I Know What You Did Last Summer – Film Review

In the age of legacy sequels, where nostalgia-driven revivals attempt to cash in on the goodwill of yesteryear’s classics, I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) arrives as the fourth installment in a once-iconic slasher franchise. Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge) and co-written with Sam Lansky from a story by Leah McKendrick, this film boldly positions itself as a direct sequel to 1998’s I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, aiming to bridge the past and present. But rather than inject fresh blood into the franchise, it instead delivers a flat, confused, and ultimately disappointing continuation that lacks the thrills, suspense, or character depth fans deserve.

Set 27 years after the Tower Bay murders, this latest iteration centers on a new group of friends—Danica (Madelyn Cline), Ava (Chase Sui Wonders), Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), Teddy (Tyriq Withers), and Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon)—whose reckless decision to cover up a deadly car accident comes back to haunt them. One year later, a mysterious killer donning a rain slicker and wielding a hook begins picking them off one by one.

The formula is familiar, and that could have worked to the film’s advantage if executed with tension, clever twists, or a deeper commentary on guilt and trauma. Unfortunately, the film seems content with echoing the past without evolving it. The narrative stumbles through cliché after cliché with little sense of urgency. While the concept still holds potential, it’s handled in a way that feels stale and, at times, laughably unserious.

One of the film’s most glaring missteps is its uneven tone. Robinson and Lansky inject a surprising amount of humor—much of it awkward or ill-timed—into scenes that should be steeped in dread. Characters crack wise mid-chase or exchange snarky quips after a friend is murdered. Instead of enhancing the suspense or providing a moment of levity, this tonal dissonance consistently undercuts the horror. In a slasher film, humor can work (Scream has proved that time and again), but here it feels forced and detracts from what little atmosphere exists.

Even the killer’s presence lacks menace. The kills, though occasionally brutal, are mostly uninspired and fail to deliver the tension or creativity expected in a slasher revival. There’s a noticeable absence of the kind of set pieces or drawn-out suspense sequences that made the original films effective, however flawed they may have been.

The pacing is sluggish for the majority of the film’s runtime. After a rushed setup in the opening act, the middle section is bogged down with repetitive dialogue and aimless scenes that do little to develop the characters or move the plot forward. The group dynamic among the new leads never fully clicks, with each character reduced to broad archetypes: the brooding one, the sarcastic one, the sensitive one, etc.

While Madelyn Cline gives Danica a sense of gravity and regret that elevates her scenes above the material, the rest of the young cast struggle to stand out. Jonah Hauer-King and Sarah Pidgeon, in particular, are underserved by the script, while Chase Sui Wonders brings charisma but is ultimately hamstrung by the shallow writing. Tyriq Withers provides some early energy as Teddy, but the film doesn’t do enough with him beyond a predictable arc.

The marketing teased the return of franchise veterans Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr, which certainly had me extremely excited. But, if you’re like me and you were hoping for meaningful involvement from these characters will likely walk away feeling duped.

Freddie Prinze Jr. fares slightly better as Ray Bronson, offering a grounded, mournful presence in his brief scenes. But it’s Jennifer Love Hewitt as Julie James who gives the film’s most emotionally resonant performance—though she’s absent for nearly the entire movie. She finally enters the narrative in the final act, but by that point, the damage is done. Her inclusion feels more like a desperate Hail Mary than a genuine narrative choice, and the film wastes her potential with a rushed, undercooked subplot.

If there’s one area where I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) excels, it’s the cinematography. The film boasts some gorgeously shot sequences, especially during nighttime scenes or fog-drenched coastal settings. Cinematographer Elisha Christian frames the landscape with an ominous beauty that occasionally evokes the haunting tone the script never achieves.

There are brief moments scattered throughout that hint at what the film could have been. But these isolated visuals are not enough to salvage the overall experience, and the aesthetic quality only serves as a frustrating reminder of squandered potential.

Perhaps the most damning flaw of the film is its ending. Without venturing into spoiler territory, it’s safe to say the final 15 minutes go completely off the rails. A late twist recontextualizes everything in a way that feels both unearned and insulting to fans of the original. The reveal lacks logic and emotional payoff, and it concludes with a final scene so abrupt and nonsensical that it undoes any goodwill the film may have earned.

Worse still, the ending retroactively cheapens the events of the 1997 film. Rather than expanding the mythology in a meaningful way, the twist undermines the original’s emotional stakes and character arcs. What could have been a poignant generational horror story about guilt and legacy becomes a shallow, muddled mess that tries too hard to be clever and ends up feeling desperate.

I Know What You Did Last Summer is a confused, disappointing attempt to resurrect a franchise that deserved a smarter, scarier return. While Madelyn Cline delivers a committed performance and Jennifer Love Hewitt gives her all in limited screentime, they can’t rescue the film from its own worst instincts. Between its erratic tone, lack of tension, poorly developed characters, and a bafflingly bad ending, this is a legacy sequel that does more harm than good.

Fans of the original may appreciate the callbacks and nostalgic cameos, but for most viewers, the film will feel like a hollow echo of better summers past. In trying to modernize the franchise without understanding what made it effective in the first place, the filmmakers have left us with a horror film that’s neither scary nor satisfying.