I Know What You Did Last Summer Spills New Blood (REVIEW)

With the success of Halloween (2018), Candyman (2021) and the last two entries in the Scream franchise, it's safe to say that the heavy hitters of horror are all in on the "legacy sequel" craze, and it was only a matter of time until the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise got its turn. Admittedly, I was never a huge fan of the original and I haven't gotten around to checking out any of the sequels. All I know is the franchise didn't go long enough to send the killer into space. So, naturally I wasn't rushing to see the new legacy sequel for the franchise (or as Mindy from Scream V would say "requel").

However, I am happy to report that 2025's rendition of I Know What You Did Last Summer was an enjoyable ride. The film is helmed by director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, and stars Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-king, Tyriq Withers and Sarah Pidgeon. The film also includes Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt reprising their roles from the 1997 original as Ray Bronson and Julie James respectively.

While I do feel like the typical legacy sequel playbook is getting a bit tiresome, I do applaud the Robinson and the other writers of the film Sam Lansky and Leak McKendrick for holding more restraint on the nostalgia factor than some other recent reboots, and the film takes some surprisingly bold swings with the old cast that I found to be refreshing. However, there are still a few moments in the film that felt like they were only for the trailer that I couldn't help but cringe at a little. As for the new blood in the cast, I found them more compelling than I expected. I've come to expect most characters in slasher movie reboots to be nothing more than talking cannon fodder for the masked killer and lack depth, and I'm happy to report that that is hardly the case here. Everyone in this film gets a standout scene that set their character apart from the typical soon-to-be slasher victim archetype. Madelyn Cline and Chase Sui Wonders in particular had some fantastic chemistry, and I came to really enjoy their characters. Jonah Hauer-King also had a few memorable moments that gave him some depth, and I couldn't help but keep my eye on Sarah Pidgeon, between the role written for her in the story and her energy on screen she quickly became one of my favorites.

The film doesn't skip much on the gore, which I appreciate. There's enough blood in here to satisfy the average horror fan, and it was relieving to see the film not pulling any punches on the bodies, or what the killer does with the bodies afterwards. Speaking of the killer, Robinson did it justice. The Fisherman was one of the few things I really enjoyed from the original, so it was great to see it's intimidation factor not just intact, but elevated. Every frame The Fisherman is in oozes tension and dread, a big part of that is from the films electric cinematography.

The cinematography just nails that slasher movie style, there's so many great frames that just made me smile and think "yeah, that's a great shot". Maybe it's just the filmmaker in me, but the amount of times I uttered that phrase in my head makes me wonder why there's no other horror in Robinsons filmography, then I looked at the resume of DP Elisha Christian and saw Immaculate and thought "oh, that makes sense". To make a long story short, the film has amazing cinematography.

Overall, I Know What You Did Last Summer was a surprise for me in the best way possible. It isn't a game changer for the genre, but it went against the grain of its legacy sequel rivals and spilled enough blood in stylish ways to keep me happy through the whole runtime. It may be the first franchise where I feel like the legacy sequel is better than the original. It also sets up a potential sequel, bringing in components from previous sequels in the franchise, so I guess I have to watch those now.

I Know What You Did Last Summer is now playing in theaters.

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