Movie Review: I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

Synopsis: After celebrating their engagement party, Danica Richards and Teddy Spencer travel with their friends Ava, Milo and Stevie to see the Fourth of July fireworks from a vantage point on a winding cliffside road overlooking the ocean. Teddy, who is drunk and high and standing in the middle of the road, accidentally causes a truck to swerve and go through the railing, killing the driver, Sam Cooper. The friends vow not to speak of their involvement but, a year later, are stalked by a killer wearing rain gear and carrying a hook. When they later learn their hometown of Southport, North Carolina was previously terrorized the same way, they seek help from the two survivors, Julie James and Ray Bronson.

Who's in it? The movie stars Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Sarah Pidgeon, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Review: While I surprisingly enjoyed the Scream reboot a few years ago, I still have some serious doubt about rebooting classic horror films in general and because of that, avoided seeing I Know What You Did Last Summer at the theater. However, I saw it was now on Netflix and since my wife and I didn't have anything planned yesterday evening, we ended up watching the movie.

For the most part, I have to say the film exceeded my expectations.

I'll start out by saying the movie's plot does end up being a bit too much like the 1997 original as far as the setup is concerned. Plus, in many ways, Teddy (Tyriq Withers) and friends had less reason to lie about it because it was very clearly an accident. Unlike the Jennifer Love Hewitt crew from the original, it wasn't as though they purposely drowned Sam Cooper and they even called for an ambulance.

That said, despite the premise being quite a bit weaker, it still wound up being a surprisingly decent film.

I think the thing that impressed me most was the mystery surrounding the killer, including how many there were (it was clear it was more than one, but we weren't sure if it was more than two).  I had my suspicions early on and my wife and I both did correctly identify one of the people wearing the raincoat. However, there were so many plausible red herrings, we weren't completely sure until the movie started revealing the who and the why.  Complicating things was the connection to an original killer very few people even remember existed.

In fact, for a while, I was beginning to wonder if Sarah Michelle Gellar's Helen Shivers would turn out to be the killer, despite being murdered in the original. There were certainly a lot of subtle clues and Easter eggs that seemed to be pointing in that direction, though she ultimately had a much different role in the plot.

Speaking of that, I also liked how the movie managed to include the OG Southport Massacre survivors in a way that had them somewhat instrumental toward the plot, especially toward the end, while still giving the new faces an opportunity to do their thing. The twist at the end involving them was also interesting, albeit a bit sad.

My biggest complaint about the film probably would be the sex scenes. They weren't anything explicit or even lengthy, but I also felt as though they just didn't seem to fit. The only real purpose for them, as far as I could tell, was to establish Ava (Wonders) as someone with unresolved mental health issues and there are a lot of other ways the film could have done that, especially since there was no attempt to bring closure to that part of the story.

I am a bit undecided about how the movie ended. I thought the lone survivors were the right choice overall and did enjoy the whole "girl power" final fight. However, the decision to set up a sequel was a bit questionable because with the mystery about the killers gone, I'm not so certain it will be as impactful as this one was.

Final Opinion: It, much like the Scream reboots, borrows heavily from the original, including cast members. However, as far as reboots go, I thought it did an OK job honoring the first movies while providing a unique mystery.

My Grade: B+

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Here are some reviews of other movie reboots:

Movie Review: The Naked Gun (2025)

Movie Review: Twisters (2024)

Movie Review: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Movie Review: Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)