‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ (2025) Review – Maybe Nostalgia Is Overrated
Legacy sequels, you’ve got to love them. They tap into all our inner nostalgia and thrive on it, whether they’re any good or not, and without regard to how rosy and sanitized our memories of the times they channel are. You see, that’s the funny thing about nostalgia; it doesn’t depend on you being happy, mature, or in a good place when you first see the thing that made you feel a certain way.
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In this case, that thing was probably a movie. If it were the early 2000s, then the movie you love might be 28 Days Later. If it’s the ‘80s, maybe we’re talking about The Karate Kid. Or if it’s the ‘90s you’re reflecting on, then maybe it’s Scream and all its subsequent ripoffs. The most relevant one of those currently is I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Somebody at Sony saw how well Halloween’s and Scream’s requels were doing and thought, “Why not? We can use the same title and everything just like them.” After seeing the new movie with the same title and everything, I can think of a few reasons why not – and a few reasons to justify the invention of time travel while I’m at it.
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This new version functions with the same basic elements as the first one, just dumber, and instead of adult-looking teens, we’re stuck with some of the most immature college grads you’ll ever see. A drunken group repeats the beats that lead to a tragic accident on a winding cliffside highway, except this time, they stand in the road and cause someone to swerve and crash.
They have enough time to save him, but they fail, and then leave him at the bottom of the cliff because they’re whining, self-important jerks. A year later, one of them gets the first note telling them someone knows what they did, and it goes from there. Somebody in a black Gorton’s Fisherman outfit with a hook and harpoon guns starts picking them off one by one in grisly ways – a few of which are pretty good by slasher standards.
The killing spree spurs one of the walking targets to get survivors of the last one involved, and that brings Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze, Jr., back to be the requisite callbacks. Their dual presence and name recognition lift up the proceedings, but not enough. The cast we are supposed to care about overtake them by being unremarkable and annoying.
They have been in other things, mostly streaming series I have never heard of or watched, so I don’t feel the need to fill you in on who they are. I’ll make one exception in Madelyn Cline, who clearly got her part because she looks like an Instagram model who can stun in anything.
Billy Campbell is in it too, and I felt bad for him. It’s a shame his career has come to this. Man, if only The Rocketeer had turned into a trilogy; things might be different.
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The killer has a few stand-out scenes stolen from the Scream franchise, but is unrealistic. He is a regular guy, yet acts supernatural in his ninja ability to slip in and out of situations at will, which is not vindicated by the final twist. Speaking of, his identity assassinates a legacy character who doesn’t deserve it. The only reason I can think of to explain this is that we have a female writer/director who believes masculinity is toxic, no matter what.
The writer and director is Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, whose biggest credit before I Know What You Did Last Summer is co-writer of the worst Thor movie, Love and Thunder. That’s not a compelling or reassuring title to recommend someone’s services, but modern Hollywood is modern Hollywood.
Do you want to know something that rubs salt in the wound? We could have had Mike Flanagan’s version of I Know What You Did instead of what we got. Oh, well – at least we still have the memories.
NEXT: ‘M3GAN 2.0’ Review — Is It Summer’s Salvation Or Its Judgment Day?
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
PROS
- Prinze and Hewitt at the least aren't bad
- Madelyn Cline is nice to look at
- The cinematographer tried to do their job, managing to capture a few gorgeous shots
- The first kill with a harpoon by a pool is good, and feels competently put together
CONS
- Stuff just happens for no rhyme or reason
- Everyone in this is a shallow idiot
- The script is poorly written and disrespectful to one legacy character
- Poor Billy Campbell had to swallow his pride to be in this
- Yeah, in all, it's woke garbage and a complete cash grab
