I Know What You Did Last Summer

Grade: B-

For three decades, there’s been a misconception that I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) is just a “lame ripoff” of Scream (1996). Cheap cash-in/piggyback of Scream? Sure. You can grant that. What many don’t realize, though, is Kevin Williamson (the screenwriter for both) actually wrote IKWYDLS first. After the success of Scream, the studio approached Williamson and were all like “what else ya got?” And Williamson was all like “well, there’s this other thing in the drawer collecting dust…”

I’ve never seen the original 1997 film, or the problematically titled sequels (I Still Know… and I’ll Always Know…), but from what I understand, Williamson made the smart choice to lead with Scream. The premise of IKWYDLS always sounded flimsy and rife with hypocrisy. A group of teenagers accidentally kill somebody, and sweep it under the carpet. Someone, unbeknownst to them, was privy to what happened, so they anonymously taunt, stalk, and kill these kids – dressed in a full body slicker, with a hook as their weapon of choice. I always wondered what made THIS person any better – and how hot must it get to run around in that outfit in the middle of July. And why would they sit on it for a year before hatching their plan? This could have been I Know What You Did Last Week. 

We are back in the small town of Southport, with residents who, apparently, are bad drivers, don’t like to face the music when it comes to accountability, and/or are vindictive/obsessed enough to go to amazing lengths. How else would you explain all this happening AGAIN after 28 years? The incident that starts everything in this “rebootlegasequel” is a bit on the tame side. They technically didn’t kill anyone. Maybe someone more well-versed in law than I can shed some light on whether there’s an actual charge here. It’s the Fourth of July in 2024, and a handful of early twenty-somethings are parked on a high, winding road to enjoy the fireworks. An oncoming driver, just passing through, swerves to avoid one of them who is standing in the middle of the road. Coming around too fast, they hit the guard rail, and start to go over. The group makes every effort to save/rescue the driver, but the car plummets to the water far below. One of them anonymously calls 911, but other than that, these extremely-well-off kids use their connections to make any evidence go away, and they say nothing.

A year later, everyone is back in town for a bridal shower, when Danica, the bride-to-be, receives a card with the titular phrase written on the inside. From there, deaths start happening one-by-one. I didn’t have high hopes for the movie, but by the end, I was on board. Original stars Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. are back, in significant supporting roles. Their appearances aren’t much of a surprise, as they both survived the events of the first two films – but the movie also finds a way to incorporate others from the previous chapters. Just when I thought certain people were a done deal, I was happily misled. Stay through the end credits, and avoid the spoiler-tagged trivia on IMDb is all I’ll say. I won’t reveal who has aged the best, but I definitely have an opinion about that.

The new cast members don’t all play the deepest or most likable characters in the world, but I enjoyed what they brought to the table – especially Madelyn Cline (Glass Onion), Chase Sui Wonders (Bodies Bodies Bodies), Sarah Pidgeon (The Friend), and Jonah Hauer-King (Prince Eric from 2023’s The Little Mermaid). They are young up-and-comers with promise, like Hewitt, Prinze, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillippe were in 1997. It’s a cool torch-passing.

I didn’t love the identity of the killer. I wondered why they, of all people, would do that. But then again, I don’t know that it would have made any more sense for it to be anybody else, unless they wanted to introduce a completely new character that nobody had met. However, I am passing I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025). I am surprised that I liked it a little bit, and that I’m recommending it. It is ridiculous, campy fun, with enough inside jokes and appearances from legacy actors to scratch fans’ itches – not that I was one. The cast leans into these shallow characters, and they are enjoyable to watch. The locations are quite lovely. If I drove carefully, adequately reported any accidents I was involved in, and minded my own business if I saw one, I wouldn’t mind living in Southport.

Grade: B-