‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ review: Uninspiring sequel to ’90s slasher lacks a killer hook

Dir: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. US. 2025. 111mins.

Historical past has a grisly approach of repeating itself in I Know What You Did Final Summer time, a horror sequel that comes almost 30 years after the unique and unsatisfyingly echoes its slasher plot. As within the 1997 movie of the identical title, a gaggle of younger individuals trigger the unintended dying of a stranger after which conspire to maintain their actions secret — solely to have a mysterious fisherman hunt them down, one after the other. Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson brings some stylishness to the killings, however I Know What You Did Final Summer time’s lack of compelling characters robs the story of its juiciest hook: these brutal slayings are cosmic comeuppance for his or her duplicity.

Repeats its predecessor’s storyline with out saying something contemporary

Sony rolls out the movie globally from July 16, hoping for industrial success just like the latest Scream sequels. (Each franchises launched within the late Nineteen Nineties and had been written by Kevin Williamson, though the unique I Know What You Did Final Summer time was tailored from Lois Duncan’s 1973 novel.) That is the primary big-screen function within the collection since 1998’s I Nonetheless Know What You Did Final Summer time — a straight-to-DVD entry was launched in 2006 — and the query is whether or not this property stays common sufficient to scare up vital grosses, even with unique forged members Freddie Prinze Jr and Jennifer Love Hewitt a part of the ensemble. The latest Last Vacation spot: Bloodlines, presently at $285m worldwide, suggests a best-case situation of how a long-running horror franchise can proceed to draw audiences.

Ava (Chase Sui Wonders) returns to her hometown of Southport, North Carolina to have a good time the engagement of her buddy Danica (Madelyn Cline) to Teddy (Tyriq Withers) and reconnect with ex-boyfriend Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), for whom she nonetheless has emotions. Joined by Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon), a former classmate who fell out of the friendship group due to household points, all of them drive up a winding street on the outskirts of city to get a greater view of the July 4 fireworks. However when Teddy will get out of the automobile to savour the second, he’s nearly hit by a passing automobile that careens to keep away from him and crashes onto the seaside beneath.

As with the unique I Know What You Did Final Summer time, the buddies determine impulsively that it could be a mistake to go to the police — they may very well be charged with manslaughter. After pledging to by no means inform anybody what occurred, they find yourself reuniting a 12 months later, with Danica receiving a cryptic handwritten notice informing her, ’I do know what you probably did final summer season.’ Quickly, a copycat killer mimicking the look and modus operandi of the 1997 Southport assassin begins dispatching the buddies.

Robinson, who directed the 2022 darkish comedy Do Revenge (which featured unique I Know What You Did Final Summer time star Sarah Michelle Gellar) borrows the 1997 movie’s plot however crafts extra bold kill sequences whereas introducing components of self-mocking humour. There are cheeky references to the unique I Know What You Did Final Summer time, in addition to ironic takedowns of stylish homicide podcasts and horror-movie archetypes. As ugly because the scares are, Robinson desires to inject the occasional giggle between the shrieks.

Sadly, the characters aren’t well-drawn and a few so clichéd that it’s exhausting to root for his or her survival. Danica is supposed to be a ditzy materialist however, as a result of Cline performs her so broadly, there isn’t a ethical complexity in her battle to remain alive. She is extra of a punchline than an individual, and likewise her cohorts wouldn’t have the required depth. This is identical downside that plagued the 1997 movie, neither image in a position to deal with absolutely the karmic implications of an unknowable, hook-wielding serial killer searching them down, in essence, for the sin of masking up an unconscionable act.

Though properly lit and framed, Robinson’s fright sequences by no means transcend a mechanical proficiency, whereas composer Chanda Dancy overdoes the blaring musical accompaniment. What’s worse, the movie makes room for foolish horror conventions, together with the trope of the victims by some means by no means sensing the killer standing straight behind them.

With the brand new forged members largely disposable, Prinze and Hewitt are known as on to lend some gravitas to the proceedings. Neither actor possesses a lot dramatic heft, nonetheless, failing to conjure the identical haunted wariness that, as an example, Jamie Lee Curtis exuded within the latest Halloween sequels. As a substitute, I Know What You Did Final Summer time repeats its predecessor’s storyline with out saying something contemporary concerning the previous’s nasty behavior of intruding on the current. Close to the finale, a personality declares nostalgia to be overrated. Sadly, that’s about the one sharp commentary made on this boring slasher movie.