The 1997 original – followed by the forgettable 1998 sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and the 2006 out-of-canon TV movie I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer – actually had something to say. At the height of their fame, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jennifer Love Hewitt anchored a clever premise that played smart with slasher tropes in a way that was genuinely entertaining, which is why the film still has a cult pull today. This new chapter doesn’t inherit that spark.
In the 2025 movie, we meet five millennial friends celebrating the Fourth of July together, whose late-night car ride ends in tragedy – 27 years after the second film’s Tower Bay murders. The inciting accident barely tracks: parked on a cliff road, Teddy (Tyriq Withers) clowns around, causing a car crash. It’s hardly the group’s fault, yet they chose to run instead of calling the police. That early script nonsense never stops.
The central characters are thinly written. Only Madelyn Cline’s Danica and Chase Sui Wonders’s Ava show a hint of personality, though they lack the heft of the franchise’s original duo, Gellar’s Helen Shivers and Hewitt’s Julie James. The rest of the class of 2025 are interchangeable; the supporting characters, expendable. In a strange way, Hewitt’s return as Julie and Freddie Prinze Jr. reprising his role as Ray Bronson are the only characters who work, largely for nostalgic reasons – until the very end, when they don’t. Julie is teed up as a wise mentor for Danica and Ava; Ray seems to develop an interesting dynamic with the newbies. Both threads collapse.
The mystery – and reveal of the killers – capsizes the film completely. Sarah Pidgeon’s Stevie is a flat, motive-lite villain – one church photo is not a backstory. Worse, Ray’s late-game questionable behavior makes little sense, contradicts the earlier films, and torpedoes the Julie-and-Ray love-and-survival core.
The only standout moment comes in those post-credits scenes, when Julie reunites with her college roommate Brandy from the second movie, and the pair decides to go after their stalker. Sequel bait? Possibly. If so, let’s hope it actually has something to say.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) is neither faithful to the spirit of the original nor exciting as a nostalgic throwback. It will vanish from memory fast.
Should public libraries add this teen slasher film to their collections?
Yes, but with caveats. While I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) lacks the charm and originality of the 1997 classic, it still belongs in library collections that aim to keep their horror shelves current and comprehensive. Teen slashers are a popular subgenre with enduring appeal, and even weaker entries attract viewers curious to see how franchises evolve over time. Patrons interested in horror history, nostalgia-driven reboots, or comparing remakes to their predecessors will appreciate having access to this title. It may not be a standout, but it serves as a conversation point about horror trends and how studios handle legacy properties.
Is this teen slasher a good fit for campus screenings?
Yes—for the right setting. While the film struggles with thin characters and a messy script, those flaws make it a strong candidate for discussion-based screenings in film clubs or media studies classes. Students could debate how slashers use (or misuse) tropes, the role of nostalgia in reviving franchises, and whether horror reboots succeed in capturing new audiences. For campus audiences, the mix of returning cast members and Gen Z leads could generate interesting dialogue about intergenerational horror fandom. For casual film-club nights, the movie works as a “popcorn slasher” that pairs well with the original for a double-feature event.
Enjoyed this review? Subscribe to Video Librarian today for access to over 40,000 pages of film resources tailored for librarians, educators, and non-theatrical audiences.