I Know What You Did Last Summer Reels You in For the Nostalgia, But Nothing More -

By Luis Zonenberg

As we move closer to the Halloween season, plenty of horror films can be found sprinkling around theaters. While there are plenty of arthouse thrillers being released, Hollywood still seems intent on capitalizing on the season and might as well double down on the nostalgia as well. Case in point here is the latest entry and soft reboot of the cult classic 90s thriller, I Know What You Did Last Summer.

The story focuses on college student Ava Brucks (Chase Sui Wonders) returning to Southport for her friend Danica’s bridal shower (played by Madelyn Cline). Things soon go awry when they receive numerous death threats and bodies begin to pile up around town. When they discover this could be the same killer from the Southport Massacre of ‘97, they soon go to one of the remaining survivors for help, Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt).

The movie is a serviceable legacy sequel to the cult classic 90s slasher, boasting a plethora of dumb college students horror fans would be eager to see sliced and diced. It has flashes of creativity with its set up and the brutal kills, but it all fumbles with its overcrowded caravan of characters. Too many are underdeveloped and lack many redeeming qualities, with the exception of Madelyn Cline’s character whose charm and humor made her very enjoyable to watch on-screen.

Speaking of which, the performances were actually pretty engaging throughout. Chase Sui Wonders makes for a confident leading lady, working well off others and even had some good chemistry with Jonah Hauer-King. Madelyn Cline though simply stole the show as Danica, bringing plenty of charm and levity throughout the film. Even though it was nice to see Freddie Prince Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt reprise their roles from the original, they too often felt shoehorned in and rarely had much to do on-screen.

Far too often though, the editing really stole the show, for better or worse. It worked beautifully for the more comedic moments, contrasting the dark grisly setting with some humorous on-the-nose foreshadowing which served as a nice homage to the slasher films from the 90s. Other times though, it felt very sloppy and just jumped from scene to scene, with some noticeable ADR (automated dialogue replacement) trying to make sense of it.

There are some very brutal death scenes which will definitely satisfy plenty of horror enthusiasts. This definitely where the film’s creativity shined best, from being harpooned by a fisherman to being slashed to death with a giant fishing hook. It amps up the blood and gore from the original, though probably without the charm or quirky characters that made those scenes so much more likeable.

In fact, the overall mystery holding the film together might be the only other piece of real substance found in this whole slaughterhouse. It actually leaves plenty of room for suspects and creates plenty of motivations for why anyone would be willing to go this far. The only problem lies within its execution, with the third act especially feeling rushed and sloppily paced, with a reveal that will certainly get under fans’ skins.

What ultimately stops this movie from being terrible is really the creativity and performances. Otherwise, this legacy sequel pales in comparison to recent ones like Scream and only feels like it exists to profit off of nostalgia, nothing more. It really fails to justify its existence but I still believe some horror fans will find something of value in this. With some creatively brutal kills and a terrific performance from Madelyn Cline, I Know What You Did Last Summer will reel fans in for the nostalgia but that’s about it.

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

Rating: ★★☆☆☆