‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Movie Review: A Nostalgic Slasher Reboot That Swaps Scariness for Silliness! (LatestLY Exclusive)

I Know What You Did Last Summer Movie Review: In the new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie, a character defiantly declares, "Nostalgia is overrated." I agree with that sentiment - this film convinced me that not every movie I watched growing up needs a modern update. Films like Top Gun: Maverick, 28 Years Later or even Scream, for the matter, feel like rare exceptions. This reboot, which doesn’t even bother to change its title from the 1997 cult slasher, lands squarely on the wrong side of the tracks. 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Sequel Trailer: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr Return in Revamped Summer Horror Saga.

Directed and co-written by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, this version follows Ava (Chase Sui Wonders), who returns to her hometown of Southport - yes, the same Southport from the original film - for her best friend Danica’s (Madelyn Cline) engagement to Teddy (Tyriq Withers). At the party, she reunites with her school crush Milo (Jonah Hauer-King) and their former classmate Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon).

After the celebration, the group takes a night drive to catch the fireworks. Tragedy strikes when Teddy’s marijuana-fueled antics cause a car to crash off a cliff, killing the driver. The friends separate that night, not informing the authorities what really happened, despite Avav's hesitancy.

Watch the Trailer of 'I Know What You Did Last Summer':

You know the drill about what happens later. A year later, the friends begin receiving ominous messages referencing the film’s title, and people around them start dying - before the killer inevitably targets the group itself.

'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Movie Review - What Worked For the Original

The 1997 I Know What You Did Last Summer wasn’t a great horror-thriller, but it gained cult status largely thanks to its cast of ‘90s icons - Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Freddie Prinze Jr. Even Johnny Galecki (pre-Big Bang Theory) appeared as the hook killer’s first victim. The movie was a box-office success and inspired a direct sequel, a direct-to-video threequel with no relation to the originals, and a short-lived series.

Looking back, the original had its merits. I liked how the central incident shifted the group dynamics and gave unexpected depth to characters like Helen Shivers, a vacuous beauty queen who earned our sympathy. Some sequences, like Helen’s murder, remain genuinely chilling.

'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Movie Review - Where the Reboot Stumbles

Sadly, I found little to latch onto in this reboot, apart from Cline and Sui Wonders leaning into the film’s shlocky tone. Cline shines as the queen of superficiality, who herself draws parallels between her character and the doomed Helen Shivers - both Croaker Queens and both stalked by a killer with a hook. But the film often uses her to undercut serious moments with misplaced humour. Take the scene at the police station after her fiancé is killed - when she calls herself a "hot widow" - it’s jarringly tone-deaf.

It often feels like neither the characters nor the film itself takes the murders seriously, which makes it hard to root for anyone’s survival. In the original, I wanted Helen to escape because she had earned our empathy and impressed with her grit while trying to escape the killer. Here, the leads react to two friends' deaths by hopping on a yacht and heading out to sea - far from the cops who were already on the scene. It’s baffling.

I Know What You Did Last Summer repeats some of the original film’s mistakes - killing off characters who have no connection to the killer’s personal vendetta, simply to inflate the body count while delaying the crucial deaths until later. It also employs the Jaws mayor trope, where a powerful figure downplays an obvious threat to protect the town’s business and reputation.

In this case, that role falls to Teddy’s father, Grant (Billy Campbell), a wealthy real estate mogul who has not only erased all traces of the 1997 incident but is also actively covering up the new murders. While a greedy corporate villain prioritising profit over safety is a believable archetype, Grant’s actions defy logic - his own son is at mortal risk, he knows the friends are telling the truth, yet he fails to provide any security for them. ‘Fear Street: Prom Queen’ Movie Review: Netflix Slasher Sequel Falls Victim to Its Own Tired Genre Tropes and Lame Twists.

The kills are bland, tension is sorely lacking, and the editing is a mess. I counted at least three overhead shots of the same cliffside that felt lazily recycled. Awkward transitions cut into potential suspense, and the killer’s uncanny ability to disappear whenever the camera pans away feels cartoonish.

'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Movie Review - The Return of Legacy Characters

The big killer reveal is groan-worthy. Worse still is how the film wraps up with two characters casually chatting as if nothing happened, seemingly urging us to forget the movie ever existed, too. I may be in my 40s, and I can honestly say I do not relate entirely to the  Gen Z demographic, but the characters here come off as caricatures of how teen horror has portrayed youth for decades - obnoxious, reckless, and dumb. I expected better from Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, whose Do Revenge was sharp and sly. But maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, given she also co-wrote Thor: Love and Thunder - another film plagued by inappropriately timed humour.

Like any legacy sequel worth its salt, this one drags in characters from the original. Jennifer Love Hewitt returns as Julie James, and Freddie Prinze Jr reprises Ray Bronson, who at least has some relevance to the plot as a mentor figure to Stevie. Julie, on the other hand, feels like a nostalgic checkbox - thrown in without purpose. Even more cringeworthy is the film’s use of de-ageing technology to insert another legacy character via a dream sequence. Just because you can use the tech doesn’t mean you should.

PS: I particularly wonder what Sui Wonders's indie-loving studio executive from The Studio would have thought about this film being made into existence. It deserves a meta episode of its own for the Apple TV+ series.

'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Movie Review - Final Thoughts

Legacy horror reboots can succeed—but only when they offer something fresh. This I Know What You Did Last Summer revival, however, is a hollow, misguided nostalgia grab that collapses under its bland script, ludicrous twists, and tedious kill sequences. Safe to say, we won’t be rushing back to Southport anytime soon - and not just because of some hook-wielding maniac on the loose.

(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 17, 2025 08:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).