I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) Review

I Know What You Did Last Summer joins the Halloween and Scream series by earning a legacy sequel. The 2025 version features new characters facing off against another person taking the mantle of the Fisherman.

Ava Brucks (Chase Sui Wonders) returns home to Southport, North Carolina, for her best friend’s engagement party. At the end of the night, Ava and her old high school friends drive up to Reaper’s Curve to watch the Fourth of July fireworks, but end up causing a car accident. A year later, Danica Richards (Madelyn Cline) receives an ominous note during her bridal shower, and the group needs to figure out who sent it.

The original I Know What You Did Last Summer came out in the wake of the original Scream. The 1996 film revitalised the slasher genre due to its meta, self-aware approach, glossy ‘90s sheen, iconic killer, whodunit-style plot, and cast of young, hot starlets. I Know What You Did Last Summer attempted a similar formula, minus the self-awareness. Both films even shared a screenwriter. Whilst I Know What You Did Last Summer did not have as much of a cultural impact as Scream, it was parodied in Scary Movie and The Simpsons.

I Know What You Did Last Summer followed in Scream’s footsteps again by having a legacy sequel with a new cast taking the lead. Both sequels even used the same titles as the first entries, which is an annoying trend. The sequel had some calibre behind the camera because it was directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, known for the Netflix movie Do Revenge, and screenwriting credit on the Unpregnant. She’s known for comedy-dramas, and she brought that approach to I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025).

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) aimed to be more comedic than its predecessors. This was shown with Ava’s introduction as she tried on different outfits before going to the engagement party. There was an awkward interaction when Ava and her ex-boyfriend, Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), were driving a sex-positive true crime podcaster, Tyler (Gabbriette Bechtel), to Southport. However, this approach made the legacy sequel tonally unsure.

The film came to life when The Fisherman appeared. He had presence and menace, which people would want from a slasher villain. He used various fishing tools for his kills, which offered some entertainment for slasher fans. However, some characters were introduced just so they could be killed off. The characters were generally unlikable, leading me to want them all to die.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) did attempt to give the series some deeper meaning. The most important was psychological since many of the characters suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. After causing the accident, Ava and Teddy (Tyriq Withers) ended up spiralling. Ava became promiscuous and wanted rough sex, whilst Teddy developed alcohol dependency. Even the legacy characters who survived two murder sprees nearly 30 years ago were mentally struggling, especially Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), who vowed never to return to Southport. This trauma theme ultimately led to a decision that would have been controversial if the film series was more beloved.

The other theme I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) looked at was gentrification. After the original Southport massacre, the town turned into a wealthy tourist town. It made the residents richer, but this development led to a cover-up with the massacre being forgotten and the town controlled by corrupt officials. This made I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) similar to another slasher film released this year, Clown in a Cornfield.

The I Know What You Did Last Summer series has always been a B-tier horror franchise. The first two theatrical films were unremarkable, glossy slashers, and the legacy sequel kept to this tradition.