Do Revenge helmer, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, is just like the rest of us slasher lovers out there — she’s here for the story, the canon, and the characters. Which is why when she was approached to helm the latest sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer, she jumped at the opportunity. Now, nearly 30 years since filmmaker Jim Gillespie (D-Tox) took audiences on the ride of their lives in the original film, Robinson and her star-studded cast of both young and elder hotties are preparing to release the third follow-up in the franchise on July 18. Today, as part of Collider’s Exclusive Preview event for the upcoming slate of summer movies, we’re beyond thrilled to not only share some insight about the new film from Robinson herself but also give our readers an exclusive peek into the chaos that will soon unfold.

For horror fans, it’s easy to look back through the years and immediately recognize a decade based on the genre films that defined it. The 60s had Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, while the 70s helped kick off still-running franchises through masterpieces like William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and John Carpenter’s Halloween. In the 80s, audiences checked into Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and feared falling asleep thanks to Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. By the time the 90s rolled around, one sub-genre reigned supreme — slashers. And even more specifically, slashers with a stacked cast of young A-list talent.

Following the massive success of Craven’s 1996 film, Scream, its writer and universe creator, Kevin Williamson (Dawson’s Creek), loosely adapted Lois Duncan’s 1973 novel, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and paired with Gillespie to deliver another iconic 90s horror favorite. The first installment in the two-film series featured leading performances from Jennifer Love Hewitt (9-1-1), Freddie Prinze Jr. (She’s All That), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and Ryan Phillippe (Cruel Intentions) in a story about a group of teenagers who leave a man for dead following a hit-and-run. The next summer, the hooked madman seemingly returns from the grave and hunts down the friends one by one for his sweet, sweet revenge. The following year, a sequel titled I Still Know What You Did Last Summer was released, but since then — aside from a non-canon, ill-received, direct-to-video sequel in 2006 — the franchise has been dead in the water. That is, until Robinson hooked herself onto the task at hand.

Those of us who were lucky enough to see the debut trailer at CinemaCon will know that the new movie promises to seamlessly blend the old with the new, as legacy characters will use their trauma-informed background to help a younger generation deal with their own deadly secret from the previous summer. Speaking with Collider’s Aidan Kelley via email, Robinson explained why now was the perfect time to not only bring the franchise back but also dig deep into its roots.

“I think we’re all looking to escape into films that entertain us right now,” Robinson explained. Revealing that she and her co-scribe, Sam Lansky, leaned heavily on the nostalgia factor while also creating something that could stand on its own, she added:

“Bringing back these iconic characters — it definitely hits the nostalgia dopamine centers in your brain, but what’s really fun about bringing back this franchise is being able to weave our iconic OG’s into this story about a new group of friends who did a very bad thing. Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers and Sarah Pidgeon truly explode off the screen. I can’t wait for everyone to see this cast absolutely…slay.”

‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Will Be Like the Original On Steroids

Legacy characters? Check. Fresh, new blood and talent? Check. A storyline that pays homage to the two movies that came before it? Check. From what we gathered during our back-and-forth with Robinson, I Know What You Did Last Summer has all the makings of a legacy sequel that will blow the roof off of theaters and fully satisfy audiences — maybe even hitting them with a nagging sense of paranoia on their way home. Assuring fans that she and the rest of the team “stayed true to the IP,” Robinson wants folks to know that they also went the extra mile with the next chapter, revealing, “we definitely cranked the dial to 100.”

Recognizing the monumental undertaking she was signing up for and standing her ground when it came to complete control of the project, Robinson said:

“When Sony came to me and asked if I would be interested in taking on this IP I said I would love to do this, but there are two things I would need you to let me do if we’re going to make this sequel together. They agreed to both. You’ll just have to see what those things are on July 18th.”

The most promising bit of information to come from our chat with Robinson is that she — just like the rest of us — is a mega-fan of not only the I Know What You Did Last Summer films of yesteryear but also of Williamson’s. “Because it’s I Know What You Did Last Summer!” she told Kelley when asked why this was the perfect project for her to take on next. “I kneel at the altar of Kevin Williamson – The original I know, Scream and Scream 2, Dawson’s Creek — those are the works that made me want to do what I do today,” she explained. “To be able to play in this world has truly been a dream come true.”

On top of our heroes, fans will certainly be wondering about the movie’s killer. We know from the poster that the slasher dons a fisherman’s outfit and holds a hook for a hand, just like the original title’s murderer, Benjamin Willis (Muse Watson). But if you were hoping for more information or a backstory about the masked madman, Robinson is going to make you wait for that reveal.

“I can’t tell you anything about the Fisherman! That ruins all the fun! I guess I can tell you one thing — this time, The Fisherman is a lot more brutal.”

Finally, there was a rumor going around for a while that Gellar’s character, Helen Shivers, might make a comeback in the new installment — largely thanks to her being best friends with Robinson and married to the film’s lead, Prinze. Those of us who saw the trailer at CinemaCon know that it pays homage to Helen in a way that solidifies her bloody fate from the first movie, but just in case there were still some Helen truthers out there, Robinson made it crystal clear that she will not be back for the movie: “Unfortunately, Sarah made it very clear she is dead. I asked many, many times. She is extremely dead.”

Check out our exclusive images for I Know What You Did Last Summer above. The legacy sequel slashes into cinemas on July 18. Keep checking back throughout the week as we debut exclusive looks at the hottest summer releases.