Don Reviews "I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)"

There is a fairly recent trend in Hollywood of re-opening past film classics; a film works well in the past, so decades later they make a new film that is not a remake but features a new generation alongside cast members from the original like Ghostbusters as well as it possibly being the case with the upcoming Spaceballs follow-up.  With I Know What You Did Last Summer, the question is: should they have left the original alone in the bottom of the sea?

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Someone Great) directs this version starring Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers, Sarah Pidgeon, and the returns of Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt.  Five friends in Danica (Cine), Ava (Wonders), Milo (Hauer-King), Teddy (Withers), and Stevie (Pidgeon) have came back to Southport to celebrate Danica and Teddy’s engagement, and one night, Teddy inadvertently causes an auto accident where a stranger dies.  What is old is new again as the five friends leave the scene without reporting anything to the police.  A year later, as the five friends return to Southport, they start getting reminders of the event from last year from a unknown person, and the stalking of them begins.

This film has good cinematography and visual effects, which do help the attempt to connect this film to the original.  The cast is also fine for what is required for this type of film.  However…

The big question here is the plot.  Remembering that this is not a remake, I Know What You Did Last Summer still has many has many of the same plot points of the original while being able to stand on its own.  The thing I like here is how it references the “massacre of 1997” in order to establish that this cast are new characters while acknowledging it’s place in the lore, reinforced by the appearances of Hewitt and Prinze, Jr. in more than cameos. As a horror film, this film has the violence that can be expected, and some of the ways that certain characters “meet their maker” was innovative alongside the scares and tense moments that the title is known for.  The end is simple to figure out and does not do a good job trying to hide it, which made the script overall a bit thin.  There are a few twists and turns, but not enough to keep me in suspense as to the identity of the killer.  With some good points and bad points, I will still recommend I Know What You Did Last Summer to be seen in a theater, but save it more for a second run viewing