The “I Know What You Did Last Summer” films were never about subtlety. How could they be, when there’s a killer with a hook stalking guilty teenagers? And just like those villains, moviegoers can’t outrun the wave of reboots and remakes getting their hooks back into theaters. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Sometimes it’s fun to revisit these familiar towns and traumatized final girls. For director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (“Do Revenge”) and co-writer Sam Lansky, this new “I Know What You Did Last Summer” promises a fresh coat of blood, a scarier villain, and a new generation of pretty young victims. But for all its good intentions, the film feels more like a reunion tour than a true reinvention. It relies too heavily on nostalgia without offering much bite of its own.
Set nearly three decades after the Southport massacre, the film follows a brand-new cast of friends with a very familiar problem: they’ve done something bad, tried to bury it, and now someone wants revenge. Ava (Chase Sui Wonders), Danica (Madelyn Cline), Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), Teddy (Tyriq Withers), and Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon) all share a guilty secret after a Fourth of July “accident” leaves a stranger dead. One year later, the ominous note arrives: “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”
Realizing their stalker is mimicking the infamous hook-handed killer, they turn to the only people who’ve survived this nightmare before. Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.), the two remaining survivors of the 1997 Southport massacre.
But while the setup holds promise with legacy characters, new blood, and a modern spin on the classic slasher formula, the execution struggles to find its footing. Rather than carving out a fresh identity, the film stumbles through uneven pacing, choppy storytelling, and a tonal imbalance that undercuts both its scares and its satire. As such, the film often feels like it’s just checking off boxes, moving from one set piece to the next without much rhythm or heart. The mystery of who’s behind the hook is both predictable and unnecessarily tangled, channeling the worst excesses of its own franchise’s sequel without offering fresh insight.
At the heart of any horror revival are its players, and here the cast is a mixed bag. Wonders carries much of the film’s emotional weight as Ava, delivering a grounded performance that anchors the story even when the script veers off course. Cline’s Danica has moments of sharp charisma, embodying the archetypal “final girl” with a modern edge, though her character often feels trapped in familiar slasher tropes. The rest of the younger cast, Hauer-King, Withers, and Pidgeon, serve mostly as narrative fodder, their arcs thin and underexplored. It’s the return of Hewitt and Prinze Jr. as Julie and Ray that adds a touch of gravitas and nostalgia, reminding audiences of the franchise’s roots. Their chemistry and callbacks provide the film’s few genuine emotional beats, even if those moments are too sparse and sometimes feel like obligatory fan service rather than earned storytelling.
This new installment dabbles in some timely themes, trauma’s lasting impact, systemic corruption, and the true crime media craze, but rarely commits to any of them fully. Julie’s role as a trauma studies professor and the inclusion of a murder podcast nod to a world obsessed with processing violence through sensationalism. Yet, these elements are more surface-level window dressing than meaningful commentary, quickly pushed aside for predictable kill sequences. The film’s tone wavers awkwardly between dark humor, earnest scares, and teen drama, often failing to find a cohesive voice. Where it could have sharpened its satire or injected a fresh perspective on privilege and power dynamics, it settles for a rote slasher formula that dilutes both its scares and its social ambitions.
Ultimately, this “I Know What You Did Last Summer” is a safe bet, one that leans heavily on nostalgia without taking the risks that made other recent horror reboots resonate. It’s neither as clever as “Scream” nor as inventive as “Final Destination: Bloodlines.” Instead, it plays like a greatest hits collection with a few new tracks that don’t quite slay. For longtime fans, it offers fleeting glimpses of the past and some familiar faces to enjoy, but it won’t redefine or elevate the franchise. And for newcomers, it’s unlikely to make a lasting impression beyond a momentary thrill. Sometimes, the past is best left buried, and this film serves as a reminder that reboots need more than callbacks and blood, they need a shiny new hook to really sink in.
7/10
