Slasher films have a special place in horror; campy, fun, violent movies that often feature a bunch of pretty young people getting slaughtered for our entertainment. The original I Know What You Did Last Summer from 1997 had an enticing premise that quickly made it a box office success; a group of young folks accidentally kill a man in a vehicle accident, and later, are stalked and killed one by one by a psycho killer fisherman who, as per the title, knows what they did.
Considering the revenge-focused nature of the tale, this isn’t a serial killer motivated by, well, killing, like Ghost Face in Scream or one of the more mystical killers like Freddy and Jason; for that reason, it’s difficult to make that premise stretch across multiple movies. Perhaps that’s why the sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and the third follow-up, the straight-to-DVD I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, were far less successful. It stops making sense. But logic and reason don’t stop this sequel/reboot from existing; I Know What You Did Last Summer is back, even though it doesn’t really need to be. And despite some nostalgic, chuckle-worthy moments, it mostly falls very flat.
So, we’re back in Southport in 2025, and another pedestrian is inadvertently killed in a car accident. The five young people who royally stuffed up once again cover up their involvement to avoid potential consequences. One year passes, a taunting message is received, and a stalker imitating the original fisherman killer of 1997 is on the loose, and away we go. I Know What You Did Last Summer isn’t really that concerned with fleshing out its new characters so that we care about them; the main girl, Ava (Chase Sui Wonders), is at least likable enough, and there are some laughs to be had with the vapid Prom Queen throwback Danica (Madelyn Cline), but they’re all disposable by nature, including forgettable jock guy Teddy (Tyriq Withers), handsome love interest guy Milo (Jonah Hauer-King) and slightly outcast girl Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon).
“Mostly, it’s a lot of young people making dumb decisions that result in a hook in their back.”
It’s a lazy coincidence that this is all taking place again in the same town, and after receiving the titular threatening note and having her new fiancé killed in her home, bloody message written on the wall and everything, Danica confusingly asks Ava, “Do you think this is karma for what we did?” Girl, I think you’re beyond help if you haven’t connected the dots yet.
Other characters outside of the five core young pretty people involved in the accident pay the price for merely getting in the way or existing in the town, while the fisherman wreaks havoc. It feels like a random way to get the body count up – if this is truly a revenge story, why are so many other people getting murdered for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Connecting this to the original, Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.) comes out of the woodwork. He’s still living in the town that ruined his life for some reason, and calls out how bonkers it is that it’s all happening again. Feeling unsupported by the local cops, Ava then goes to find Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), the other original survivor, who laughably just casually tells her to kill the fisherman first or she’s screwed. Despite their corny inclusion, Ray and Julie are the bright spots in this sequel/reboot. As somebody who grew up with the original movie in its peak popularity, it’s a neat bit of nostalgia to see them on-screen as these characters nearly 30 years later.
There is the occasional bright spark during I Know What You Did Last Summer, where it remembers how campy and silly this all is, including a hilarious dream sequence and other notable references to the original film that land, but those moments are few and far between. Mostly, it’s a lot of young people making dumb decisions that result in a hook in their backs. For example, with a killer on the loose and your friends’ lives in danger, is that the best time to hang out in a cemetery or go to a sauna by yourself? The answer, quite obviously, is no, but logic rarely prevails in Southport.
The biggest crime that I Know What You Did Last Summer commits as a slasher movie is that it’s just not that thrilling. As an audience, we can see where and when the jump scares are coming from a mile away, and none of them are particularly effective here. It’s also not creative with its kills; I’m not saying every thriller needs a Saw-level of ingenuity when it comes to the slaughter we’re all here for, but when the jump scares don’t make me jump and the murders don’t make me grimace, what are we even here for?
As far as sequels/reboots go, there’s a lot of plot that you just have to accept without looking for the holes, as when it gets down to the nitty-gritty of who the killer is, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Still, there’s something to like here for superfans of the original, I suppose… It’s just a shame it does such a poor job of introducing anybody or anything worthwhile to a new generation of horror lovers who have much more compelling modern options available.
I Know What You Did Last Summer is in cinemas now.
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Checkpoint Gaming attended a screening of I Know What You Did Last Summer as a guest of Sony Pictures Australia.
About the Author
Luke Mitchell
he/him
Luke spends his time making radio, playing video games, binge-watching TV, getting unreasonably invested in wrestling, hosting bear events and hanging out with his beautiful pets.
