray makes it on the boat and rescues Julie, with Ben Willis seemingly killed in the struggle.

While talking to the police, Ray and Julie lie, saying they have no idea why Ben Willis was after them.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
Julie is still traumatized from the events of the first film, having nightmares about the Fisherman Ben Willis. Back at college, Julie is doing the best she can to try and piece her life together.

Ray surprises her at her dorm and invites her back to their hometown, but Julie is still too fragile to go back. Hurt and upset, Ray leaves. She goes out, but she still sees the fisherman, and leaves her friends behind at a nightclub.

Julie and her roommate Karla win a radio contest trip to go to the Bahamas, despite the fact that their answer was wrong. She invites Ray, but he's unsure if he can make it. She and Karla, along with Karla's boyfriend and her friend Will, go on the vacation. They arrive in the Bahamas right in time for storm season.

At the bar, the bartender Nancy recommends that they do some karaoke. Julie does it, but the words I Still Know What You Did Last Summer shows up inside of the lyrics prompter. Freaking out, Julie takes off to her hotel room, only to be surprised by Will, who gives her a rose.

Julie finds the dead body of the dockhand in a closet and informs everybody. Thanks to the storm season, the hotel's manager warns them to stay indoors for the meantime. The next day, Julie goes tanning and is locked in her tanning bed. She is saved by the others when Karla finds the dead body of the maid in the dryer and everybody decides that there is real, tangible danger on the resort.

Everybody suspects the baggage handler, but Julie is surprised to know that he knows who Ben Willis is, going so far as to inform Julie that he had lived on the island and raised a family for a time. Outside, Julie and the others find an open grave with Julie's name on it.

Back inside the hotel, they go into the pantry where Nancy is hiding. Karla's boyfriend is killed. Karla, Nancy and Julie escape into the attic, where they are pursued by the Fisherman. When Karla falls through the glass house, Nancy and Julie run down to rescue her and get her out and away from the Fisherman, who is still pursuing her. Julie uses an ax to rescue Karla and they take off, hiding in a storm shelter, where they find other bodies. They are discovered by Will.

Inside the hotel, Julie tends to wounds that Will had received, while Karla and Nancy go for the first aid kit. Nancy is killed.

Will reveals to Julie that the blood on his shirt isn't his, and that he is the son of Ben Willis, the fisherman Julie and her friends had hit in the first film. Will drags Julie out to her empty grave and reunites them all with Ben. He attempts to kill Julie, but is stopped by the arrival of Ray with a loaded gun. Ben accidentally kills his son and Julie shoots him to death, leaving him in her empty grave.

The next morning, Julie, Ray and Karla -- who survived -- are all rescued by the coastguard.

A while later, Julie and Ray have moved in together. She suspects that there is somebody in the house, but her suspicions are unconfirmed. Sitting down on her bed, she finds Ben Willis, who drags her under. It is unclear if it was a nightmare or if she and Ray were really killed.

Trivia
Jennifer Love Hewitt originally auditioned for the role of Helen.

Sarah Michelle Gellar -- who played Helen in the film -- originally auditioned for the role of Julie.