Written by Sam Clark
Certificate: 15
Running time: 111 minutes
Director: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
I honestly don't know what do call this. ''Rebooqeuel'', ''resurrection'', ''return''? What to label this as is the least of it's problems. We are now at the stage where anything and everything will be brought back, and to tell you the truth, I'm at the ready for absolutely anything as you never know what Hollywood will cough up. When ''Top Gun: Maverick'' came out in 2022, everyone thought it was such a bad idea to revisit such an old property. The reason was simple, thirty six years had passed and we had no idea whether or not people would still care. Low and behold, the film proved to be an even bigger hit than we could have possibly ever imagined, grossing $1.4 billion dollars at the box office, earning six Oscar nominations including Best Picture and receiving rave reviews. Then, in 2023, we had ''Twisters'', the follow up to the 1996 disaster flick (both of which starred Glen Powell) which saw ''Top Gun: Maverick'' accomplishments and wanted a piece of that cake.
''Twisters'' was by no means even remotely comparable (it was never going to), but I did have fun nonetheless (and certainly proved to be the craziest 4DX experience I will ever have). To put is simply, what has happened here is that ''Top Gun: Maverick'' has opened a ginormous can of worms with it's success and demonstrated that resurrection can sometimes work (heavy, heavy emphasis on ''sometimes'' however). ''Maverick'' is a rare, rare, rare case it working that well. They managed to crack the formula and were lucky to get away with it, just how much they got away with it is the reason why so many have since followed (and it is, at the end of the day, completely understandable). An argument could also be made for ''Spider-Man: No Way Home'' as well, but that's a slightly different conversation. ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' is yet another franchise to fall suit to this formula, returning to our screens once again since 1998 which should be cause for celebration; if it weren't for the fact that the film just feels so forced in what it is trying to do.
Image credit: IMDb / Columbia Pictures / Original Films
Anyone who is familiar with the original will understand the premise and logic for which nothing has changed here. Written and directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson whose CV is tailored towards very Gen Z orientated comedies as well as being a writer on ''Thor: Love and Thunder'' (one of the worst MCU films so make of that what you will). We have five friends ''Ava'' (Chase Sui Wonders), ''Danica'' (Madelyn Cline), ''Milo'' (Jonah Hauer King), ''Teddy'' (Tyrique Withers) and ''Stevie'' (Sarah Pidgeon) who accidentally cause a car accident on a road known as ''Reapers Curve'' during a 4th of July celebration in their town called ''Southport''. It's business as usual, they seem to think they have got away with the crime and choose to cover it up and promise never to speak of it again.
Roll on one year later, they are all attending a bridal shower for ''Danica'' in which gifts are being exchanged and drinks are flowing. She picks up an blank, anonymous letter and opens it to find the following message: ''I know what you did last summer''. Next thing we know, the hook wielding fisherman, drenched in black clothing from the first film, begins to stalk and pick them off one by one. Since this is yet another nostalgia fest (for which the connotations are sadly negative here), that only means one thing: bring back the OG cast. Freddie Prince Jr. returns as ''Ray Bronson'' and Jennifer Love Hewitt is back as Julie James, although they should have stayed at home on this one.
Image credit: IMDb / Columbia Pictures / Original Films
''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' fails not only as a piece of slasher horror, but for the one and only thing it was created for and the word I keep coming back to: nostalgia. I was stunned at how in your face it actually is. There are numerous times in which characters literally say the word ''nostalgia'' and also reference 1997 that I was just dumbfounded by. ''Maverick'' worked so well because, amidst the jaw dropping spectacle and set pieces, they were able to find a beautifully perfect story that managed to make sense and which had subtlety. I was by no means expecting that here, but this has as much discretion as a bull in a China shop. It reeks of desperation and each time they attempting to call back to the past, I rolled my eyes.
This is, by a country mile, the most Gen Z horror film I have ever encountered which does mean it should go down gangbusters financially. There are lines of dialogue in this that do feel as though they were directly lifted from TikTok, so the question of whether or not it will work with a young crowd has been answered. But as unfortunate coincidence would have it, slasher films are the one genre within horror I care the least about and which bore me the most. Yes, this is slicy and gory, but so are all the rest, so what makes this so different and interesting? Nothing. If there was the slightest attempt at doing something new and brining something new to the table, you have my attention. If not, I don't know why they bothered. I'm not against revitalization per say, but they are just too hard to get right sometimes and we don't know when to quit.
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