The new 2025 legacy sequel marks the fourth feature-length installment in the long-running horror franchiseI Know What You Did Last Summer. It all started with the 1973 young adult novel of the same name by Lois Duncan, which was more of a mystery thriller.
When it was adapted by screenwriter Kevin Williamson, he made it into a full-on slasher movie. When Williamson’s later slasher scriptScreamwas made and the film became a smash hit in 1996, his earlier script went into production more or less immediately, and the movieI Know What You Did Last Summerpremiered just 10 months later.
This ishow the first post-Screamslasher franchise was born(it would quickly be joined by the likes ofUrban LegendandFinal Destination).
Although the series has been dormant on the big screen for some time, the arrival of the legacy sequel, which features the return of members of the originalI Know What You Did Last Summercast, is a strong reminder of the legacy of the franchise and thatnot every installment is equal in quality.
It is a widely held opinion that the 2006 direct-to-DVD sequelI’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summeris the worst of thehorror franchise. Even though all the movies have splats on the review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes,it is the only installment to have a score of 0%, meaning not one critic gave it a positive review.
Audiences did not give it a much better score, asI’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summeronly has 20% on the Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter. This is also the worst of the franchise, falling below the score of the 1998 sequelI Still Know What You Did Last Summerby 9%.
Below, see a breakdown of the Rotten Tomatoes scores for all four movies in the franchise:
46%
47%
10%
29%
0%
20%
38%
68%
There are many different reasons whyI’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summeris considered the worst. One is that it is more or less a reboot.The largely standalone sequel follows a new group of teens in a new location(Broken Ridge, Colorado) being stalked and killed a year after covering up a new fatal accident.
While following the same story structure as the original movie is not uncommon for a horror sequel (and in fact is a trope that was also deployed in the 2025 movie),its limited budget and mostly unknown cast prevent it from sparklingin the same way that the original did.
Additionally,the one element of the story that features a legacy character makes no sensein the context of the franchise. The fisherman killer Ben Willis, who died inI Still Know What You Did Last Summer, is revealed to be the killer in the movie, having returned from the dead to apparently continue to enact revenge for summer-related deaths.
This is perplexing in a variety of ways. In addition to the fact thatno other installments of the franchise have supernatural elements, Ben Willis (who is played by Don Shanks rather than original performer Muse Watson) has no particular reason to care about the death in question and his fisherman outfit makes much less sense in the Colorado setting.
This1990s horror sequel, which came out just 13 months after the original, hasmany strange elements that reflect how quickly it was rushed into production. This includes the fact that one of the survivors, Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.) is barely in the movie, only reuniting with his love interest Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) at the beginning and end.
However,the biggest problem with the movie is its sloppy script. It relies on too many contrivances, especially when it comes to the ploy that gets Julie and her college friends to an island in The Bahamas in order to be stalked and killed at a near-empty hotel during storm season.
The ploy to get Julie to the island involves her winning a radio contest by saying that the capital of Brazil is Rio de Janeiro when the correct answer is actually Brasília, which is a fact that is treated as a reveal later in the movie.
While this off-kilter approach to storytellingstrikes some audience members and critics as campy and fun, they are in the minority, as shown by the movie’s dismal 20% Tomatometer score and 29% Popcornmeter score.
However,there are elements of this first sequel that make it considerably strongerthanI’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer. Those include the movie’s budget, which allows it to have an interesting and well-designed setting.
Also, in addition to the roster of returning cast members (which includes Muse Watson alongside Hewitt and Prinze Jr.), the new stars that have been added, which includeBrandy Norwood, Mekhi Phifer, and cult film favorite Jeffrey Combs, have solid screen presence alongside them.
As shown by its Popcornmeter score (which is the only Fresh score of all four films, from either critics or audiences),2025’sI Know What You Did Last Summeris something of a shot in the arm for the franchise, thoughit does not elevate the series beyond its longtime limitations.
For instance,the screenplay can be a little shaky, shifting haphazardly between solid comic relief (especially when it comes to references to previous installments) and clunky exposition. Additionally, while the fisherman’s kills are the goriest they have ever been, they are not particularly creative, with only a few exceptions.
However, the new movie avoids the major pitfall that sankI’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summerby honoring the legacy of Ben Willis' murder spree butstill making the story a proper whodunit, filled with red herrings and mystery-solving, just like the original movie.
It also one-upsI’ll Always Knowby assembling a much more well-known cast that includesThe Studio’s Chase Sui Wonders,The Little Mermaid’s Jonah Hauer-King, andOuter Banks' Madelyn Cline. While they generally do not gel quite as well as the cast of the 1997 original, the movie carries on a franchise tradition of jam-packing the ensemble with intriguing up-and-comers.
1997’sI Know What You Did Last Summer, like many original installments in various franchises, remains the best of the bunch. While it could be argued that the legacy sequel is better (as evidenced by the fact that the 2025 movie has the best Popcornmeter score of the franchise),that movie wouldn’t exist without the solid groundwork laid out here.
The movie’s ability to connect with audiences is shown by the fact thatit is so far the only installment in the franchise to have become a smash hit. WhileI Still Knowdidn’t even double its reported $24 million budget,I Know What You Did Last Summerearned back its reported $17 million budget more than seven times over.
While it remains to be seen how high the new movie can climb by the end of its ongoing theatrical run, the legacy sequel is projected to have the worst opening weekend of the franchise, so it likely won’t hit the same heights. Below, seea breakdown of the box office performance of all four movies:
$17 million
$15.8 million
$125.2 million
$24 million
$16.5 million
$40 million
unknown
$18 million
$13-$14 million (est.)
TBD
In addition to boasting the most vibrant ensemble cast of the franchise (Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe star alongside Hewitt and Prinze Jr.),I Know What You Did Last Summerhas some of its best scenes, most notably an extended chase sequence that follows Gellar’s Helen Shivers from a stopped police cruiser through her family’s department store.
