Almost 30 years after the release of the original, I Know What You Did Last Summer gets a legacy sequel with the same name, and the first reviews have arrived online. The new movie, which is technically the fourth installment of the horror franchise following a standalone 2006 sequel, brings back stars Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. alongside a next-generation cast of characters terrorized by the Fisherman. The 2025 I Know What You Did Last Summer is being praised by some as a meta-humorous throwback, while others are critical of its lack of originality and worthy scares.
Here’s what critics are saying about I Know What You Did Last Summer:
Is this a worthy summer horror flick?
Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson made the catch of the season with this lean, mean serial killer flick.
— Alison Foreman, IndieWire
As a sequel nearly three decades in the making, it surpasses all expectations and completely nails the balance of nostalgia, bringing a familiar tale into our contemporary times.
— BJ Colangelo, Slashfilm
[It’s] a predictable and vibeless summer horror film that will convince you to spend more time outside in the sun rather than watching something so smug, manufactured, and self-satisfied.
— Tyler Taing, Discussing Film
How does it compare to the rest of the franchise?
By a small margin, it’s probably the best I Know What You Did Last Summer ever.
— Matt Singer, Screen Crush
This third sequel feels like the series’ best because there’s comfort in the familiar setting, yet plenty of room to continue to surprise and horrify fans.
— Nick Ruhrkraut, AwardsWatch
For better and worse, [it’s] just as mediocre a slasher as its predecessors.
— Dan Bayer, Next Best Picture
As a slasher film? Yeah, sure, it’s fine. As an addition to the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise? Divas, we are UP!
— BJ Colangelo, Slashfilm
This version is gorier than the original. Instead of implying deaths, you now see a harpoon gun pierce a victim’s chest.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
Robinson’s iteration pushes its R-rating. The body count is indeed higher, as is the gruesome gore.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
What’s different this time is that with the slasher stuff staged in a restrained way, the movie plays as even more of a whodunit.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
If there’s any consolation, it was at least a step above the much-maligned I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.
— Casey Chong, Talking Films
What about other legacy sequels?
The movie proudly wears its predecessors on its sleeve, easily cementing itself as the best modern horror reboot we’ve got.
— Lex Briscuso, Inverse
Fans of the recent Scream sequels will find similarities here in structure and in how Julie and Ray reprise their legacy roles; however, it never feels reductive.
— Nick Ruhrkraut, AwardsWatch
It looks like a real movie unlike 2022’s Scream, which looked like a Netflix movie.
— Benjamin Lee, Guardian
Robinson’s take on the material is shamefully imitative of what Radio Silence has done with the 2020s Scream sequels and what David Gordon Green did with his Halloween trilogy. In short, this new I Know What You Did Last Summer is truly a copy of a copy.
— Rocco T. Thompson, Slant Magazine
There are no interesting new themes added to the equation, which is particularly disappointing, as this is often where legacy sequels like this thrive.
— Sean Boelman, Fandomwire
It sticks out in my mind as one of the worst attempts at revitalizing a dead franchise in recent memory because the brand at large exists in the canonical C-list.
— Tyler Taing, Discussing Film
Is this more of a meta sequel?
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson and Sam Lansky’s script draws some strikingly smart meta parallels between the events of 1997 and 2025… It’s gleefully self-aware.
— BJ Colangelo, Slashfilm
It’s a kitschy commentary about these ridiculous movies, which also understands that the ridiculousness makes them lovable, and that our love — though sometimes ironic — is genuine.
— William Bibbiani, TheWrap
[It’s] something closer in tone to a knowing horror comedy like Scream than the first IKWYDLS, which was more of a straightforward hot-teens-in-peril slasher.
— Matt Singer, Screen Crush
Late in this reboot, a character states, “Nostalgia is overrated,” and it feels like an indictment of the film we’ve been watching.
— Rocco T. Thompson, Slant Magazine
It’s not as intelligent as it thinks it is; IKWYDLS is just trying to present the typical legacy sequel themes with enough stupidity and irony that it might fool someone into thinking there’s something deeper going on.
— Tyler Taing, Discussing Film
Did we really need this?
Robinson finds a way to make her attempt not exactly necessary but unpretentiously pleasurable enough for that not to really matter.
— Benjamin Lee, Guardian
Frankly, the whole movie industry could use more original ideas and fewer looks back to the past. But this one is entertaining enough that I’ll give it a pass.
— Matt Singer, Screen Crush
We’re here for Last Summer shenanigans. And we’re here to relive that first, very entertaining movie and occasionally riff on the first, very ludicrous sequel.
— William Bibbiani, TheWrap
Robinson seems like she’ll serve up a familiar dish, but she’s not interested in it tasting the same, so when she pivots in the recipe, regardless of how your palate reacts, you can’t deny the aftertaste will linger long with you.
— Peter Gray, The AU Review
The film feels like the predictable endpoint of a trend toward empty nostalgia that’s run through all the big fish in horror cinema and is now coming to swallow up whatever might be left behind.
— Rocco T. Thompson, Slant Magazine
Is the movie scary?
Harpoons have never been more terrifying than they are here.
— Alison Foreman, IndieWire
There are some solid jump scares, mostly in the film’s early moments, that might get your heart pumping.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
Prepare to remain on the edge of your seat with plenty of jump scares and surprises that will either keep you screaming or smiling until the very end.
— Nick Ruhrkraut, AwardsWatch
There’s not a single scene in this entry that feels particularly scary… Robinson tips her hand far too much, telegraphing every jump scare so much that you may not even jump.
— Dan Bayer, Next Best Picture
This slasher, although gorier than the original, is not so interested in being scary.
— Tyler Taing, Discussing Film
It often falls into a rudimentarily constructed cycle of repetitious, lackluster frights.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
How are the kills?
The kills are vicious.
— Dan Bayer, Next Best Picture
Compared to the 1997 film of the same name, the new one steps up the deaths… There’s an element to the deaths that adds an extra layer of horrified shock.
— DarkSkyLady, Nerdist
Okay, yeah, the tension of the kills is broken up almost instantly by a strong sense of humor, but that’s exactly how the OG film operates. At least this one is being honest about it.
— BJ Colangelo, Slashfilm
Most unforgivable of all is that there are no great kill sequences.
— Rocco T. Thompson, Slant Magazine
There’s a noticeable lack of satiating payoff with each.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
What about the script?
The new I Know What You Did Last Summer strains credulity until credulity breaks open and spills fake blood and candy everywhere. And that’s for the best.
— William Bibbiani, TheWrap
There’s an inconsistency with the film’s narrative flow and logic building.
— Matt Donato, Daily Dead
[There’s] a credulity-stretching finale that assuredly will piss off a generation of long-time fans.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
Is it funny at all?
It embraces the humor and brings it to the forefront, but isn’t afraid to brutally torture some twentysomethings in the process.
— BJ Colangelo, Slashfilm
The laughs are mostly reserved for asides and throwaway characters, and after the halfway point, the film flat-out forgets to be funny for long stretches.
— Dan Bayer, Next Best Picture
How are the two returning stars?
You’ll be aching to see Hewitt and Prinze on screen together as sniping ex-love interests more than you knew.
— Alison Foreman, IndieWire
Prinze is better here than he was in the first film, and strikes a convincing figure as a man whose life was changed forever by this terrible event in his past.
— Matt Singer, Screen Crush
In his salt-and-pepper hair, Prinze evokes Frank Langella, and he’s a much more interesting actor than he was before.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
It’s nice to see Jennifer Love Hewitt returning to her iconic role… but the same cannot be said with Freddie Prinze Jr.’s older and supposedly world-weary Ray Bronson, whose acting is somehow questionably stiff.
— Casey Chong, Talking Films
Are there any standouts in the new cast?
I do not know how Madelyn Cline is capable of delivering like 90% of what she says in this movie, but crown this Croaker queen again.
— BJ Colangelo, Slashfilm
Madelyn Cline makes for the newest scream queen with quite a flair for comedy.
— Nick Ruhrkraut, AwardsWatch
Cline in particular makes a very appealing heroine for this sort of film thanks to her letter-perfect comic timing.
— Matt Singer, Screen Crush
It’s impossible not to adore Madelyn Cline’s Helen surrogate Danica… She’s hilarious and genuine, and she commands and, frankly, steals every scene she’s in.
— Lex Briscuso, Inverse
Cline’s comic chops remain undimmed, and Pidgeon’s charisma carries every scene she’s in.
— Dan Bayer, Next Best Picture
What are the biggest complaints?
This new IKWYDLS has at least one too many endings, and it gets off to a very slow and very familiar start.
— Matt Singer, Screen Crush
Paper-thin characters, heavily telegraphed scares, and an overly serious tone.
— Dan Bayer, Next Best Picture
A third act that unravels like nylon line on a broken rod… The weight of an overcomplicated yet ill-plotted story drags momentum into murky depths, making stretches of the nearly two-hour duration feel like paddling in place.
— Matt Donato, Daily Dead
Everything pretty much falls apart in the third act. The story feels long and boring.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
Should they make more of these?
I not only enjoyed the movie, but I’ll definitely watch any sequels.
— DarkSkyLady, Nerdist
I Know What You Did Last Summer opens in theaters on July 18, 2025.
