Franchises are defined by certain elements. I Know What You Did Last Summer is defined by teenagers being stalked and murdered by someone close to the victim of an accident they cover up the year prior.  Mostly, we’ll just leave it at that. Because the crux of the franchise is so specific, it can be hard to add originality into that standard storyline.  Which begs the question, is there enough story to warrant a re-quel?

• Directed By: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
• Written By: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson Sam Lansky. Leah McKendrick
• Starring: Madelyn Cline. Chase Sui Wonders. Jonah Hauer-King

There is nothing wrong with I Know What You Did Last Summer’s formula. A killer stalking guilt-ridden young adults is always a good time. The set up can compel the audience to struggle between their wanting to see the young adults suffer for their actions, while also feeling that death as a punishment is maybe too severe. One of the ongoing themes is the appropriate application of justice, which brings us to one of 2025’s biggest flaws.

SPOILERS AHEAD

In order to discuss where I Know What You Did Last Summer 2025 went wrong; I’m going to have to get specific. Usually, I try to avoid spoiling a movie this close to its release, but since there’s not a lot truly new here, I think it will be ok.

In IKWYDLS original version, the careless teens cause the death of a stranger through truly reckless actions. Also, some light bludgeoning.  There is no doubt that they not only caused the accident, but their continued actions also led to the “death”.  In IKWYDLS 2025, the main cast’s crime isn’t quite so, well criminal. 

The Crime

The characters are your basic archetypes: rich jock Teddy, rich princess Danica, normal girl Ava, slasher-bait Milo, and girl they used to hang out with in high school but stopped ‘cause her life got real, Stevie. Stevie is hanging out with the group for the first time in years as they get high and drive out to the cliffs to watch fireworks. Teddy is hanging out in the middle of the road when a car comes speeding down the road, swerves to avoid him, and crashes into the guardrail.

The group rushes to save the driver, but they cannot, and the car goes over the cliff.  Teddy calls the police and tells the group they will give statements at the police station; after all, they can’t exactly scale down the cliffside to rescue them.  Instead, they head back to his house, where Teddy tells them his dad is going to cover up their role in the accident and they must promise to never talk about it. Ava is the last to agree and stalks off.

The Punishment

And this is where things go bad. Yeah, Teddy shouldn’t have been in the middle of the road. That’s reckless endangerment which could escalate to felony charges, but that seems unlikely in the circumstances presented in the film. Although Teddy has previously behaved in a reckless manner, at the time of this specific accident here, he was just standing in the road. A poor choice of location to have a conversation, but any lawyer his super-rich developer dad could get would easily get him off the hook.  (Heh Heh Heh)

The cast’s motivation for fleeing the scene of this specific accident gets even shakier when the rest of the plot involves Teddy’s father and the cops covering up the accident.  If Teddy’s family has that much pull, then a full-scale cover up for this small crime (for a horror movie) seems like overkill. Long explanation short: I want my revenge-based killer to have an ironclad motive. That’s something that IKWYDLS has never really nailed.

I am willing to give the 2025 version partial credit, because in the end, they tried.  There is a glimmer of something new mixed into a very similar story. I truly mean that. If you like rewatching  I Know What You Did Last Summer, then you might like this. There are enough similar story beats and duplicated locations that it feels a little repetitive. 

A Quick Word about Location

This version is not filmed in Southport, NC. I’d be more disappointed about that if it weren’t kind of a plot point. The real estate exec’s desire to remake Southport in a fancy modern façade and erase the past is a relevant theme. It’s also a secondary motivation for the killer, which I totally get. One I wish had been the core focus of the movie, not the secondary one. Don’t change Southport, let Southport change you.

Back to the Movie

The other problem is the reveal of the killer.  A major clue is dropped early that all but announces their identity.  Since the movie chooses not to focus on solving any kind of mystery around the victim’s identify, this is not a great decision. Once the clues are out there, it’s just a long slog of deaths until the final confrontation. None of the deaths are particularly good or interesting, and one in particular is just bad. I will give extra points for clever body staging though.

So, That’s A Couple Big Flaws, Was It Bad?

Honestly, it wasn’t the worst.  I enjoyed a few of the characters, and seeing Ray and Julie back in action was cool. Teddy’s spoiled rich jock was the most fun to watch. He’s clearly the modern version of Barry and plays it well.  There are a few surprises with the cast that keep things fun. Even when the dialogue can’t decide if it’s self-aware or just bad, or both.

It is, however, predictable. 

Ok Ghoul, How Would You Change I Know what You Did Last Summer?

Well, this gets into more spoilers, so don’t read this if you don’t want to know the ending. Try this instead

Last chance to exit.

Ok.

There are two killers, one in the main cast, and Ray. Ray is pissed ‘cause of trauma and the town’s willingness to erase what he and his friends went through.  Taking all the suffering out of the history of Southport, just to bring in a few more tourists, is a form of betrayal. I love this.

The other killer, Stevie, is mad ‘cause the victim was her friend from rehab. Never mind that she was part of the cover-up, and the one most worried about calling the cops since she couldn’t afford a lawyer. She also gets the least screen time in the movie, so it’s not shocking or really anything when it’s revealed as her. We don’t know or care about her.

Now, we do know Danica and Ava, the rich girl and the main character. I would propose that Danica be the killer and Ava, the red herring. The accident ruined Danica’s engagement with Teddy; this could send her down a dark path, despite her outward appearance. She ends up engaged again, but he’s an alcoholic (seriously that’s all we know about him in the movie). Her guilt, trauma, and anger at her failed plans could lead her to blame Teddy and his dad for their role the accident. There isn’t much to change in the script after that. Tweak a few scenes to change the POV, rewrite the end, and it could be a much stronger reveal with a character we’ve become attached to. This would also sell one of Julie Jones’ lines of dialogue, “Trauma changes people”.  

At the same time, you could make Ava look more guilty to lead audiences into maybe thinking that she is the mastermind. Could be fun?

Final Thoughts:

I Know What You Did Last Summer 2025 is better than I thought it would be. It’s a bit uneven tonally and has logical inconsistencies. It’s also got some fun moments and plenty of respect for the original. It also weirdly has too many endings. Yet, I would watch it again, so it can’t be that bad, right?

I Know What You Did Last Summer is now playing in theaters.