I Know What You Did Last Summer: The BRWC Review.

Reboots are tricky, almost as tricky as a legacy sequel. But attempting them both is beyond challenging. The horror genre is no stranger to many reboots and legacy sequels, and the slasher sub-genre even more so. 2025’s I Know What You Did Last Summer seeks to bring back the hook-wielding carnage of 1997 as a new group of good-looking 20-somethings is getting stalked for their sins. Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson of Do Revenge helms the film, hoping to bring a fresh take to a horror audience basking in a renaissance of terror, as the release of films like Thanksgiving, X, and the revival of Scream signaled a glorious return of the slashers. But how does the 2025 version of Southport hold up to the original? And where does I Know What You Did Last Summer fit into the growing number of legacy sequels?

The setup is familiar and perfect. Danica (Madelyn Cline), Ava (Chase Sui Wonders), Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), Teddy (Tyrig Withers), and their old friend Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon) are out celebrating Danica & Teddy’s engagement and taking in the fireworks. Just as in 1997, a horrible accident occurs, a man is dead, and now the friends must decide: come clean or cover it up. The coverup is seamless, no one could ever know, they all swear never to tell, and they all return to their everyday lives. One year later, Danica receives an envelope bearing the infamous words, “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”

Danica and her friends are stricken with panic at the note. Who could know? Who would do something like this? What follows is a series of gruesome murders, a meta-who-done-it story arc, and the return of a few legacy characters. New and old characters join the fray as the latest killer prepares to unleash an array of nautical-themed weapons across the silver screen. While I Know What You Did Last Summer carries plenty of nostalgia for the original and sequel, zoomerisms and young-millennial lingo ground the story firmly in the 2020s. But beyond mentions of Google and healing crystals, Robinson’s cast of hopeful scream queens leads the film towards its best moments.

Balancing the new cast with classic characters is one of the biggest challenges of the reboot-legacy sequel hybrid. The new cast must be as compelling as the originals while sharing the screen with the originals. Madelyn Cline and Chase Sui Wonders are standouts, even including legacy performances from Freddy Prince Jr., Jennifer Love Hewitt, and a surprise cameo or two. Cline’s charisma is unmatched, transforming Danica from a slasher-movie bestie to a mesmerizing character. Wonders plays Ava with logic and empathy, making her one of the most compelling characters of the franchise and elevating the relationship with her and Danica. Other members of the friend group are rather one-note. As with the original films, the killer’s identity and motivations seem to serve plot convenience rather than a cathartic climax.

I Know What You Did Last Summer has always had a mystery element. However, 2025’s version verges on a meta-level more comparable to Scream, or rather, 2022’s Scream and its sequel, Scream VI. Characters comment on the killings from 1997, a minor character has a murder podcast, and legacy characters share plenty of “how I survived moments” ripped straight from Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott (so much so that a Courtney Cox cameo would not feel out of place). While moments of the 2025 film work well within the meta commentary on horror and Internet culture, other scenes feel like I Know What You Did Last Summer, attempting to be a Scream film. Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving and even 2025’s Heart Eyes have worked as movies spiritually guided by Wes Craven and Ghostface. Still, I Know What You Did Last Summer becomes disjointed as it attempts to emulate its predecessors in the horror canon.

The premise of I Know What You Did Last Summer has always been the selling point. It’s terrifying, claustrophobic, voyeuristic, and a premise worthy of exploration. The premise, combined with magnetic performances from Cline and Wonders, gives the reboot/legacy sequel more positives than some may expect. Kills bring some tension to the story. Legacy characters are a welcome sight, offering more than just nostalgia but development in the narrative. Some of the more prominent twists feel organic to the story on screen, but will be predictable to the horror aficionados. In terms of legacy, I Know What You Did Last Summer continues the franchise but, more so, brings to attention the growing presence of the “Scream-esque meta-slasher” as a nanogenre in the expanding horror landscape. While 2025’s version of the Southport murders is not a strong entry into the horror renaissance, Cline and Wonders leave the experience as legitimate scream queens.

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