I Know What You Did Last Summer—But I Wish I Didn’t

I Know What You Did Last Summer

★

I Know What You Did Last Summer seems to think its audience is stupid. I say that because the characters we’re supposed to root for are so tragically dumb, you start to root for the hook-wielding killer. The dialogue sounds like it was written by elementary-schoolers forced into a class play. The characters are mostly unlikeable, dull, rich-kid brats who used to be horror-film antagonists but have inexplicably become studio favorites as protagonists. And the weak, implausible premise misfires on every cylinder.

What made the 1997 original compelling was how it leaned into guilt. Four teens accidentally hit a man on a coastal road, presume he’s dead, and toss him off a cliff. A year later, that guilt haunts them deeply—until the man, very much alive and wielding a hook, returns to make them pay. Their flaws, regret and unraveling made them relatable.

Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King and Sarah Pidgeon
© 2025 Columbia Pictures

In this version, the guilt-ridden premise kicks off one year ago within the film’s timeline. Ava (Chase Sui Wonders) is home from college for her best friend Danica’s (Madelyn Cline) engagement party. Ava is grieving the loss of her mother and is nervous about seeing her high school boyfriend Milo (Jonah Hauer-King) again. Danica’s fiance is Teddy (Tyriq Withers), the son of the town’s real estate titan.

Drunk and stoned, they decide to drive to the cliffs—on a road similar to the original film—after the engagement party to see Fourth of July fireworks. They reach a scenic cliff area, perfect for viewing. Teddy decides to go full idiot and dance in the middle of the road when a truck, that’s going way too fast, comes around the corner and nearly splatters him. The truck swerves to avoid hitting Teddy, slams into the cliff guardrail, its front wheels hanging off the edge. They really do try to do everything they can to save the driver, but they can’t free him before the truck tips over the cliff and crashes onto the rocks below.

Chase Sui Wonders and Sarah Pidgeon
© 2025 Columbia Pictures

While Teddy shouldn’t have been dancing on the center dividing line, the driver certainly shares some of the blame with his reckless speed. There really isn’t a compelling, believable reason for this group not to dial 9-1-1 except for the fact that they’re stupid, horrible people. Neither is a crime. Not calling 9-1-1 is just dumb.

As such, the guilt they’re supposed to carry has no weight to the story and adds nothing to the characters because the scenario is weakly conceived.

The Killer Stalks in a Rain Slicker with a Hook
© 2025 Columbia Pictures

The film wants to explore the concept, “trauma changes you.” It could have been an interesting theme if developed more. It’s the idea that traumatic experiences can change a person to their very core, for better or worse. It can make a hero or a villain, or shatter someone so completely, they’re a shell of themselves. But what’s presented is such a half-witted attempt, it’s clearly just a setup for a whodunnit twist. I won’t spoil it, but you’ll groan and roll your eyes back just to see if your own brain is working.

Near the end of the film, two characters sit on a beach, reflecting over lunch on the carnage they’ve just endured. “Zero out of ten stars—would not recommend,” one says. On that point, the characters and I are in full agreement.

Chase Sui Wonders as Ava
© 2025 Columbia Pictures

There’s probably an audience for a film where people are picked off one by one by a hook-wielding killer in a black rain slicker—who’s somehow both omnipresent and deeply incompetent. But beyond the gore, the movie doesn’t offer much to hold onto.

The film fails, in every conceivable way, to connect its premise to any real emotion. The trauma didn’t change these characters. Those who survive are the same people they were when the film began. By the time the credits rolled, the only thing that changed was the level of my popcorn and Dr. Pepper. I wished trauma had changed this script into something at least halfway decent. It didn’t.