‘I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER’ Review: This Reboot Has A Killer Hook But Fishes For Frights

Courtney Howard // Film Critic

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER

Rated R, 1 hours and 51 minutes

Directed by: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

Starring: Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers, Billy Campbell, Freddie Prinze Jr., Jennifer Love Hewitt, Gabbriette Bechtel, Joshua Orpin, Nick Farnell, Brian Duffy

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER’s auspicious beginnings didn’t solely originate with a newspaper article author Lois Duncan read about a hit-and-run that inspired the moral conundrum played out on the pages of her 1973 novel. The initial idea gestated when she overheard her eldest daughter and a friend discussing someone they were both seeing: a two-timing boy, as it turned out. The psychology behind someone imbedding themselves into friends’ lives on false pretenses piqued Duncan’s interest. That story thread from the book never materialized in adapting writer Kevin Williamson’s screenplay for the beloved 1997 feature of the same name. Instead, he leaned on the car accident aspect whilst adding a prominent 80s-style slasher element (which, incidentally, the author hated as her youngest daughter was murdered in 1989).

Audiences can better spot the source material’s influence in co-writer/ director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s modernized take. However, she and co-writer Sam Lansky (working from a story by Robinson and Leah McKendrick) re-center their cautionary tale by clumsily incorporating Duncan’s inspired “whodunit” quandary with the core ethical conflicts of a group of young adults facing the killer consequences of their actions and subsequent inaction. The filmmakers’ admirable aims outweigh their lazy, lousy execution. Their reboot, chock full of frustratingly empty fan service, cheap jump scares and poor pacing, flounders after the first act’s catalyst. Coupled with a credulity-stretching finale that assuredly will piss off a generation of long-time fans, this unabashed play at Gen Z nostalgia fails to conjure any sense of fondness.

20-something Ava Brucks (Chase Sui Wonders) has just returned to her hometown of Southport, North Carolina for her friends Danica Richards (Madelyn Cline) and Teddy Spencer’s (Tyriq Withers) lavish engagement party on the 4^th of July. In the years since the mass-murder fueled events of 1997 transpired, the festive fishing hamlet had fallen into dismay and disrepair before Teddy’s real estate developer father Grant (Billy Campbell) gentrified the area. He turned it into an upper-class destination where bougie, hideaway-walled glass mansions and luxury yachts dot the coastline. And, in the community’s best interest, Grant and corrupt Police Chief Roberts (Nick Farnell) agreed to cover up the town’s history of horror with new construction and a fresh shellac of paint.

To celebrate the holiday homecoming, Ava agrees to go on a drive with Danica, Teddy and her ex-boyfriend Milo (Jonah Hauer-King). They even extend an invitation to their estranged friend Stevie Ward (Sarah Pidgeon), who’s awkwardly been on the outs with the crew since her deadbeat dad liquidated her college funds. The reckless fun, joyriding in Teddy’s G-wagon, proves limited though and they stop at a curve in “Reaper’s Road” to stretch their legs. Pedestrian Teddy then plays chicken with an oncoming truck, causing the driver to swerve, crash into the railing and eventually careen off the Oceanside cliff. Instead of staying at the scene, or going to the police, the gang hightails it home, striking a pact to never speak of this mistake again. But on the one-year anniversary of the crash, a mysterious anonymous note appears, threatening the Scooby Gang with deadly penalties.

Robinson – who’s experienced in capturing final girls of all sorts ranging from a lovelorn gal triumphing over her broken heart (SOMEONE GREAT) to a pair of acid-tongued teens triumphing over an oppressive societal system (DO REVENGE) – applies her trademark wit to this contemporized franchise with remarkable aplomb. It’s just too bad when she falters going in for the kill. There are ample thematic sentiments set up surrounding the underlying tension between the wealthy and the working class, moving on from trauma, as well as meta-textual commentary on legacyquels themselves. Still, there’s a noticeable lack of satiating payoff with each, in addition to a significant, infuriating reveal in the climax. Not to mention that the inciting incident isn’t nearly as damning as its forbearers. At least their tongue-and-cheek allusion to the Bahamas-set sequel, I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, elicits a belly-laugh.

Unlike its predecessor, Robinson’s iteration pushes its R-rating. The body count is indeed higher, as is the gruesome gore. However, these elements feel completely antithetical to the author and original director Jim Gillespie’s intentions, both of whom exacted a low index of blood-splattering to craft suspense and chills. The prominence of violence and blood-drenched carnage in this incarnation leads to pacing issues like drastic dips in energy and an egregiously prolonged wait until these obnoxious protagonists are stalked and sliced. It often falls into a rudimentarily constructed cycle of repetitious, lackluster frights. We’re forced to hang tight while The Fisherman slashes through tertiary characters like Danica’s latest fiancé, crypto-bro Wyatt (Joshua Orpin), intense goth podcaster Tyler (Gabbriette Bechtel) and a cemetery groundskeeper (Brian Duffy).

Aesthetically, the picture also serves to underwhelm. Robinson and cinematographer Elisha Christian give the proceedings an anachronistic sun-kissed look. Think Malibu beach house meets HomeGoods horror chic versus a gritty, spooky color palette. This is lit like a Freeform series as compared to the original’s iconic imagery. Composer Chanda Dancy’s synthetic score is grating, punctuating hokey dialogue and former cast members’ on-screen reprisals. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr.’s reintroductions are soap operatic, delivered in cringe-worthy, ham-handed fashions. That said, it’s the first of two secret cameo appearances (which I won’t dare to spoil) that briefly and blessedly shifts tone into camp territory. This sequence – while stretching credulity given the new character it’s happening to – is a genuine highlight.

With as many endings as RETURN OF THE KING, no rooting interests despite the actors’ best efforts and few satisfying benefits beyond two endearing cameos (one of which is saved for the mid-credits coda), this iteration is shoreline trash. Perhaps we too should make a pact to never speak of this again.

Grade: 2 out of 5

 I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (2025) will release in theaters on July 18.