Director: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Starring: Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers, Sarah Pidgeon, Billy Campbell, Gabbriette Bechtel, Austin Nichols, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Jennifer Love Hewitt
Movie Length: 1 hours 51 minutes
On one hand, nostalgia is a method employed to studios to hedge their bets and invest funds into already existing properties. This approach materializes in the form of sequels or reboots. The industry is commerce first and art places a distant second, so it’s not surprising when producers decide to go with an existing intellectual property. For audiences, it can be a mixed bag – as is the case for the new iteration of I Know What You Did Last Summer.
The original version came out in 1997 and featured a cast of young and pretty stars and starlets. The lead in the film was Jennifer Love Hewitt who is just one of the original cast who decided to come on board with this 2025 sequel. Along with the legacy characters (I won’t divulge how many), we are served a new batch of young and pretty people that horror movies of the 90s are famous for. We even get a soundtrack of new (although aged now) metal and pop songs to punctuate the nearly two-hour runtime.
Without going into detail, there is a death, and the collection of lead characters all agree to erase their involvement. Not only is there drinking and driving, but there is careless behavior that culminates with the demise of an innocent. Including the character development prior to the fatal accident, their behavior at the scene of the incident and their consequential marginal guilt, it’s difficult to like any of these people. As a result, I don’t really care that they are being hunted and killed by a killer in a rain slicker carrying a large hook.
The worst culprit featured in this film isn’t the killer, it’s the dialogue. The story is the work of three writers and we should expect a better output than what was delivered. The second fault of the movie is the terrible exposition. I Know What You Did Last Summer dearly wants to be a Scream film, but it falls way short of its intent.
While it was nice to see some of the original film’s characters return to the fold, sadly, they’re not given much to work with. The kills are not inspired, and the reveals are not the least bit satisfying nor logical.
Hollywood, you can do better than this.
I Know What You Did Last Summer earns a 6.0.
I Know What You Did Last Summer in now in theaters.
Are you going to see the movie? Have you already? Feel free to leave a comment below or chat with us on Threads at @theconventioncollective, or Bluesky at @theconcollective.bsky.social
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