Horror movie fans, please ignore the critics and dive headfirst into the new I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot with an open mind, it has been worth waiting for.
Around 28 years after the original movie first hit our screens, sending Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe into superstardom, director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson dusted off the fisherman’s slicker and attempted to breathe new life into the slasher franchise.
Chase Sui Wonders and Madelyn Cline lead the revival, following a group of friends who accidentally cause a deadly car accident before vowing to keep their involvement a secret.
However, this doesn’t quite go to plan when they find themselves hunted by a mysterious killer out for revenge a year later.
So far, the reviews are not looking pretty as the sequel currently claims a 38% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics, which is much lower than the audience ranking of 69%.
It was panned as ‘lifeless’, and a ‘vapid, utterly hollow husk of revival’, with one reviewer suggesting that the franchise ‘should have remained dead’.
But, as a huge fan of the films – yes, even the second one – I can tell you now that everyone is taking it way too seriously.
I Know What You Did Last Summer begins with the group heading to watch the Fourth of July fireworks on a strangely deserted cliffside road when a very buzzed Teddy (Tyriq Withers) stands in the middle of the winding street, almost daring disaster to strike.
Unfortunately, it does strike as another driver swerves to miss him, slamming through the barrier and plummeting into the water below. While they technically weren’t at fault, they decide to cover up their involvement and never speak of the night again.
A mysterious figure in a fisherman’s slicker didn’t get that memo and sends them a warning at Danica’s (Cline) engagement party exactly a year later, when the bride-to-be gets an ominous note telling her: ‘I know what you did last summer.’
From there, it’s a breathlessly gruesome ride to the mid-credits scene as a vengeful killer gets their revenge.
Although some reviews may say differently, I Know What You Did Last Summer is actually a lot of fun and a welcome addition to the franchise.
Yes, of course there are a few flaws, but let’s be honest, the original was never perfect to begin with.
There are moments where the dialogue attempts to cater to a younger audience by throwing in TikTok buzzwords and chatter about memes, but it verges on clunky, cringe and immediately ages the film.
Despite cementing herself in the final girl hall of fame by defying death twice before, Hewitt is criminally underused and pops up just a handful of times. She effortlessly steals the scene any time she’s on camera, but we need much, much more from Julie James.
Even though the OG winkingly declares that ‘nostalgia is overrated’, there is no denying that the slasher relies heavily on its predecessor – it is overstuffed with nods to the first film, from showing the graves of Barry and Helen, to the latter’s Croaker Queen float being reused for a chase scene.
All this is to the disservice of the newcomers, who – apart from Cline – end up being largely forgettable, bogged down by plot threads that go nowhere.
The Outer Banks actress is worlds apart from her castmates and shines as the vapid ‘diva’ who, over the course of one hour and 51 minutes, manages to lose her fiancé while she’s in the bath, faces off against the killer and still makes the odd wisecrack.
Prinze Jr was met with a round of applause when he popped back up as Ray, showing just how much he has been missed on our screens. He manages to inject the plot with some depth as the Southport native who knows all about the destruction that death can cause.
Robinson also made good on her promise of ensuring the gore aspect was ‘ratcheted up to 100’, with goosebump-worthy jumps and kills that even hardcore horror fans will be shielding their eyes from.
As well as the trusty hook, the fisherman gets an updated stash of weapons including a harpoon and a knife, giving us some of the most brutal death scenes imaginable.
There were also twists that set the traditional horror rule book on fire and threw the ashes out of the nearest window – whether they make sense or not, at least the filmmaker is trying something different to the formulaic horror sequel we’ve instantly guessed the plot of in previous years.
At the end of the day, I Know What You Did Last Summer injects some much-needed fun, gory escapism and more than a few jump scares into our lives. Isn’t that what we’ve all been waiting for?
I Know What You Did Last Summer is in cinemas now.
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