I Know What You Did Last Summer Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

I Know What You Did Last Summer Blu-ray Movie Review

"Nostalgia is overrated." An actual quote from the film that does my work for me.

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown October 22, 2025

Feeling a sudden sense of deja vu? Or perhaps you're just feeling a sudden sense of deja vu? Whatever the case, you're probably feeling a sudden sense of deja vu. Thus goes Hollywood's C-tier requeling of the horror movies of yesteryear. While no one was asking for a reboot/sequel of the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise, which already had (at best) its heyday with a coupla films and (at worst) its chances with a follow-up TV series, here... we... go! The aptly titled I Know What You Did Last Summer (how original) gathers a new cast of manslaughterin' teens and pits them against a new incarnation of The Hook, freshly hellbent on revenge. It also exhumes Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr., limping in from the previous films with more to prove than they have to offer. The result is a paint-by-numbers reboot that barely qualifies as a proper sequel, one with an ending that will leave newcomers and longtime fans howling at the screen and crying foul.

The biggest departure from the original film is that our latest batch of college-aged teenagers and twentysomethings with a secret -- best friends Ava (Chase Sui Wonders) and Danica (Madelyn Cline), Ava's ex-boyfriend Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), Danica's current fiancé Teddy (Tyriq Withers) and recently-out-of-rehab pal Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon) -- are, get ready for this, standing outside of their vehicle, rather than sitting behind the wheel, when they accidentally cause the death of a man on a twisty road along a Southport, North Carolina coastline. Big franchise changes to process, I know. Take your time. Instead of just concocting a barebones story to explain how they were present for the wreck (come on guys, a few simple lies would be super easy in this case), Teddy enlists the help of his politician father (Billy Campbell) to cover up the cause of the driver's death so the inadvertently homicidal young adults can go on their merry (but haunted) way. One. Year. Later... Ava returns for Danica and latest fiancé Wyatt's wedding (that was fast), only to meet a true crime podcaster (Gabbriette Bechtel) who's digging into an old case file from 1997, when another group of five young people were forced to deal with The Hook, a vindictive man in fisherman's gear including, erm, a hook, determined to exact revenge on those who were responsible for the vehicular manslaughter of some not-so-rando walking in the road. Before you can say "coincidence" with the inflection of a question, Ava and company begin to be stalked by their own version of The Hook, a killer who may or not have anything to do with the 1997 case. Dying one by one, the kiddies soon seek the help of two graying survivors from the strikingly similar 1990s incident: college professor Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and bar owner Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr).

The 2025 reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer is a tame, nearly bloodless, certainly gore-less retread of the original not-exactly-classic slasher, which was already little more than a decent midrange '80s throwback in '90s garb. The best horror, though, takes time to create characters that live, breathe and bleed in some semblance of reality. Not actors subject to the suspense of a drawn-out chase, but seemingly real men and women we can believe in, root for, put ourselves in the shoes of, and, most of all, relate to. The five catalogue models we get instead are thin caricatures of real people, with little in the way of traits that might make them distinguishable from one another. The closest we get to a much-needed horror protagonist is Ava, who's so clearly foreshadowed as the final girl that it hardly counts. (Like the original film, "final" status means next to nothing so don't worry about that being a spoiler.) Hewitt and Prinze have more to chew on thankfully, though neither one gets the screentime or, frankly, screenplay to do much about any of it... beyond the aforementioned ending which is just... hm. Bad? Silly? No, stupid.

The kills -- which, come on, is what fans are here for -- aren't remotely entertaining or inventive either. Truth be told, they're the stuff of PG-13 '90s horror, if I'm being kind, despite the fact that the new I Know What You Did Last Summer boasts an R rating. Not that it matters. The dialogue is so rough, with some truly terrible bits of delivery (from the young male members of the cast in particular), that you're more likely to find yourself rooting for the deaths of all the teens-n-twenties, plus a few more from the kids' graduating class you'll meet along the way. And good God was I ready for The Hook to silence the film's true crime podcaster. There's still some fun to be had, mind you, and I Know What You Did Last Summer isn't among the worst horror movies I've seen this year. Just among the most tiresome, with a sense of genre obligation that results in pacing akin to a would-be murder victim with a bum leg trying to limp away from their killer. (In this scenario, the box office.) If there's a saving grace it's that the new take on Last Summer wants to go in some new directions, although the ending, which manages to still ludicrously point to another version of The Hook -- how many murderers does suburban North Carolina churn out each year? -- still has the gall to set the stage for a sequel we'll probably never see. Well, until another thirty years from now when the powers that be try to revitalize the franchise for the next generation.

I Know What You Did Last Summer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

I Know What You Did Last Summer is a visually darker and at-times frustratingly drearier version of the original film, although there aren't many complaints to leverage against the resulting 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer. While shadows are thick and night is heavy, colors still manage to pop (particularly reds, which are nice and vivid against the already inky black levels), skintones are carefully saturated and lifelike, and delineation, while unforgiving, is presumably as oppressive as intended. Contrast is strong as well, as is detail, which flourishes the most in bright, sunlit scenes but also impresses in the dark. Edges are murder-weapon sharp, without anything in the way of ringing or halos, and fine textures are perfectly well-resolved and flattering. There is a bit of crush here and there to contend with, but nothing significant. Likewise, banding and blocking aren't at play, at least not at a level that will be spotted by 99% of viewers.

I Know What You Did Last Summer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sony's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track gets its murder on with suitably aggressive sonics that make every engine roar, hook slash, knife jab and heavy, homicidal thunk land with satisfying weight. LFE output is well supported and consistently weighty, while the rear speakers do a fine job of creating immersive environments for The Hook's victims to race through as they stumble, hide and gasp their way towards their last breath. Directionality is precise and ambience is convincing too, and dynamics are spot on, making for a soundfield that's far more exciting than the horror movie it accompanies. Dialogue, meanwhile, remains clear, intelligible and neatly centered throughout, and there's little here in the way of front-heavy sequences or disappointing moments that don't take advantage of all six channels.

I Know What You Did Last Summer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Return to Southport (HD, 9 minutes) - A sequel... no, reboot... no, requel! A requel is born in this short featurette about the return to the original film's stomping grounds.

• Chills, Kills and Thrills (HD, 11 minutes) - Stomping grounds the new filmmakers are eager to splash and spatter with, um, chills, kills and thrills, as are unpacked in this secondary EPK.

• Outtakes & Bloopers (HD, 3 minutes) - A standard collection of flubs, miscues and crack-ups.

• Deleted Scenes (HD, 8 minutes) - Four short deleted and extended scenes are included: "Grant Covers It Up," "Arriving at Southport," "Ray's Bar" and "Alternate Post Credit Scene."

• Sony Previews (HD)

I Know What You Did Last Summer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The latest installment of the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise hardly reinvents the genre, but I suppose it's a semi-decent entry, all things considered. It stumbles more often than it hits its stride, and brace yourself for a wacky, nonsensical ending, but there's enough here for those with low bars to enjoy. Sony's Blu-ray release is better, thanks to excellent audio and video presentations, although the disc's supplemental package leaves a lot to be desired.