Despite looking like just another slasher film, I Know What You Did Last Summer has garnered a decently large legacy. While it failed to impress critics and didn’t develop a particularly strong franchise, the 1997 original centred around four teens being tormented by the supposed spirit of a person they accidently killed, was liked enough by audiences to stay #1 at the box office for three consecutive weeks, grossing $125.3 million on a budget of only $17 million. Also credited for helping revitalize the slasher genre during the 1990s in the same vein as Scream (which is fitting since both films were written by the same guy), this seemingly innocuous feature earned a staying power that, given its overall quality, it probably didn’t deserve.

On the 4th of July in the fishing town of Southport, four teenagers named Julie, Ray, Helen and Barry (played by Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe) prepare for their hopefully bright futures, but those possibilities are halted when, while drunkenly driving down a winding cliffside road, they hit a man and seemingly kill him. Fearing their lives will be ruined, the four make a pact to dump his body in the ocean and take this crime to their graves, but the guilt eats away at them and they’re unable to make fresh strides in the coming year. On the next 4th of July, Julie receives a note that says ‘’I Know What You Did Last Summer’’, leading her to reunite with her old friends and let them know that someone is after them. Not being properly convinced until Barry is attacked by a figure in a raincoat brandishing a hook, the four try to unravel who it was that they killed, and in doing so, learn of the perpetrator who is seemingly out for revenge.

Unlike its wittier and more colorful sister film, I Know What You Did Last Summer offers very little freshness to an easily stalely film genre, not even going as far as to portray its own idea in the most efficient manner. While it has solid technical delivery and knows how to set up some average scary scenarios, the muddled narrative, poor acting, very bland characters, and lacklustre atmosphere, make it hard to fathom how it’s managed to last so many years.

While the concept takes inspiration from the popular urban legend surrounding a man killing a couple with a hook hand, the basis for the idea is actually from a 1973 novel of the same name written by Lois Duncan, but while it went for more of a standard teen mystery, the film’s writer, Kevin Williamson, heavily tweaked it to feel more like a standard slasher of the 1980s by incorporating the previously mentioned urban legend and similarities to films like Prom Night and The House of Sorority Row. Being approached by producer, Erik Feig, in no doubt a response to the success of Scream (which was released a year prior), the movie was clearly banking on Williamson’s popularity in order to bolster its pedigree, as the film and script was rushed into production by Columbia Pictures after they initially disregarded it, and was pitched to Mandalay Entertainment to help finance it, showing the amount of faith they were putting into this idea solely because of its head writer. While turning the original novel into a slasher sounds feasible, and even the initial idea of four teens being chased by a person they supposedly killed years ago is distinct enough to stand out from other slashers, the execution is where things really fall apart.

With this being the feature directorial debut for Jim Gillespie, there was clearly not much investment in making this movie feel that special outside of just providing another option for teen-stabbing film fanatics, and while Williamson brought a self-referential quality to Scream that made it enjoyably unique, I Know What You Did Last Summer is largely just mundane. The story prods along without much excitement or intrigue, aspects of the original novel cause some tonal and even structural inconsistencies as it nears the final act, the scripting doesn’t contain many overly lame lines or choices but doesn’t have too many memorable parts either (outside of the laughably iconic ‘’What are you waiting for’’ moment that was parodied like crazy), all the actors feel wooden and without guidance which makes their already bland characters even more unlikeable, and even if it’s not painfully dated and in-your-face like other 90s movies, it doesn’t have too much of an identity either, causing it to blend with other similar-looking slashers. This doesn’t feel like an entirely aimless film as there are some scenes that feel well thought out, a few of the background performances are okay, and it does seem to know what horror fans would be looking for in a slasher movie and provides the just amount, but for those looking for something more, it won’t provide.

Talk about getting a cast that just screams pure 90s, as having Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe lead your movie is about as openly time-period specific as it could be, and the film isn’t trying to hide that. All four were still relative newcomers who got their start working on teenage-themed television, so placing them in a slasher film is honestly the smartest upgrade to their status without needing to change how they perform, but while they would go on to better things, they don’t shine that well in this film. This isn’t entirely their fault as the directing doesn’t feel like it’s helping them that much, and the script doesn’t give them any sense of personality and backstory (it’s actually shockingly barren in that department), but even by the standards of this formula, the leading performances are not very effective and to make matters worse, actively make the characters more unlikeable. This is the truest for Ryan Phillippe, who made a career out of playing preppy, easily punch-able, jerks, with his role in this being just as unlikeable, except without any establishment or even understanding in order to make him anything more than a trope. He does chill out around the second act and his openly obnoxious delivery is technically better portrayed than the wasteland of nothingness the others offer, but it’s too basic to call good.

Freddie Prinze jr. is easily the weakest of the four (despite being strangely absent for most of it due to being poorly positioned as a red flag suspect), with a stilted, overly whiny delivery that makes his equally terrible written role, even more irritating to be around. Sarah Michelle Gellar is easily the best of the four (which makes sense given she was the most experienced), but the character doesn’t have any defining traits to work with, so it just feels like watching an actress placed into a role that’s beneath her. Jennifer Love Hewitt, despite being positioned as the main character, is also not given any extra treatment to stand out, and her ‘’sunflower-y’’ performance can be a little grating at times, with the only thing holding her above the water being her surprisingly effective manner of expression (she can give a good conflicted glare or traumatized reaction, so good on her for that). The killer does kind of have a memorable look with the navy raincoat and iconic hook hand making for a clear defining design, but who he is, and his motivations are sadly not as interesting as they were in the initial description (it goes off the rails a bit by the end and isn’t as clever as it thinks it is). With the time period and tone making things feel more performatively creepy and exaggerated rather than legitimate, it means the supporting characters can feel a little hoaky and off without breaking the mood, and outside of Anne Heche, who’s surprising okay as the sister of the teen’s accidental murder victim, everyone else feels equally as fake and put-on.

The one true positive of this film is that it knows how to set up a scare. It doesn’t do a good job delivering them as the loud corny music and 90s-esque visuals cues and edits kill any sense of mood or tension, but due to Williamson’s involvement, a lot of the kills and chase sequences have good build up and even clever scenarios. Whether it’s being stuck in the back of a bolted police car, sneaking around a closed clothing store with plastic-covered mannequins hiding the killer, seeing a message appear on the glass door within a heavily-steamed public shower room, or seeing the out-of-sight killer watch one of the leads sleep from within their bedroom closest, they feel well paced out, effectively filmed, decently performed, and at least showcase that despite the bland delivery, the ones in charge are capable of providing what the target audience is at least looking for.

Even some of the overall visuals aren’t too bad, with the cinematography by Denis Crossman being decently mobile and active for what could’ve been a very inactive and basically shot film. Some of the overview shots get a nice view of this seaside fishing town, some of the tracking shots are good at keeping people on edge waiting for the killer to ponce, and even the deep blue saturated color palette fits very nicely in this environment and time period. The film’s score is also deceptively okay in parts, with John Debney providing a piece that can be a little too over-the-top during the kill scenes but feels delightfully spooky thanks to the over theatricality of the orchestra, it’s a minor touch that doesn’t greatly impact the film but is nice regardless. It’s certainly better than the soundtrack, which is chock full of dated 90s rock songs that sound terrible, but they’re at least short and sweet.

Considering it managed to spawn two direct sequels, an unofficial Indian remake (titled Kucch To Hai), a short-lived Amazon Prime television series, its own legacy sequel in 2025, and was one of the prime subjects of parody in the film, Scary Movie (where it was ironically paired up with Scream), I Know What You Did Last Summer can’t just be another film of the era that earned unexplained traction, and contained something that won over the general public, but that secret sauce is hard to fathom. The film doesn’t provide much for non-slasher fans and even by the genre’s standards, it doesn’t feel that unique all things considered. The idea is okay, some of the performances are tolerable, and the set up to some scares are decently effective, but with a narrative that quickly loses track, characters that are too bland even for a slasher movie, mostly flat performances, and kills that are annoyingly underwhelming (for a murderer with a hook hand, a lot of these deaths are strangely lacking in gore), it becomes nothing more than a lucky catch that should’ve been thrown back into the sea.

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