By George & Josh Bate
It was only a matter of time before I Know What You Did Last Summer got a legacy sequel. The 1997 slasher from Scream scribe Kevin Williamson received mixed reviews from critics upon release but proved to be a massive financial hit and created a dedicated fan base that has endured nearly 30 years later. After a poor sequel, a straight-to-video standalone sequel, and an Amazon Prime Video series, fans get to return to Southport this summer for a fun legacy sequel that offsets weak acting, uninteresting characters, and flat humor with a compelling mystery, throwback slasher vibes, and one hell of a twist.
Closely mirroring the plot of the original, I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) follows a group of five friends who accidentally kill a pedestrian in a car accident and subsequently cover up their involvement. One year later, the friends begin to receive threatening messages about the cover-up and, one by one, are killed off by a mysterious slasher imitating the legendary serial killer from the Southport massacre of 1997.
Unlike recent horror legacy sequels like Halloween (2018), Candyman (2021), and Scream (2022), I Know What You Did Last Summer adheres extraordinarily closely to the narrative of its original film with little deviation. Director and co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s film plays more like a remake than a reboot or legacy sequel for much of its runtime, which means it lacks a spark of novelty to set it apart as a continuation of the story. Anyone expecting the kind of polish that came with David Gordon Green’s legacy sequel of Halloween or Nia DeCosta’s legacy sequel of Candyman, or the kind of meta-messaging of Radio Silence’s Scream legacy sequel, will come away disappointed, although it’s not like this franchise was ever known for being particularly refined.
I Know What You Did Last Summer feels like the kind of movie you and some friends would rent from Blockbuster in the late 1990s/early 2000s and watch while enjoying junk food and sharing laughs. In the absence of any attempt to diverge from the franchise formula, Robinson imbues her film with a delightful throwback energy that harkens back to the time in which Scream gave rise to a whole new generation of slasher flicks. The plot is simple, the characters are paper thin, the kills are well-executed, and the mystery proves surprisingly compelling, resulting in a movie that, despite its host of issues, is undeniably fun.
Much of these issues arise from clunky dialogue, misguided attempts at humor, and a puzzling squandering of a talented young cast. Despite featuring talented actors like Madelyn Cline and Chase Sui Wonders, who do their best with the material at their disposal, I Know What You Did Last Summer features pretty awful acting, even by slasher standards. There are numerous moments throughout the film that elicit unintended laughs due to the sheer quality (or lack thereof) in line delivery. The actual attempts to generate laughs, meanwhile, fall desperately flat and had us hearing crickets in the crowd we saw the film with (with the exception of a perfectly delivered joke that proves to be the film’s solitary reference to I Still Know What You Did Last Summer). Much of the humor comes from Madelyn Cline’s Danica, one of the friends who is hunted down by the Fisherman. Cline plays the kind of dopey, Sarah Michelle Gellar-equivalent of this story (not dissimilar from her turn in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story), but, tasked with delivering a multitude of awkward jokes, the humor rarely, if ever, lands.
Perhaps most damning of the ensemble is their glaring lack of chemistry with one another. With none of the five friends developed in any substantive way, energetic rapport between the cast may have fostered more investment in the characters and yet this is sorely missing. There is little believability to the idea that these five people are friends, nor are they imbued with much personality or character to genuinely care about them. Instead, the new cast are merely cannon fodder (or hook fodder) for the Fisherman and not much else.
Although playing far too much like a remake, I Know What You Did Last Summer is nonetheless a legacy sequel due to the inclusion of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr., reprising their roles as Julie James and Ray Bronson from the original two films. The film handles these legacy characters well, ensuring that they never overshadow the new cast while making sure they have some great fan-service, applause-worthy moments of their own. Eventually, the sorely unoriginal movie finally stumbles on something novel to say through its legacy characters, which is so successful that it alone makes the film worth watching.
Proving similarly compelling is the murder mystery itself. The Scooby Doo-quality mystery of the original film always felt uninspired and predictable, but the same can’t be said for the third film in this trilogy. Stocked full of suspects, red herrings, clues, and an investigation, I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) makes for a surprisingly effective whodunnit. The eventual unraveling of the mystery comes as truly unexpected and bold from a storytelling perspective, even if an element of the reveal poses a few unanswered questions and creates a plot hole or two. It is primarily due to the strength of this mystery and the throwback slasher fun surrounding it that the film perseveres through its myriad of issues.
VERDICT: 5.5/10
The latest in a long run of legacy sequels to horror classics, I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) is a fun throwback to the era of post-Scream slashers that overcomes problems with humor, acting, and characters with a compelling mystery, 90s slasher vibes, and one hell of a twist. Playing more like a remake than a legacy sequel, director and co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s film lacks the spark of novelty or polish one would expect with modern continuations of classic horror franchises (à la Halloween (2018), Candyman (2021), or Scream (2022)), but its scarcity of these attributes makes the film feel like the kind of movie you and some friends would rent from Blockbuster in the late 1990s/early 2000s and watch while enjoying junk food and sharing laughs. In keeping with a variety of subpar slashers, the latest I Know What You Did Last Summer features poor acting across the board, so much so that unintended laughs are far too commonplace. This issue is furthered by paper thin characters with little personality, clunky dialogue, awkwardly misguided attempts at humor, and a squandering of talented cast members like Madelyn Cline and Chase Sui Wonders. Despite the subpar host of new characters, the film handles its legacy characters played by Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. exceptionally well by ensuring they never overshadow the new characters while making sure they still have some great fan-service, applause-worthy moments. Encompassing the story is a surprisingly compelling murder mystery, filled with suspects, red herrings, clues, investigation, and a shocking twist we did not see coming. Ultimately, I Know What You Did Last Summer may not have much to say as a legacy sequel, but the light-hearted, throwback fun that comes from watching the movie is undeniable. With a killer mid-credits scene capping off proceedings, we hope this isn’t the last we see of this franchise.