After witnessing the resounding success of Scream (2022) and Scream VI, both commercially and critically, in revitalizing the iconic horror franchise, the prospect of the next reboot, I Know What You Did Last Summer, was met with a sense of disappointment. This was not due to any childhood nostalgia for the late ‘90s slashers, but rather the letdown in their inability to capture the essence of the post-Scream era. The original wasn’t all that scary, despite Kevin Williamson behind the script (Side note: The events of the 1996 accident happened on the day I was born). Its fast-tracked sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, is one of the worst horror movies I’ve ever seen, mainly due to its painfully obvious twist. Not to mention that’s a straight-to-DVD third movie and a forgotten Prime series that lasted one season. So, I went into this with low expectations, not carrying any nostalgia for the originals. It’s evident that Sony is making a concerted effort to bring back an IP they believe has potential for a new generation. However, it’s no surprise that this new I Know What You Did Last Summer feels somewhat lacking in purpose.
What’s the Story: In the seaport town of Southport, North Carolina, Ava Brucks (Chase Sui Wonders) and her ex-boyfriend Milo (Jonah Hauer-King) arrive for the engagement party of their best friends Danica (Madelyn Cline) and Teddy Spencer (Tyrip Withers). Deciding to take a drive to see the fireworks on the 4th of July, they, along with their former friend Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon), accidentally caused a car to swerve off a cliff to their death. Without telling the police what had happened, the five friends swore to secrecy, vowing never to reveal what had occurred. Over a year later, someone wrote inside a card at Danica’s bridal shower saying, “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” sparking the same incident during the 4th of July weekend in 1997, where a stranger in a fisherman’s slicker and a deadly hook killed those involved.
For those who enjoyed the first two I Know What You Did Last Summer movies, the requel offers a familiar formula that will make you feel right at home. Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Someone Great, Do Revenge) and co-writer Sam Lansky have an evident love for the original, and they’ve presented us with the same formula as the first, where it follows another group of young friends terrorized by a killer in the same town nearly three decades later. What’s considered different is that they didn’t run someone over, but inadvertently caused a driver to go off the road, and how things changed in Southport in putting the murders behind them. Because of that, even if the attempt to be a bit camp here and there with some bad Gen-Z humor made me feel old and made the tone incoherent, there’s a lack of thrills to be had for those two hours of throwing back to the ’90s.
As for the performances, it was a very mixed bag at best. It was nice knowing Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. were coming back to reprise their roles as the remaining survivors, Julie James and Ray Bronson. Just when you thought they would serve as the obligatory legacy characters to help our leads deal with the aspects of trauma, they didn’t receive much material to work with, despite their good performances. However, with the new characters, they weren’t fascinating to follow, as there was barely any development between them. Chase Sui Wonders carries the final girl role to the best of her ability, given how thinly written her character was in just wanting to do the right thing. Still, I couldn’t get into either Madelyn Cline or Tyriq Wither, who are basically the new Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe types.
Aside from Wonders, Sarah Pidgeon impressed me. She has become an actor I’ve started paying attention to recently, and she was the sole reason I went out of my way to see this. Seeing her breaking out in the streaming space with Prime Video’s The Wilds and Hulu’s Tiny Beautiful Things, the Tony-nominated Pidgeon has a steady career ahead of her. And she so happens to be one of my biggest crushes currently. Part of me hoped her performance as Stevie was worth remembering. And I’m not sure about everyone else, but though I wished this gave us more time to flesh her out, Pidgeon stood out, and I hope this will make her more recognized.
But as a horror film, was it scary? Nope. For one, I’ve never found the Fisherman to be that threatening of a killer when all they carry is a hook to slash their victims. None of the kills went all-out crazy for an R-rating, but it didn’t exactly help when there isn’t a connection to the characters if they get killed off. That lack of thrills stems from a lack of suspense in the action, especially when it involves bad, loud jump scares or the Fisherman standing right behind someone when the camera cuts back. These were just predictable scares that had me rolling my eyes. One of the earliest kills would’ve been cool, but peak when it had dialogue that included the word “crypto,” which alone was enough to get that person killed. Everything the story was telegraphing wasn’t building on anything new, including a dumb dream sequence. It’s only when we reach the third act and it starts to lose its energy quickly that it begins to turn mediocre. Without giving anything away, the twist they tried to pull in this was awful, and it’s a bold swing I was hoping wouldn’t come true because they wouldn’t be that dumb to go there and just be effective with the potential. Instead, it felt like an “F-You” of where it was going. The reveal will probably split people, but as someone who isn’t a die-hard fan, I put myself on the side of those who hated it.
In a time when horror franchises are making comebacks, at least from a critical point, there was no way I Know What You Did Last Summer would follow suit. Even if I knew what I was getting, Robinson needed to throw us more surprises instead of coming up short with an unmemorable copy of the story. This should’ve taken lessons from what the last two Scream films accomplished, and anyone who dares say this is better than those needs to have their horror credentials revoked.
To match the cleverness and scares of what made the original iconic for teen slashers, I Know What You Did Last Summer doesn’t have a reason to justify its existence. You’re more than likely going to come out remembering a few performances (Wonders, Pidgeon), but it’s an uninspired legacy sequel that should probably stop with what comes ahead.
DC's Take 