I Know What You Did Last Summer
Rebooting slasher franchises is a tricky business. We’ve seen several different restarts at “Halloween” over the years, as well as attempts at “Friday the 13th” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” The recent “Scream” films- which are continuations and soft reboots- are probably the most popular example, and it was only a matter of time when the other ’90s franchise that once started with Kevin Williamson would get the nod on the big screen. I’ve only ever watched the 1997 original, and it was ok for what it was. As a result, I did not have much in the way of nostalgia going into this film. Would that matter.
Bringing back legacy characters is a trickier business, much less connecting a new story directly to them. The best legacy sequels find a way to fit in these characters in a way that impacts the plot, but the film ultimately stands on its newer characters. “Star Wars” tried to walk this tightrope, but the passing of Carrie Fisher required a pivot that “The Rise of Skywalker” wasn’t able to accomplish. The “Scream” is the example- in my opinion- of leaning too much into its legacy, and thanks to studio choices involving not bringing back one of its lead, new characters for the next film (which resulted in the other lead dropping out), a storyline is essentially unfinished, and their response is to bring back characters whose time with the franchise was over. It’s twisted itself into knots to hook into nostalgia, and it’s suffering as a result. “I Know What You Did Last Summer” could have suffered the same fate, but I enjoyed Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s spin at the franchise quite a bit.
This slasher has a literary pettigree in the novel by Lois Duncan, which is what Williamson adapted in the 1997 film. Here, the screenplay by Robinson and Sam Lansky returns to Southport, North Carolina, the idyllic coastal town where, in the original, four teenagers (Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe) accidentally run over a man on the 4th of July, and cover up the accident. A year later, they are terrorized by a man with a hook and dressed in the same fisherman outfit. Almost three decades later, five friends- Ava (Chase Sui Wonders), Danica (Madelyn Cline), Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), Teddy (Tyriq Withers) and Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon)- find themselves in a similar situation, except- as we watch the story unfold- we’re left to wonder, “Do they really deserve it?”
The decision by which this new film hinges on doesn’t feel as scandalous as the original film was because, unlike the OG, the characters here do seem to try and help, and aren’t as responsible for the accident as their predecessors were. Normally, that’s a pretty big twist to reveal in a review, but honestly, it happening less than 30 minutes into a 111 minute slasher film, I have no problem giving it up. The sin here is how they allow it to be covered up, something Ray Bronson (Prinze Jr.’s character, who is still in town) calls the city council out for when bodies start stacking up a year later, and don’t really think about who the victim was. Even with this fairly glaring issue in its narrative, I still enjoyed this film, because it embraced the genre it was a part of, and didn’t shoehorn in its legacy in distracting ways like the last two “Scream” films have done. In addition to Ray, Love Hewitt’s Julie James returns, as well, and she fills the Sidney Prescott role of the traumatized survivor who might be willing to help. Robinson (who made the exceptionally fun teen revenge comedy “Do Revenge”) does a good job of pointing to the absurdities in both these characters, and this genre, while keeping it moving, and us guessing. This was a fun movie, even if I may never watch it again.
