I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

As a fan of ‘80s/’90s nostalgia, I can somewhat understand the desire to revisit a dormant franchise. Some film series just need a lengthy rest, and they can come back feeling fresh and new again, and most importantly, exciting! Others aren’t so lucky. Case in point, 1997’s I Know What You Did Last Summer. The first film was a good bit of fun, not a smart thriller, but it had some clever kills and suspenseful setups. It was an enjoyable watch. Well, that goodwill cash was spent by the time we got to I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, which was only worth the time for a dreadlocked stoner Jack Black. By the time I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer hit video store shelves, the world had good and well moved on from this franchise cul-de-sac. 

Well, time is funny, and someone, somewhere, evidently thought it was a good idea to revisit the fisherman’s exploits for a 2021 television series that lasted all of eight episodes. Now four years after that odd decision, we’ve entered the well-traveled seas of horror legacy sequels for the aptly titled I Know What You Did Last Summer. Evidently, I Know What You Did Twenty-Eight Summers Ago was too wordy. 

For this adventure in slicker horror, we have Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers, and Sarah Pidgeon as our newest batch of crime-covering body-disposing youngsters. Character names are incidental. They’re just hook-fodder. That’s not meant to be a slight against these young actors, they all play to their parts well (Wonders and Cline especially), but they’re all meant to be recognizable facade stand-ins for the original film’s cast. Washing ashore for this one are legacy stars Freddy Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Another previous star returns for one daffy oddball of a dream sequence, and someone else pops by for a mid-credits segue into a possible sequel. Sadly, neither of those surprise stars is Johnny Galecki or Jack Black. 

Without a bit of surprise or suspense or tension, I Know What You Did Last Summer pretty much plays out exactly as you expect it to. If you make an early guess at the person behind the slicker, you’ll be proven spot-on correct with about 25 minutes left in the film. Granted, some of the kills are clever and their executions appropriately gnarly and fitting for a modern gore-hungry horror audience. Unfortunately, the setups to these moments are void of suspense or tension, so they just become well-produced snippets for a VFX artist’s production reel. 

I do feel for co-writer and director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson with this one. It’s a thankless spot to be stuck in trying to revive a franchise that’s killed itself off several times already. She did great work on Do Revenge, but her talent feels wasted here. As I said, it’s a franchise cul-de-sac. After the original film, there was just nowhere to go with it beyond rehashing and repeating. 

The deadly anchor dragging this film back is the return of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddy Prinze Jr. (along with the other returning stars). I love‘em both, but they didn’t need to come back. This plot doesn’t support that return, because let's be real, the original film was just okay. The sequel was genuinely bad. As much as I enjoyed those films, I haven’t been spending the last 25 years wondering what happened to dear Julie and Ray. This is where I think a straight-to-the-bones remake would have been more effective. Mix it up a bit, change some things around, and go back to the original novel for new inspiration. Most importantly, this could have been an opportunity to create a new version of an old story that stood alongside, rather than resting in the shadow of the 1997 original. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray 
2025’s I Know What You Did Last Summer baits a hook for physical media with a Blu-ray + Digital release from Sony. Pressed on a BD50 disc, the disc is housed in a standard case with identical slipcover artwork. The disc loads to trailers for other recent/upcoming Sony horror releases before arriving at a static-image main menu. 

While we weren’t given a 4K disc to look at, I have to give props where due for the 1080p presentation. Details are crisp and clean, allowing you to appreciate the facial features of our attractive new cast, the grizzled wrinkles of our returning cast, and the impressive production design work. Most importantly, we get to appreciate some of the kills, which are pretty gnarly (even if I suspect some have been digitally enhanced, just a bit). Colors are vivid and true, skin tones are healthy, and there’s plenty of nice bright primary usage. Recurring 4th of July fireworks get some nice pop in the night sky. Black levels are strong throughout without issue. My only hold back for this presentation was it felt very obvious when the cast was acting in front of screens with non-descript backgrounds or they just looked very out of place. Other than that quibble, it's a strong transfer. 

On the audio side, this disc catches an impressive DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix. While I’d have loved to hear what Atmos could do for this one given some of the kill setups and other events, this track doesn’t falter. There’s plenty of surround activity in the soundscape that goes beyond incidental audio effects. The busier and more active the sequence, the more lively and immersive those surrounding channels become. The dialog is clean, so there are no issues there. Front to back a good track if all you’re aiming to gather for this film is this Blu-ray. 

On the bonus features front, we’re getting our typical modern half-hour of extra content. The featurettes are decently produced and work well enough to be better than an average EPK tidbit. The deleted scenes might have helped fill in some gaps; I can only guess they were cut for pacing since they are not exactly “essential.” The alternate post-credit sequence is just…strange, I’ll leave it at that. 

• Return to Southport (HD 9:11)
• Chills, Kills, and Thrills (HD 10:33)
• Outakes & Bloopers (HD 2:44)
• Deleted Scenes (HD 7:59 Total)
• Grant Covers It Up
• Arriving at Southport
• Ray’s Bar
• Alternate Post Credit

Truth be told, I didn’t expect much from 2025’s I Know What You Did Last Summer. That’s mostly because I expected nothing from the previous sequels, and I didn’t spend a lick of time on the television series. The franchise, as it were, was played out after the first film. If there wasn’t room for good sequels back in 1997, nearly three decades weren’t going to change much for a legacy sequel and returning OG characters. Cast and crew did what they could, but I have a hunch a straight remake might have given all involved some more creative latitude to do the familiar while delivering something new. As is, this I Know What You Did Last Summer offers a solid 1080p Blu-ray presentation for fans to enjoy. Extras are pretty slim, but that’s par for the course these days. Unless you’re very curious, my call is Skip It. Or stream it when you feel up to it. A blind by, even for franchise completionists, might be a tall order.