I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
After making a pact to keep their involvement in a fatal car accident a secret, a year later those five friends find themselves stalked by a killer who tells them "I Know What You Did Last Summer."
Laura's Review: C-
I'm not entirely sure, but cowriter (with Sam Lansky)/director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson ("Do Revenge") may have invented the 'requel,' a movie that is both a remake of a film while also serving as its sequel. The two blondes, two brunettes and one not-quite-insider who make up the film's leads are direct character descendants of the 1997 film and the mind-blowingly contrived idea that the same scenario would occur in the same place with five different people having the same reaction almost thirty years later defies belief. That those people would reach out to the two survivors of the previous massacre for advice about how to handle this new one is nothing but a ploy for the original stars to lend this thing any credence it can hang onto. All this to revive a franchise that, to the best of my knowledge, no one was asking for to begin with.
Everything kicks off with Southport, North Carolina's Croaker Queen, Danica Richards' (Madelyn Cline, "Glass Onion"), engagement party held at her fiancé Teddy Spencer's (Tyriq Withers, the upcoming "Him") real estate development tycoon dad Grant Spencer's (Billy Campbell, "The Rocketeer") house. These two blondes mirror 1997's Croaker Queen, Helen Shivers played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, and rich boy Barry Cox played by Ryan Phillipe. Danica's bestie Ava Brucks (Chase Sui Wonders, "Bodies, Bodies, Bodies," TV's 'The Studio') flies in from college whereas Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), another brunette, left for school. She'll reunite with high school boyfriend Milo Griffin (Jonah Hauer-King, 2023's "The Little Mermaid"), who is the least like his original counterpart Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.) in everything but hair color. As the four friends decide to go watch July 4th fireworks, they'll spot Stevie Ward (Sarah Pidgeon, "The Friend"), an old friend who fell on rough times, packing up a van with bottle empties. She's Max's (Johnny Galecki) counterpart here, the odd one out who will be at the scene of the crime after she's invited to come along. Like Barry, Teddy is a loutish alcoholic who will be the instigator of the accident, but to give the film some credit, the accident is at least staged differently. The arguments for and against going to the police remain the same, however, Ava the group's conscience although she reluctantly goes along with having Teddy's dad work with the town's police Chief Roberts (Nick Farnell) to cover up their presence at the scene.
One year later and the group has regathered for Danica's wedding shower where the big surprise is a change in fiancés, the accident having caused a breakup with Teddy. Oddly, Wyatt (Joshua Orpin) is also an alcoholic, although he behaves better in public. Ava and Milo are still circling each other, although she's had a quickie in the airport with hot girl Tyler (Nasty Cherry lead singer Gabbriette Bechtel), a true crime podcaster come to unearth Southport's past which was erased from the Internet by Grant in order to gentrify the seaside town. They'll be called into the kitchen along with Stevie, who's been filling in on the bestie front with Danica, when Danica opens an envelope expecting a check only to find the titular threat written inside a card.
When the fisherman shows up, he not only has a hook but a spear gun, and his net appears to be thrown more widely as the first two to go weren't even on the scene. The killings are more explicit this time around, but Robinson also relies more on jump scares and the various places the killer just happens to show up begins to become laughable, just like the fact that the Croaker Queen parade floats are stored in a shed at the town cemetery. Ava will reach out to Julie, who teaches at a college 45 minutes away, for advice that boils down to 'find out who the killer is' and in a big surprise we'll learn that Stevie's boss is none other than Ray who'll be responsible for such Easter Eggs as an in joke about "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" and the Billy Blue nameboard which hangs over his bar. Sarah Michelle Gellar, looking much the same as she did in 1997, appears in a nightmare and if the film's ending is reminiscent of the "Scream" movies, remember the 1997 original was written by that film's Kevin Williamson.
The film's tech credits are fine, everything having been given a professional sheen, but it is difficult to care about anybody here other than the innocent victim of the accident whom we never see. The convoluted psychological hogwash the filmmakers engage in as motivation for a murderous rampage fails to satisfy as well, as does the jokey ending which makes it all too clear they hope to revisit it.
Sony Pictures releases "I Know What You Did Last Summer" in theaters on 7/18/25.
