THRILLS AND CHILLS (DOUBLE FEATURE): “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (1997) / (2025)

(Courtesy TV Insider) 

Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. was interviewed recently and he commented on how the horror genre has experienced new phases nearly every decade. The man himself was a part of such a phase in the late-1990s, almost one year after late director Wes Craven broke the mold with the violent meta blockbuster Scream. Interestingly, that daring and provocative film’s writer, Kevin Williamson (who also created the hit TV series Dawson’s Creek), had a more standard, slasher screenplay (based on a novel by Lois Duncan) that he shopped around Hollywood. But that script was rejected by nearly every studio, who told Williamson that slasher movies were a thing of the past. 

That, of course, was before Scream became a surprise hit. 

Ironically, many critics were quick to point out how pale his script and feature-length version of I Know What You Did Last Summer was in comparison to Scream’s meta commentary on the genre as a whole. Even so, the 1997 flick still works as a decent and effective horror movie, relying more on chills and suspense than subversive humor. The story follows four high school friends who have big plans to move on from their small seaside town of Southport, North Carolina. One late night, an unexpected event on a winding road changes their lives for the worst: an accidental death that they swear to keep to themselves (leading to post traumatic stress and depression) but comes back to haunt them one year later. 

Thematically and skillfully, Williamson and director Jim Gillespie fairly managed to take a familiar concept (which has spooky campfire vibes) and make it fresh and scary, with a very linear plot, an eerie and dramatic score, and genuine jump scares. The movie also made household names out of its main cast. Besides Prinze Jr. (who had one of his first film credits here), Jennifer Love Hewitt (who started out with TV shows like Party of Five), Sarah Michelle Gellar (who later became known as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and married Prinze), and Ryan Philippe would go on to have successful careers on film and TV. 

Hewitt and Gellar would become scream queens of the genre, while the former and Prinze returned for an unnecessary—and downright stupid—sequel the following year, titled I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Whereas the first movie had a few ridiculous and convoluted elements, and some predictable genre cliches (“Don’t go there”), the second movie was laughable, embarrassing, and gorier. 

(Courtesy IMDb) 

This year, writer-director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (who made the 2022 Netflix dark comedy Do Revenge) brings us a legacy sequel in the spirit of the recent iterations of Scream (of which Williamson will reportedly be directing the next installment). A cast of talented up-and-coming actors (including Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers, and Sarah Pidgeon, all of whom have natural chemistry and charisma) headline this new version, as a group of friends who make a terrible mistake one summer night on a winding road, and are haunted by it one year later. This leads them to seek help from those who survived a similar killing spree years before. Hence, the return of Prinze Jr. as Ray Bronson (who now owns a dock bar) and Hewitt as Julie James (who teaches college courses on dealing with trauma), which, in and of themselves, is great to see on screen again. 

From the trailers, this new film promised to be a bloodier and much more provocative entry, with (apparently) a stronger thematic underline, in terms of people who have dealt with trauma or suppressed it, those who feel abandoned or estranged, and what they pass on to the next generation, for better or worse. Like the 1997 original, this 2025 release could be taken as a cautionary tale of what happens when the truth is buried by secrets, how time has passed and how it hasn’t, how history can repeat itself, and how personal feelings and issues damage others. Both films open with a visual motif of crashing waves in the ocean. 

That being said, it cannot be ignored that these movies act as double-edged swords. (Or, should I say, double-edged fisherman hooks?) As thought-provoking as these narratives can be, they nevertheless present characters with seriously dark/complex issues, negative effects for all involved, and a deeply nihilistic and disturbing worldview filled with pain and violence. (You’ll never look at a harpoon the same way again.) Like Sinners, there’s no redemption. Only retribution. One tune on the film’s soundtrack, titled “Devil Town,” includes lyrics that read, “All my friends are vampires / Didn’t know they were vampires.” Add to that several cleavage baring outfits and other problematic sexual content (including some steamy/erotic scenes), suicidal references, the conflict between what is “right” and what is “smart,” and negative portrayals of police and religious authorities. 

The finished film is not as thematically strong or concrete as it could’ve been. (The initial accident happens so fast, maybe passively.) It's also a polarizing output that will shock many horror fans and make them rage quit, despite some effective jump scares and surprise, jaw-dropping appearances—some that put certain references to the 1998 sequel to better use. In the original (and in this 2025 flick), Julie James famously shouts, “What are you waiting for?!?” A better question is, what are we to really make of this legacy sequel? I can honestly say it’ll really gut you and mess you up if you’re not careful, even if it is horror fiction.  

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