Summary
Way back in 1997,I Know What You Did Last Summerwas riding the wave of copycat slashers that came in the wake ofScream. It’s often considered the best of the bunch, and it definitely made an impact in popular culture. It remained a big enough franchise to spawn two sequels (though the third is a disposable direct-to-video affair) and a Prime Video series. The latest iteration, a requel in the vein of, again, Scream, at least proves there’s still some fuel in the tank.
Or is there? The 2025 version ofI Know What You Did Last Summerfeels entirely unnecessary, both as a franchise entry and just as an actual movie. There’s next to no redeeming qualities in this banal, boring slasher that is light on thrills and heavy on exposition. It is unlikely to please longtime fans of the original movie, which is a significant weakness considering its returning original cast is supposed to be a major hook (sorry).
I Know What You Did Last Summer Is Plagued With Script Problems
Just like the original movie (which was based on a Lois Duncan novel), the story begins with a group of friends who cause a deadly accident and make a pact to never reveal what they have done. This time around, the group is celebrating the engagement of Danica (Madelyn Cline) and Teddy (Tyriq Withers). Ava (Chase Sui Wonders, who did muchbetter work inBodies Bodies Bodies) and Milo (Jonah Hauer-King) used to date, but remain friendly. Before they depart on their ill-fated drive, they convince an old friend, Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon) to tag along. After covering up their involvement in the accident (with the help of Teddy’s developer father), they go their separate ways. One year later, Danica receives a threatening note, and the murders begin.
The dialogue in these first ten minutes is, without being too hyperbolic, excruciating. It’s like when a movie or TV show is trying to satirize clumsy exposition, but it’s being entirely serious. It feels like everything was shot based on a first draft of the script. The audience only learns anything about these characters because they are always repeating information they should already know to each other. It’s some of the laziest and clunkiest writing in a first act in a long time.
When the script isn’t mindlessly pushing the story along and treating the audience like a kindergarten class, it’s chock-full of the most grating humor that’s ever been gracelessly crammed into a movie aimed at a younger audience. Much of the dialogue reads like a game of Gen Z Mad Libs, and the characters can’t help but make glib quips in the face of tragedy.Marvel movies often get a lot of flakfor their supposed overuse of too-clever-by-half humor, but it’s an issue that can be found in a lot of films, this one included. The worst offender of this is a second-act character named Tyler, a true crime podcast host who winds up in Southport to do an episode on the 1997 murders. Tyler is the absolute worst, and her very short time on screen is still far too much to take.
It’s obvious that writer-director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, along with fellow credited writers Leah McKendrick and Sam Lansky, were going for theScreamof it all. That long-running and more successful franchise is built on its self-awareness, acting as a satire of the horror genre as much as a traditional slasher series. The logic and style ofScreamcan not and do not apply toI Know What You Did Last Summer.Even thoughScreamscribe Kevin Williamsonalso penned the 1997 original, it is a far darker and more straightforward story. It may not be perfect, but it at least shows how one tragedy can destroy multiple lives. Here, Robinson prefers to forego the darker parts of the story in favor of more winking and self-referential jokes, which don’t fit in whatsoever.
Of course, this wouldn’t be a modern requel of a long-dormant franchise without the inclusion of a few original cast members. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. reprise their roles, but without much necessity or effort. Hewitt’s Julie James was always a second-rate final girl when compared to Sidney Prescott, and she doesn’t do anything particularly memorable here to shake off that reputation.Prinze is a fine Star Wars voice actor, but he fails to carry the emotional weight of someone who is haunted by their past. Unlike the legacy cast members inScream, these two don’t do that much to move the plot forward, and only really make an impact in the movie’s final minutes.
I Know What You Did Last Summer also Suffers From Poor Directing and Editing
The script issues would be enough to sinkI Know What You Did Last Summer, but they are unfortunately coupled with some very uninspired and truly baffling stylistic choices. Whereas the original movie really leaned into its seaside setting, giving the dark story a contrast in the beautiful surrounding area, large chunks of this movie take place in nondescript, modern mansions. There’s no sense of space or character to any of these places, which could literally be almost anywhere.
There’s also some strange editing, especially in the latter half of the movie. The movie follows one character from one location to another with no sense of progression or time. They end up in a spot that is part of their family home, but has never been shown in the rest of the movie, so there’s no sense of where this person actually is. Normally, a nitpick like this wouldn’t be enough to sink a movie, but considering how much of a messI Know What You Did Last Summeralready is, it really stands out. A major plot point in the third act is also papered over with some hasty dialogue, suggesting that it was a decision made at the last minute.
Verdict: I Know What You Did Last Summer Is Not Going To Hook Anyone
Pun aside, this new entry in theI Know What You Did Last Summerfranchise (how is this a franchise?) is one of the weakest big studio horror entries in a landscape where those movies are having a harder time finding their audience (after the high-profile failure ofM3gan 2.0, Jason Blum has admitted as much, and is changing that studio’s whole strategy because of it). Much like the ill-fated driver in this movie, this return to the town of Southport is best left buried and never spoken about again.
I Know What You Did Last Summeropens in theaters on July 18th.
