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Writer's pictureMark O. Estes

Black Horror Survivors #11 – Karla Wilson (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer)


This February, Midnight Social Distortion will be celebrating Black History Month by honoring Black horror characters, in particular Black horror survivors, throughout the twenty-eight day period. Each day will feature one black male and one black female survivor in horror and sci-fi to bring light to the positive, albeit still problematic, black champions of representation in horror. Some disclaimers first: obvious spoilers ahead, and not all horror survivors will be featured this go round, but will appear in later posts down the line.

Karla Wilson (Brandy Norwood)

Character Arc

Knowing that her best friend Julie James survived a massacre from a deranged killer the previous year, Karla Wilson was not only understanding, but loyal as fuck; wanting only the best for her homegirl. When they both “won” a much needed vacation, Karla felt this stroke of luck was what Julie needed. But evil never if rarely rests, and next thing you know, Karla is running, falling, and being slung into glass pane after glass pane trying to escape the Fisherman. Luckily she learned to play dead and let Julie handle her issues on her own. That’s what friends are for.

Fun Trivia

Karla went through so much glass escaping encounters with Ben The Fisherman that I was surprised she wasn’t cut up as much as she was at the end of the film. As a matter of fact, IMDB lists that Karla, not Nancy (Jennifer Esposito) was supposed to have died in the first aid kit retrieval scene that also saw the death of my namesake Estes (Bill Cobbs). IMDB also lists that Karla was originally set to be a white girl until Brandy auditioned for the role. I tried searching for better sources than IMDB, but couldn’t find any.

Final Thoughts

Karla’s survival was a mixture of her will to live and Julie’s help in rescuing her after Tyrell bit the dust. After seeing Scream 2’s Hallie (Elise Neal) unceremonious death the previous year, it was refreshing to see the black best friend make it to sunset with the main protagonist. However, Karla’s appearance at the end of the movie seemed like an afterthought, especially after knowing she was set to die instead of Nancy. Also there’s chatter across the web that Karla was set to die in the next film, but we all know that instead they made I Will Always Know What You Did Last Summer, which has a sharp departure from the first two movies. And the less we talk about that the better.

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