I Know What You Did Last Summer (dir. Jennifer Kaytin Robinson)
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 111 mins
UK Distributor: Sony Pictures
UK Release Date: 18 July 2025
WHO’S IN I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER?
Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers, Sarah Pidgeon, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Billy Campbell, Gabbriette Bechtel, Austin Nichols
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (director, writer), Sam Lansky (writer), Neal H. Moritz (producer), Chanda Dancy (composer), Elisha Christian (cinematographer), Saira Haider (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
A group of teens are stalked by a hook-wielding killer…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER?
If you wanted to remake I Know What You Did Last Summer, then just remake I Know What You Did Last Summer. It’s not that hard, given that the premise for the 90s slasher hit can easily be replicated in today’s world, with characters who could more or less serve as formidable replacements for the likes of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr. and its other stars. Hell, in a world where new versions of Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween exist, among many other slasher remakes, it shouldn’t be so hard to will a modern-day version of I Know What You Did Last Summer (excluding that short-lived Prime Video series) into existence.
Yet, director and co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s film makes the fatal mistake of trying to have its cake and slash it too, by not only being a remake but also a legacy sequel to the original 1997 movie. Though that may have worked in the past with other decades-later follow-ups to popular films, there’s something about this take on I Know What You Did Last Summer that feels like it could have worked better if it was one or the other, and not both at once, because it really makes the final product feel a lot more confused about its overall goal.
The premise begins with – what else? – a group of young people on the Fourth of July weekend, among them Danica (Madelyn Cline), Ava (Chase Sui Wonders), Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon) and Danica’s fiancé Teddy (Tyriq Withers), who inadvertently cause a fatal accident while out partying, and instead of turning themselves in they agree to cover it up and keep schtum about the whole affair. Cut to one year later, when the gang is reunited for Danica’s bridal shower, where the bride-to-be receives a threatening hand-written note that simply says “I know what you did last summer,” at which point the bodies start piling up, courtesy of a cloaked killer brandishing a hook for a weapon. Desperate for answers as to who’s targeting them and why, the group turns to former survivors Julie James (Hewitt), now a college professor, and Ray Bronson (Prinze Jr.), the owner of a local bar, for guidance on how to deal with their very similar killer.
Up to a certain point, the film begins decently enough. Sure, the plot is near-identical to the original, as one would expect from a more straightforward remake, but there are a few fresh twists to the formula that make it a bit more engaging, even if the end result is ultimately the same. There’s a considerable amount of time spent with these new characters before the inciting incident, and while some of them have as much personality as a bread-and-butter sandwich, there are a few charming quirks among them which the actors, in particular Chase Sui Wonders, are very good at inhabiting. Even the deaths can get pretty gruesome, with one involving a harpoon being well-staged and suspenseful, in addition to being bloody without becoming too gory. It’s enough to where, if this were just a remake, it wouldn’t be an especially great one, but it would at least be the right amount of distinct to prevent you from thinking too much about the original, kind of like what those Platinum Dunes versions of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ended up being.
Unfortunately, this is also a legacy sequel, and the moment that people start harping on about the events of 1997, this version of I Know What You Did Last Summer starts to sink at an alarming rate. It isn’t that the inclusion of past actors like Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. (as well as a couple of other surprise faces) is a bad thing, in fact it’s actually really cool to not only see them star in a major theatrical release again, but still with plenty of charisma that made them breakout stars all those years ago. It’s more the fact that as soon as they’re introduced, the film almost never lets a moment go by without referencing the first film in some way, whether it’s a repurposed line of dialogue or certain framing of a shot that’s kind of like how it was in the original, and in doing so it pushes the fairly okay standalone movie it started out as to the side in favour of blatant nostalgia porn.
Unlike the recent Scream movies, which this movie clearly wants to replicate in terms of blending both the old and the new, Robinson and co-writer Sam Lansky’s script isn’t smart enough to keep the focus on where it needs to be, and just lets the past elements completely take over to a point where you’re no longer as interested in the newer characters or their predicament as you previously were. It so desperately wants viewers to remember the 1997 film, even if they’ve never seen it, that it forgets to take the fresher elements anywhere that isn’t in some way connected to the original, thereby giving this film supportive crutches that it never really needed. In a script that’s already filled with plot holes and nonsensical twists, especially some towards the end which are bound to piss off some of the franchise’s most dedicated fans who have been there from the beginning, the lack of focus on what should be its own thing makes it feel more cynical, as though they had no other ideas other than to remind viewers of the film that started it all.
If you want a horror revitalisation that felt much more like its own thing and not just a nostalgic recollection of past movies, I urge you to check out Final Destination Bloodlines, which has far more inventiveness than this version of I Know What You Did Last Summer, a film that really should have been fully remade rather than rely on its past to set itself up for present and future audiences.
SO, TO SUM UP…
I Know What You Did Last Summer starts out as a decent enough remake of the 1997 original, with some inventive kills and a charming cast, but quickly descends into cynically nostalgia-bait territory as soon as it becomes a legacy sequel.
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