I Know What You Did Last Summer, 2025.
Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.
Starring Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers, Sarah Pidgeon, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Billy Campbell, Gabbriette, Austin Nichols, Joshua Orpin, Todd Giebenhain, Georgia Flood, Simone Annan, Nick Hardcastle, Nicole Chapman, Isaiah Mustafa, Dalia Rooni, Nick Farnell, and Luke Van Os.
SYNOPSIS:
A group of friends are terrorised by a stalker who knows about a gruesome incident from their past.
Trite legacy sequel I Know What You Did Last Summer has the audacity to have one of its characters vehemently express that nostalgia is overrated. One can only assume co-writer/director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (writing the screenplay with Sam Lansky from a story conceived alongside Leah McKendrick, with characters based on a novel from Lois Duncan) is using one of those characters as a mouthpiece for their beliefs on the state of cinema and the gluttonous amount of modern reboot/sequels hogging up multiplexes, except there is hypocrisy in that the majority of the film is reliant on just that.
It’s one thing to bring back Jennifer Love Hewitt’s 1997 Southport massacre survivor Julie James, following in the footsteps of using such heroes to explore the traumatic effects that linger in life from these slasher events, and another thing entirely to do what this narrative inevitably does while feigning to put nostalgia on blast. Sometimes, it’s a pointless dream sequence solely meant to give the fans what they want, which is fine, but that also doesn’t mean it’s necessary or worthwhile. If anything, it’s eye-rolling.
Without saying too much, let’s just say if the original I Know What You Did Last Summer, scribed by Kevin Williamson before his Scream screenplay was purchased and made into a movie, was more of a traditional slasher whereas the latter was a genre deconstruction, that means any attempt at self-awareness and deconstructing this series is, more or less, forcing itself to become like that other franchise. Not only is this reboot borrowing from the Scream playbook while essentially redoing the same basic plot of the original, but it’s also cribbing ideas from those legacy sequels. There is no longer any distinction between the two franchises other than one wears a fisherman’s slicker and kills with a hook, whereas the other has a mask and a knife.
This isn’t the only example of I Know What You Did Last Summer trying to have its cake and eat it too, as its new group of young characters being targeted one by one by a serial killer one year later following a freak accident that they try to wash their hands of rather than take accountability for, are a mixture of vain dimwits and reasonably minded people that cause the story to stand out as a tonal misfire. At times, the film wants viewers to care about some of the most shallow characters, when perhaps a more effective approach would be to lean into their unlikability and play up their self-absorbed tendencies. Instead, the narrative essentially switches perspectives to a character easier to root for.
Overly long for a slasher at nearly 2 hours (counting a mid-credits scene setting up the sequel, as Sony is hedging their bets that demand for this franchise is that high), it simply feels as if Jennifer Kaytin-Robinson doesn’t have a handle on what she wants to do with rebooting this series beyond fan service. Again, that doesn’t make for a good movie, and for damn sure makes for a creatively bankrupt one.
Several character details and ideas are introduced, ranging from a cult leader to a true crime horror podcaster suspiciously arriving on the 27th anniversary of the initial killing spree to investigate it, most of which go nowhere. In some cases, they are discarded moments after being introduced. It’s as if the film is working overtime to redirect viewer expectations elsewhere before doing exactly what most people will assume it will do upon entering. That’s not to say the filmmakers should be blamed on that front; there’s no point in making a legacy sequel if it’s going to have the same reveals.
And while no one is coming to this film for complex characterization, it should also not be understated how sloppy this sequel is about establishing them. Danica Richards (Madelyn Cline) is the stereotypical blonde airhead, materialistic, and vain, who is engaged to two different fiancés across the prologue and the main narrative. At the first of these celebrations, a joyride with her friends results in some reckless behavior, goofing off in the street, which causes a fatal accident for another driver. They make a pact never to speak about what happened again (one of them has ties to the local police chief and can make the situation go away), pressuring one of the group in the process.
Since Danica generally has comical reactions to those dying around her, inadvertently downplaying the severity of the situation, starting with her fiancé, Wyatt (Joshua Orpin), the film mostly pivots to her bisexual friend, Ava Brucks (Chase Sui Wonders), who helms the investigation process. Naturally, before anyone dies, they assume it’s malicious blackmail on behalf of her ex-fiancé Teddy (Tyriq Withers), also a self-absorbed dope. Also present is Ava’s friend Milo (Jonah Hauer-King) and Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon), who was recently accepted back into the friend group following a rough upbringing that nearly derailed her life until Freddie Prinze Jr.’s legacy character Ray Bronson, now owning and operating a bar, got her back on her feet. Ray is also divorced from Sarah, each with clashing advice on what these youngsters should do to escape grave danger.
Admittedly, Madelyn Klein and Tyriq Witthers occasionally have a funny, tone-deaf line with amusing delivery (the latter casually asks a couple of mourners at the graveyard if they have any extra beer to spare before realizing his idiocy and moving on), but these are otherwise bland, forgettable characters. Fortunately, the kills are violent and grisly, but at a certain point, the extremity starts to come across as another distraction from how lame and lazy I Know What You Did Last Summer is. At the very least, the kills come consistently, and it would be unfair to call the film downright boring, but this is a melting pot of either one bad or underutilized idea after another. Nostalgia is indeed overrated. It’s a shame these filmmakers don’t seem to realize their efforts are part of the problem.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
