SPOILERS AHEAD: It would be impossible to adequately review this film without addressing some significant spoilers.
ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
Ah, Southport, North Carolina – the most non-Southern of the supposedly ‘Southern’ horror film locales. Whereas many horror films would lean into that aspect of the picture – the accents, the sensibilities – I Know What You Did Last Summer has, once again, chosen another path. Just like the original, this reboot feels more like a New England slasher. I’ve been to North Carolina numerous times – all over, really – and never once have I seen anything that looks remotely like this Southport. The town itself? Sure. The cliffs and geography? Hell no. But that’s fine. I don’t go into an IKWYDLS flick for the scenery. It’s just gonna get blood-splattered anyway.
With the success of the Scream legacy sequel from 2022, it was only a matter of time before the hook returned. 35+ years after the OG dropped, we find a whole new group of young people, this time twenty-somethings, making a terrible decision one Fourth of July night when they accidentally cause the death of a stranger. A year later, a mysterious note appears, as does a person in a slicker with a hook. It’s 1997 all over again! But, since the town (led by an ethically dubious Billy Campbell) has worked its ass off to erase traces of the 1997 massacre from the internet to help property values, these kids have to track down the survivors of that massacre, Julie James (Jennifer Love-Hewitt) and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), to help them get to the bottom of the all the mayhem. I guess that’s pretty much the gist of it.
Boy, is this film shaggy. IKWYDLS starts off with such a whimper that I even considered walking my ass out of the theatre. The writing is…off. The editing is…off. Everything feels rushed and unimaginative. Thank goodness I decided to stay, because whatever is going on in the opening is quickly abandoned thanks to some (finally) clever writing, and the return of the survivors we know and love from the original. The film only comes alive when the plot mechanics start revving up, and Love-Hewitt and Prinze, Jr. add far more to the precedings here than the OG characters did with the Scream legacy sequel. The wilder and more illogical this film gets, the more fun it becomes. It’s dumb; sooooooo dumb. But it knows it…at least for most of the picture. I Know What You Did Last Summer works best when it leans into its legacy, doesn’t take itself too seriously, and plays around with the notion of the legacy sequel.
LAST CHANCE – HERE COME THE SPOILERS. DON’T COME BITCHING TO ME WHEN YOU RUIN THE MOVIE FOR YOURSELF.
The core theme of this film is how trauma can affect us. With Scream, the trauma has sent Sidney into hiding for much of the series, living a secluded life with her family. Here, Julie James is a college professor, living only 45-minutes from Southport, and devoting her life to teaching others how to treat and overcome trauma. She has no desire to get involved with anything having to do with the 1997 massacre. She’s gotten smarter. Of course, she does get pulled in, as does Ray, her now ex-husband. We learn Julie and Ray do not have a good relationship. IKWYDLS gives us something no other legacy sequel has given us – the idea that even the characters we know and love from the original franchise can change. No one in Scream does. Dewey is still Dewey. Sidney is still Sidney. When the big ‘reveal’ of this picture comes around, it’s shocking. It was likely easier to pull off something like that with this film because it was never quite as popular as Scream, so the characters aren’t beloved on the same level, but kudos to writer/director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson for making that exciting call.
Though this film is heavy on nostalgia, it doesn’t beat us over the head with it, and it has fun recalling the previous films for what they are. Take, for example, a jaunt through the Southport cemetery, where our new characters pay their respects to the dearly departed characters from the original film, Helen (Sarah Michelle-Gellar) and Barry (Ryan Phillippe). Or, when Prinze, Jr. cheekily tells our group they should maybe avoid a trip to The Bahamas, a reference to the underrated sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. My audience exploded into applause when Sarah Michelle-Gellar turned up in a single dream sequence. Forget the fact it’s the only dream sequence in the film and makes no sense other than to give her a killer cameo. It’s funny, weird, and – apart from the lackluster visual effects used – a fitting tribute to Helen. We also get a post credits scene with Brandy from the second film, which sets up something that has me quite excited. Again, the audience roared. IKWYDLS is giving hardcore fan service, sure, but it also seems to be setting up a wacky slasher universe. Here for it.
As for the new crop of victims, everyone equips themselves quite well, for the most part. Madelyn Cline and Chase Sui Wonders are the clear standouts as “Danica” and “Ava”, two best friends whose bond is, surprisingly, never really shaken throughout the film. Tyriq Withers is one or two more films away from being a superstar, and he has some of the most memorable moments in the entire film. He’s not as much of an asshole as Barry from the original film, and definitely has a soft side, but he’s clearly the stand-in for Phillippe. Jonah Hauer-King sort of has a nothing role, and doesn’t do very much with it. He’s pretty, so maybe that’s enough. The only issue I had with the new characters was their deaths. The film starts out so tongue-in-cheek and then gets super serious with how it kills the characters we’ve come to enjoy. Withers’ death is especially gruesome and painful, and it didn’t really feel deserved. Nor did it feel necessary. It’s that tonal imbalance that makes IKWYDLS a few bricks shy of a full load.
Jon
I had a blast with I Know What You Did Last Summer, even though I almost walked out at the beginning. More often than not, it plays to its strengths and never tries to be anything more than what it knows it is – a goofy slasher film. It gives us engaging enough new characters, fleshed-out returning characters, and makes subversive decisions with how it deals with trauma, and the audience’s expectations for what a legacy sequel can be. I am here for whatever crazy-ass adventure comes next. This is, by no means, a perfect movie. In fact, a lot of folks will downright hate it. I understand. Remember – I almost walked out. But, just as John Popper of Blues Traveler wrote three-years before the OG film hit – “The hook brings you back.”
Rating: ***1/2/***** (currently playing in theatres everywhere)
