I Know What You Did Last Summer Misses The Mark On What Made The Original Great

Oh boy, does I Know What You Did Last Summer miss the mark big time.

This movie should have been called “I Know This Movie Wasted My Time This Summer.” If you want to see a movie about a bunch of teens getting slaughtered by a killer in a fisherman’s outfit, then I recommend you watch the original “I Know” films. It will take me less time to discuss what I liked about the movie than to discuss what I didn’t. I liked that the legacy characters are less involved in the solution of the mystery compared to other re-quel franchises.

In one scene, the teens find Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character and explain everything to her. She then does what, honestly, I would have; she gives them advice and sends them out the door. Another positive is the sheer brutality of the kills. These characters SUFFERED before death! Now, I told you it would take me less time talking about what I liked about it! Now on to what I disliked. Let me get my aspirin for this one. 

The characters are generic, unlikable, unmemorable, and insufferable rich kids. If I didn’t look up the names of their characters for this review, I wouldn’t be able to tell you what they were. The writing was basically scene-for-scene of the original, and they still made it a worse version. The lines were a lot of modern-day, valleygirl talk, and in moments where it would be in the best interest of the group to stay together, even when they suggest to each other that they should stay together, they somehow separate. Seriously, these characters have F-tier survival skills! In one scene, they suspect a true crime podcaster of being the killer. So what do they do? They send someone in the group to go meet up with them…alone. The ending has a twist which honestly felt like it was trying to be the SCREAM franchise a little too hard, and quite honestly made no sense and was a spit in the face of the original, in my personal opinion. 

I honestly believe that the studio saw the wheel barrels of cash SCREAM was bringing in and thought, “We need to hop on this train before it runs out of steam!” I’m so disappointed in this movie, and that’s coming from someone who went in with no expectations. My recommendation? Save your money or watch the original trilogy. You will thank me.