The Scream Queen

The slasher film has always been a marketable commodity since its conception. The craze arguably began in 1978 with John Carpenter’s seminal Halloween, which went on to inspire a series of copycats and franchises that have inextricably entered the world of pop culture. Like horror itself, the nature of the slasher is cyclical, most notably entering into the post-modern era in 1996 with Wes Craven’s Scream; a self-aware hit that re-invigorated the subgenre, and once again spawned a rise in slashers being released, such as 1997’s I Know What You Did Last Summer. Although never reaching the heights of its era defining counterpart, IKWYDLS was arguably one of the better subgenre films to come out in the 90s as it did not necessarily copy the Scream formula, but rather felt more like an update of a John Carpenter film. The current slasher cycle is that of the requel; a remake/reboot of a franchise that also works as a sequel due to original characters returning. Some examples of this include Halloween (2018), Scream (2022), and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022). And now, we have I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025), featuring a whole new cast of Gen Z victims (and some familiar faces) being stalked by the fisherman killer and his infamous hook.

* Spoilers ahead!

Of course, I Know What You Did Last Summer begins with the incident alluded to in the title. Our protagonist go out for a drive after a party, cause a car to swerve off the road, don’t go down to help the victim, and well, you know the rest. Compared to the original, it really doesn’t feel like our protagonists did that much wrong here; yes, the police covered up the incident at their request, but they genuinely did try and help stop the car from falling over the edge. Not to mention, it was partially the cars fault for driving so fast on a clearly dubious corner. Moving on, we revisit the group one year later to see how much the guilt has effected their lives (not that much). Reuniting for Danica’s (Madelyn Cline) engagement party, they receive a note, and we all know what it’s going to say. From there on out, its your pretty bog standard slasher. The cannon fodder are obvious, the kills are bloody, and the mystery of the killer unravels.

Upping the gore is one surefire way to make a mark in an established franchise, particularly one that is not known for being overtly brutal. But here, the gruesome kills are established from the moment Danica’s new fiancé is impaled with a speargun. It’s a great opening kill that helps to establish the tongue-in-cheek tone, as Danica takes a relaxing bath while her other half is slaughtered just downstairs. The kills that follow never quite reach the same level of brutally as this one, however they are commendable; particularly that of current it girl Gabbriette, who’s homage to Helen Shivers’ chase scene is satisfying for longtime fans.

However, everyone knows that decent kills aren’t enough to keep a movie afloat, and unfortunately, IKWYDLS begins to sink under the weight of a poorly written and acted script. There are really no redeemable characters, as they all act annoying, whiney, and stupid; especially Danica, whom reels off ‘Gen Z’ buzz words to a tiresome extent. The humour may hit for some, but ultimately it felt to try-hard and cringe, aging it as a 2020s movie in the worst way possible. The characters make terrible survival choices, even though they should know better by now, and its boring when the formula plays out beat by beat while trying to appear to be doing something new. The biggest twist in the film is not only that Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon) is the killer, but that Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.) has been helping her all along. It’s pretty easy to work out along the way, but at least its a swing that has not really been done by any previous requels. It would pay off more if his motivation had been more airtight, rather than just ‘trauma changes a person’ and that he didn’t want the town to forget what he and his own friends had been through. The reveal is campy though, and Julie James (Jennifer Love-Hewitt) does get to say her iconic line, ‘what are you waiting for?’, which I’m sure the audience had been waiting for the whole runtime.

Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love-Hewitt are not the only returning cast members, however, as in a well-kept surprise, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Brandy also reprise their previous roles. Sarah Michelle Gellar of course played the legendary Helen Shiver, whom everyone agrees should have been a final girl in the original. Her death is one of the most argued over in slasher films, so her shock return (albeit as a ghost in a nightmare sequence) produced many gasps in the cinema. It’s a highlight to see the scream queen return to the big screen, although it is clearly shoe-horned in to the narrative only to serve the purpose of having her there. Terrible CGI effects that see her transform into a decomposing body end the scene with a whimper rather than a bang. Brandy’s (who appeared as Karla in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer) cameo is not in the film itself, but rather in a post-credit scene which suggests that a sequel to this film is not off the cards; particularly since both the Halloween and Scream reboots went on to spawn two other sequels each.

Final Verdict:

Is the requel already a tired format? I Know What You Did Last Summer seems to point towards yes. The reboot/sequel claws onto any remains of the original films that it can, but in the end, it’s clear that ship sailed a long time ago. The ties to the original films are loose, and if you removed most of the fan service from the narrative, it’s subpar at best; particularly when compared to its Halloween and Scream counterparts, whose stories made more sense in the grand scheme of their franchises. I Know What You Did Last Summer drowns under its cringey dialogue, convoluted plot, and mediocre use of its legacy characters that are clearly only there to sell the film. Its predictability means you know exactly where this requel is going, and the journey to get there is one steeped in dullness and unoriginality that struggles to keep you hooked.