Review: I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER is Almost a Return to Form

The new I Know What You Did Last Summer wants so desperately to be this franchise’s Scream (2022), but it’s a failure by comparison. I’d say act like you’ve been there, but the truth is, I Know What You Did Last Summer has never been on Scream’s level. The original has its fans, but I Still Know What You Did Last Summer feels like a worse version of Club Dread, and let’s not even acknowledge 2006’s unwatchable straight-to-video threequel. Director and co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson is tasked with rebooting a series that hasn’t been relevant since the late 90s, but she never finds a balance between nostalgia bait and revamped storytelling. It’s worth a few laughs, roasting how outlandish prior knowings of last summerses are, yet the experience is an overlong mess that frustrates far more than it delights.

Decades after Southport’s 1997 massacre, the quaint coastal community looks different. Real estate mogul Grant Spencer (Billy Campbell) has wiped the Fisherman’s legacy clean off Southport’s records while turning the town into an idyllic Hamptons-esque tourist trap. The problem is, Southport’s history won’t stay buried—nor will teens stop accidentally killing people and covering up their crimes. Ava Brucks (Chase Sui Wonders) and her four closest friends run a driver off a cliff, but Grant—Teddy’s (Tyriq Withers) father—promises he’ll cover their tracks. That’s until a year later, around the 4th of July, when all five accomplices reunite in Southport only to receive a familiar letter and message: I Know What You Did Last Summer.

If you’re thinking, “Gosh, that sounds familiar,” that’s the point. I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) rehashes 1997’s events anew, uncorking traumas for a new host of characters to confront. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. reprise their roles as survivors Julie James and Ray Bronson—divorced and jaded—but Robinson and Sam Lansky explore a serial killer’s spree through Gen Z’s eyes. Jim Gillespie’s original film, written by slasher royalty Kevin Williamson, becomes the target of reassessment as Ava’s crew faces the Fisherman in their fresh hells. That, in itself, is an interesting conceit that avoids becoming a pure retread, but problems arise when pesky rebootquel elements start taking bigger and wilder swings.

Sure, you’ll chuckle when Ray sternly warns Ava’s group to avoid the Bahamas. There’s a warmth when Julie delivers another “What are you waiting for?!” However, the navigation of ancillary characters, murder motivations, and kill pacing is wonky throughout. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) is treated like a museum exhibit thanks to obnoxious true crime podcaster Tyler Trevino (Gabbriette Bechtel), but even that gimmick exhausts its silly-as-sin energy. Trips down memory lane are not outweighed by the latest Southport mystery, especially when scenes start dealing with hallucinatory dreams and lazily stitched-together story beats. The franchise has always embraced “dumb fun,” so there’s a reverence about cringy, even corny, subgenre jokes, and yet there’s an eye-rolling quality Robinson’s direction can’t escape.

Perhaps that’s because the new crop seriously lacks that “Core Four” energy (calling back to Scream). Wonders’ Ava is the clear lead, although two of her cohorts steal the show. Madelyn Cline’s ditzy spiritualist Danica and Tyriq Withers’ nepo-baby trust funder understand the assignment, cracking jokes and fearing for their lives. Jonah Hauer-King is doing his Prince Eric schtick as pretty boy Milo, and Sarah Pidgeon portrays the paranoid friend role, but there’s an expendable quality among the rookies. Not to say Hewitt and Prinze Jr. are any more notable, who lock in as grizzled veterans with a few cheeky lines about their hook-dodging experiences. The “legacyquel” prophecy is fulfilled by all involved, if only by embracing apparent motions.

Even the gore, while a mixed-positive bag, is uneven. Robinson’s special effects team enjoys upgrading the Fisherman’s arsenal, adding a spear gun for long-range skewering alongside the iconic pointed steel hook. Southport’s waterfront vibes stage gored bodies like fishing trophies, and there exist the expected neck slashings that squirt blood onto scenery objects. Then there are befuddling moments like when characters are stabbed by the Fisherman’s hook, yet their bodies are later shown with no wound or clothing tears, and even more curiously, no reddened stains? There’s an inconsistency with the film’s narrative flow and logic building, which translates to visuals that don’t seem aligned with the violence on screen.

All this to say, I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) has the potential to reel in superfans of the original. The vibes are aligned and ready for redemption, but that’s if you can endure a third act that unravels like nylon line on a broken rod. As much as Robinson tries to learn from the past and evolve her continuation into a contemporary slasher classic, the final product succumbs to the franchise’s penchant for nonsense. The weight of an overcomplicated yet ill-plotted story drags momentum into murky depths, making stretches of the nearly two-hour duration feel like paddling in place. Welcome back to Southport, I guess—nothing much has changed, almost exclusively for the worse.

Movie Score: 2.5/5