‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Review

Legacy sequels are a tough feat to pull off. There is an urge to rely solely on nostalgia, to bring back original characters into a story that is by and large a recycled version of the first one. But as Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character, Julie James, says in ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’, the sequel to the 1997 slasher of the same name: nostalgia is overrated. There is a conflicting drive to subvert the franchise legacy, to tell an original story with its own unique characters and quirks.

With ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’, director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson tries to have it both ways, and the resulting film is a flawed but entertaining slasher that can’t, or won’t, escape the shadow of the original 90s horror.

‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ recycles much of the aesthetic and plot beats that made the original such a classic slasher. We open with a group of young people in Southport, North Carolina on the 4th of July. After a day of partying, the group goes out to watch the fireworks and, while recklessly drinking and smoking in the middle of the road, they cause an accident that results in an innocent person’s death. Rather than try to help, the group leaves the scene, covers up the crime, and moves on with their lives. One year later an anonymous note arrives letting the group know that somebody knows what happened the previous Summer. Now everybody involved in that night finds themselves hunted by a masked killer wearing a slicker and wielding a murderous hook.

Sound familiar?

In desperation to understand their plight, the group of young people reaches out to survivors from a similar massacre nearly thirty years prior: Julie James and Ray Bronson (Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr, respectively), the only survivors from the original film. Now, to be clear, it doesn’t make a ton of sense why our hero Ava (Chase Sui Wonders) would reach out to them; it’s not like they have any hidden knowledge as to how to survive. It’s a different killer, there’s no supernatural secrets to be unearthed, so what exactly do these kids expect? But hey, the filmmakers needed to rope in the original stars to check the boxes on a successful legacy sequel, so it’s best to just nod along and go with it.

The group of friends is engaging and specific, elevating the otherwise generic slasher tropes, with uneven direction and minimal suspense, into something distinct and entertaining. These twenty-somethings are a comedic send up of the Zoomer generation, calling “The Body Keeps the Score” fire and referring to each other as Diva and Daddy. There is humor, but authenticity to all of these characters, like when Teddy (Tyriq Withers) insists on going to the gym during this killing spree to make sure he’s strong enough to fight off the assailant if it comes up. Is it a funny moment? Yes. But is it how a twenty five year old jock would behave? Also yes.

In the end, the killer’s motivations seem a little farfetched, but I can appreciate that this film tries to do something different with legacy IP, rather than completely retreading the same story beats. What strains credulity the most, however, is the complete lack of guns. The entire film takes place in the South and I can’t for a second believe that nobody in this group – hunted by a killer with a hook, victims of home invasion and much worse – would be absolutely strapped up and ready to go. Don’t get me wrong, the scares are more fun when the characters are reduced to fists, knives and hooks, but the fact that there is only one use of a gun in the entire film is just a touch ridiculous.

As far as slashers go, this film is less scary than it is startling, relying heavily on loud noises and sharp musical notes to provoke involuntary jumps rather than building quality scares. Standing on the shoulders of the original, this film is a fun, Gen Z update to that 1990s classic.

While never fully distinguishing itself, ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ is a fun, entertaining slasher film that understands the assignment: giving audiences the pleasure of watching beautiful, annoying people get serial murdered.

I Know What You Did Last Summer
Rated R for bloody horror violence, language throughout, some sexual content and brief drug use.
Running Time: 1 hour and 51 minutes

Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Writers Sam Lansky, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Stars Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers, Sarah Pidgeon, Billy Campbell, Gabbriette Bechtel, Austin Nichols, Freddie Prinze Jr, Jennifer Love Hewitt
Rating R
Running Time 111 Minutes
Genres Slasher, Horror