I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – A group of friends are terrorized by a stalker who knows about a gruesome incident from their past.

My Take – With legacy sequels being all the rage currently, it is unsurprising to see everyone’s favorite black raincoat wearing hook-man return to the screen after so many years to carry out more kills.

Rushed into production after the surprise success of 1996’s Scream, thanks to its young cast, memorable chases and eerie atmosphere, writer Kevin Williamson‘s loose adaptation of writer Lois Duncan’s 1973 YA novel was fun enough to draw in enough crowds in 1997 to be deemed a box success.

But while its immediate sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), and tossed off straight-to-video follow-up, I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006), failed to replicate its success (the less said about the eight episode long 2021 Prime Video series the better), the fisherman has lived on as a pop culture icon.

Unfortunately, though the sequel-cum-remake had enough potential directions to take its group of teenagers, who are paying the price for making a bad decision following a hit-and-run accident, it ends up taking the most unconvincing and unsatisfying route by attempting to both re-create the events of the original film and tie the whole series together through overarching lore.

Sure, it is nostalgic to see the original stars, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt, reprise their roles, yet, writer-director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (who made one of Netflix’s sharpest and funniest teen comedies Do Revenge) simply doesn’t bring anything fresh to the table. The mix of new stars and returning favorites provides some urgency, but it does little to build an identity of its own.

Add to that a last minute illogical twist that is thrown in to create some effect, but ends up landing with a massive thud, not just ruining the whole experience, but ends up clawing at the memories of the original, which was always going to be remembered as a straight, simple, and silly teen slasher. While this one ends leaving two story threads still loose, including a mid-credits stinger, it’s hard to imagine even fans (like myself) getting excited for another installment.

The story follows Ava Brucks (Chase Sui Wonders), who travels back to her hometown of Southport, North Carolina to attend an engagement party for her best friends, Danica Richards (Madelyn Cline) and Teddy Spencer (Tyriq Withers). Though she is nervous to see her old flame, Milo Griffin (Jonah Hauer-King), at the event, everything goes relatively well.

That is until, the quartet, joined by their old pal Stevie Ward (Sarah Pidgeon), a recovering addict, who also happens to be catering the event, go for a drive on the winding cliff road where a terrible accident occurs. Unwisely not choosing to stay at the scene of the accident, the five decide to keep quiet about their involvement, go their separate ways and let Teddy’s father Grant (Billy Campbell), a wealthy real estate developer, tie up the loose ends.

A year later, despite still being disturbed by the events, Ava returns to Southport for Danica’s bridal shower, as she has gotten herself a new fiancé Wyatt (Joshua Orpin). But it’s there where Danica receives the titular threat through a greeting card. And soon enough, the whole gang is being stalked and attacked one-by-one. Prompting Ava to look into the exact same set of events that happened 25 years ago, which leads the group to Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), hoping that the original survivors could help in getting some answers.

The film actually starts off well, and every now and then there are moments of true inspiration that pop amid the overriding paint-by-numbers feeling. Many of them involve Cline, who aptly inherits the mantle of prom queen from Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar). An early scene gives us the memorable image of her character soaking in a bathtub with a blood-red bath bomb, and one dream sequence involving another beloved character had me howling with the unexpected reappearance.

But co-writers Sam Lansky and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson‘s script find itself stuck in a corner, unable to free itself from all the web it has sprung. Normally for a slasher, the identity of the killer is the focus of the central mystery. But here the narrative is simply busy tying all of its threads back to the Southport massacre of ’97 film whether it truly makes sense to do so or not.

For it to actually work, it required a lot of things to fall into place like starting with a whole new set of protagonists making the exact same series of bad decisions, but when it comes to be it becomes increasingly implausible. All leading to a reveal in the final act which fails spectacularly on all fronts. Any savvy viewer is probably going to guess it pretty easily, but that doesn’t make it any less idiotic.

Anyone wanting a sensible conclusion to this film will be mystified by the impossibly contrived set of events that serves as a climax here, and fans of the original films will be especially irked. Also, while the first film managed to achieve some genuinely memorable set pieces, for example, the Helen chase scene remains a seat-edge highpoint, there’s a lack of equivalent suspense with an uptick in gore used instead.

Yes, the death scenes are certainly gnarly, particularly, the first one, but there’s a rhythm that’s slightly out of step. Much can be said about the original film, but it is, at the very least, harmless. The reboot at hand is much more offensive and derivative in equal parts; it’s the sort of thing that demands a negative response in order for the genre to learn from it. Everything that slasher flicks don’t need to be, though have unfortunately become, can be found here.

Performances wise, Chase Sui Wonders does a fine job as the new lead and is well supported by Madelyn Cline, who brings a delightful over the top turn that is both likable and irksome at the same time. Meanwhile, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers and Sarah Pidgeon are mostly shortchanged. Model/musician Gabbriette too shows up as the host of a murder podcast, but doesn’t get to contribute much.

As for legacy characters, Freddie Prinze Jr. tries his best, but he’s constantly having to spew out the corniest lines, and Jennifer Love Hewitt is hardly in the film. It’s no wonder she signed on so late in the process. There’s definitely some alternate version without her even in it, and the proceedings would have been unaffected by it. On the whole, ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer‘ is a mediocre legacy sequel that struggles to stand on its own.