Another group of teenagers pays the price for making a bad decision following a hit-and-run accident in I Know What You Did Last Summer, opening in Prague and cinemas worldwide this weekend. This sequel-cum-remake of the original 1997 film follows the established model of 2022’s Scream, with comparable results; there’s a level of craft here that exceeds the original I Know What You Did Last Summer movies, but the story turns unconvincing and unsatisfying as it attempts to both re-create the events of the original film and tie the whole series together through overarching lore.
2025’s I Know What You Did Last Summer stars Chase Sui Wonders as Ava Brucks, who travels back to her hometown of Southport, North Carolina to attend an engagement party for her best friend Danica Richards (Madelyn Cline). Milo Griffin (Jonah Hauer-King), friend of Danica’s fiancé Teddy Spencer (Tyriq Withers), is Ava’s old flame, and the quartet’s old pal Stevie Ward (Sarah Pidgeon), a recovering addict, happens to be catering the event.
And what better way for these five old friends to reconnect than to smoke a blunt and watch the Fourth of July fireworks—in the middle of the road, on a blind curve that borders a cliff plunging into rocky shores. Well… it is a great view, for sure better than the one where they were just watching the fireworks, at Teddy’s sprawling coastal mansion overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
Ten minutes into I Know What You Did Last Summer, the inciting incident that everyone knows is coming comes, and the group’s unwise choice of viewing spot leads to an innocent man driving his pickup off the cliff. They choose not to stay at the scene of the accident—even though, unlike the original film, they are not entirely responsible for the man’s death—and let Teddy’s father Grant (Billy Campbell), a wealthy real estate developer, tie up the loose ends. Only Ava puts up any resistance to this plan.
One year later, at Danica’s latest engagement party to new fiancé Wyatt (Joshua Orpin), she receives the titular threat through a greeting card. And soon enough, the whole gang is being stalked and killed one-by-one by a hook-wielding slasher dressed up like the Gorton’s Fisherman—who, strangely, begins his killing spree by targeting people who had nothing to do with the inciting incident.
So far, so good—this I Know What You Did Last Summer is a perfectly serviceable remake of the 1997 film, with engaging performances (Wonders and Hauer-King are especially likable), florid direction from Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (who co-wrote the screenplay with Sam Lansky) and lush cinematography by Elisha Christian (The Night House). While not especially gory, the bloodletting effects here appear to be largely practical, which adds to their visceral impact. If nothing else, this film looks a whole lot better than Final Destination: Bloodlines, to compare to another recent horror legacy sequel.
But waitaminute. This isn’t a remake: this is a direct sequel to the first film, and this exact same set of events happened 25 years ago, leading our protagonists to reach out to the survivors of that film for answers. Of course, Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr., an enthusiastic standout) and Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt, a little less enthusiastic) aren’t exactly a lot of help; look for someone close to the victim, Julie tells Ava without spoiling the ending of the first movie. Well, duh.
This isn’t like Scream, where a new killer can don the Ghostface mask in each movie and begin their own independent killing spree. The plot of I Know What You Did Last Summer requires so many things to fall into place—starting with a whole new set of protagonists making the exact same series of bad decisions—that it becomes increasingly implausible to tie the whole thing together.
By the end of the second act, I Know What You Did Last Summer has painted itself into a corner. This whodunit story must come up with a conclusion that makes sense not only within the narrative of this one movie, but also in the overarching I Know What You Did Last Summer universe. It fails spectacularly on both fronts; anyone wanting a sensible conclusion to this film will be mystified by the impossibly contrived set of events that serves as a climax here, and fans of the original films will be especially irked.
That the script of 2025’s I Know What You Did Last Summer can’t satisfyingly write its way out of its own setup is especially disappointing given the fact that this is a largely enjoyable ride until the final letdown. This kind of thing is tough to pull off—shorn of the responsibility of being a reboot/remake in addition to a sequel, Scream VI fared better than 2022’s Scream—but Wonders and Prinze Jr. are engaging enough to give us hope for the future. Alas, it’s hard to imagine anyone will be excited for the next installment—set up through no less than three story threads, including a mid-credits stinger—after the bitter pill of a resolution here.
