The original 1997 film I Know What You Did Last Summer (IKWYDLS) is one of those cheesy, cult slasher films that does not particularly shoot for the stars. Though by no means an amazing film, it still knows what it is and does not bite off more than it can chew. It exercises guilt as a retributive force that seeks its cast out, but that is pretty much the extent of it on a subtextual level. Largely a by-the-books slasher, the film still has a cult following, though I doubt any of them thought the film needed a sequel. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer was a poor attempt at doing so and it only seeked to replicate the original in an unimaginative way, rinsing the originals popularity. This brings us to almost 30 years later where we now have a requel (reboot sequel), simply retitled I Know What You Did Last Summer. The film is an attempt at bringing the story of the original into the modern day, whilst trying to carry on as a sequel for some of its legacy characters. Unfortunately, the film topples with its rough writing, terrible dialogue and refusing to expand on the original to instead retread a simple story we have all seen before.

IKWYDLS follows a group of friends that are getting together in the town of Southport for a couple amongst them’s engagement party. Ava (Chase Sui Wonders) has traveled home to Southport for her friend Danica (Madelyn Cline), who is to be engaged to Teddy (Tyriq Withers). Also there is Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), Ava’s ex-boyfriend and best friend of Teddy. The four reuinite with each other and, whilst they are having drinks, notice an old friend from school called Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon). They invite her to come up the hill near them to see the fireworks and she begrudgingly agrees. On the drive to the hill, Teddy scares Danica into stopping the car which then prompts them all to get out the car and look at the fireworks. However, Teddy’s fooling around on the road, playing chicken with cars, leads a car to swerve and fall off the side of the cliff. The five are sworn to secrecy as Teddy’s rich and influential father covers it up. The next summer sees the group drifted apart but a party for Danica comes bearing cards and gifts. One card she opens says those frightful words ‘I know what you did last summer’ and so the threats begin. The fisherman killer is back, preying on a new guilty group and so they must figure out who the killer is and try to survive.

One trend across legacy sequels and requels is the constnant need to call back to the original films they are based on. Strangely, considering the original is more of a cult classic, IKWYDLS does this and it is incredibly egregious and groan-worthy whenever it does happen. As the trailers show, Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and Julie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) from the first film are present in this one a fair amount. Their stories do not match up with the central narrative other than that they have experienced it before and for this kind of film, that does not work. This series, although often stupid and over-the-top, is pretty set in reality so it is not like there is some elaborate ritual or any sort of reason for these two to be in the film to help the new blood stop it. When Freddie Prinze Jr. steps in, it definitely feels like the film pauses for a second, with that naval gazing shot, to make the audience point at the screen and say ‘it’s the guy from the first film!’ This trend is rife in films made today and for some reason, studios keep doing it. What is even stupider is one scene in this that takes it to the next level. A dream sequence is done for absolutely no reason other than to be able to put one of the dead characters from the first film in this one, so once again the audience can point and gasp. It is mind-numbingly stupid watching this happen to every franchise and it really is a mystery who this sort of thing is even made for.

It does not help that amongst this ridiculousness, the screenplay is complete drivel. None of the dialogue sounds natural at all and considering there is not a great deal of action, that makes it painfully dull to get through. All the weird, snarky jokes the characters make, any of their reactions to things once they are safe, it does not feel natural at all. The original had this to a degree, but it was done with a more obvious feel of self-awareness that this film just completely lacks. It is over-the-top but it does not lean into that enough in its dialogue or outright comedy to strike that proper balance of satire horror. The original was always inferior to the way that Scream does it, but this is now truly bottom of the pile. What’s worse is the narrative writing ranges from lacklustre retreads to genuinely not even making sense. It’s the kind of film that you can hear the writing room and all the whispers of ‘well what if that happened next?’ and everybody chuckles in agreement. Things just happen and we as the audience just have to accept it and try to pick up the pieces of a fractured story. There are twists that make no sense that cannot possibly have been planned from the start. Simply, there are points where clearly they just needed one more thing to string it out more and it gets exhausting. When it comes to the legacy character’s stories, this is makes this case more evident as it feels like they thought they needed a small plot at the end to follow on from the originals. It does not work, not even a little bit, and the constant twisting and turning throws you around and makes the whole thing a drag.

The thing this film does have going for it is the main cast. Considering their bad dialogue, they somehow manage to put in decent performances throughout that are perfectly akin to that of the original’s style. They are cheesy performances, but that really meets the memo of what this kind of film is. The dialogue cannot keep up with their energy, making it dull in comparison. Chemistry between a cast of this kind is a big thing and it does manage to convince us that these people are actually friends. Madelyn Cline, for example, has a lot of awkward lines, but her delivery of some of them works and she pulls off that classic ditsy girl that you typically see in a slasher. Obviously not all the lines can be salvaged, and they definitely aren’t, but it is good to see the cast still giving it a good go and showing they care.

IKWYDLS is not a good film and it does not have much going for it. Consistently trying to surprise you and yet onyl making you annoyed, it trips and falls over its own writing and the whole ordeal just feels like a massive mess. There are no good kills, no memorable horror set piece moments; it feels like a by-the-books slasher in a derogatory way rather than having the charm the original did. The cast do their best to hold the film together, but with a film this jumbled with awful callbacks, terrible twists and unsatisfactory horror, there really is not much to salvage from this.