The 2025 I Know What You Did Last Summer Reboot Disrespects Its Legacy

I Know What You Did Last Summer 2025: A Gen Z Slasher That Misses the Point

Let’s get one thing straight: I wanted to like this movie. I really did. A new I Know What You Did Last Summer? With a modern twist, Gen Z angst, and updated kills? Sounds like a bloody good time. But what we got instead in the 2025 reboot is a tone-deaf mess that disrespects everything fans loved about the original — and worse, it doesn’t even try to hide it.

Remember that quiet little horror boom in the late '90s when Scream burst through the grave and revived the slasher genre? Yeah, that moment. It was slick, self-aware, and genuinely scary. I Know What You Did Last Summer rode that wave in 1997, with the same writer (Kevin Williamson), a dream teen cast (Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar), and a story that had just enough mystery and dread to get under your skin.

But now? In 2025? It’s like someone at the studio said, “Hey, what if we took a classic slasher, stripped it of all charm, threw in some TikTok trends, and made sure no one cared about the characters?”

🎣 A Hook with No Bite

The basic setup hasn’t changed: A group of young, beautiful, reckless idiots kill someone by accident and cover it up, only to be hunted down a year later by a mysterious killer. But this time, the killer isn’t the only thing trying to murder your will to live — the dialogue, the plot, and the characters all take turns.

Instead of rooting for anyone, you’re just... waiting for them to die. And when they do? Meh. Zero impact. You’ll barely remember who they were or why you should care.

In the 2025 version, they tried to throw in some modern edge — social issues, trauma responses, gender identity — but it all comes across like a BuzzFeed article turned into a slasher screenplay. You can practically feel the algorithm in the room where this thing was written.

🧠 Written with Zero Self-Awareness

The movie was written and directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, who also wrote Thor: Love and Thunder. If that gives you pause — it should. The same chaotic, joke-before-story energy is here too, and it’s ten times worse in a horror setting.

The movie opens with an excruciatingly long, 20-minute party scene filled with flat Gen Z clichés: drugs, weird vibes, disposable dialogue. After a poorly shot accident, the group panics and covers it up with the help of — get this — a rich dad. Original, huh?

A year later, someone starts picking them off. And from there, it just gets dumber. The script tries so hard to be “meta” and “woke,” but it has the subtlety of a sledgehammer and the soul of a stock photo.

💔 Characters Without a Pulse

Calling these characters one-dimensional would be generous. They’re emotionally hollow, wildly inconsistent, and honestly, annoying. You won’t root for them — you’ll root against them just to speed things up.

Even the movie’s “final girl” (if you can call her that) is barely tolerable. She’s written as bisexual, kinky, and completely unrelatable — not because of who she is, but because of how lazily her character is drawn. It’s like someone wrote “chaotic bisexual trauma survivor” on a Post-It and built a character around it with no follow-through.

You don’t empower audiences with characters like this — you alienate them.

⚠️ A Slasher That Hates Slashers

One of the worst things about this reboot is that it doesn’t seem to like the genre it’s in. It mocks the tropes instead of subverting them. It has disdain for the simplicity and fun of the original. It’s the kind of film that wants to be “elevated horror” without understanding what makes horror work in the first place.

Even the kills, which should be the fun part, are dull. The tension is non-existent, the blood is minimal, and the suspense is replaced with clunky dialogue and weird pacing. It’s all so... beige.

🧟‍♀️ Dead on Arrival

By the time the final scene rolls around — and yes, there's a painfully dumb twist — you’re just relieved it’s over. It doesn’t matter who lives or dies. There’s no sense of catharsis, no horror high, no thrill. Just disappointment and a weird craving to rewatch the original.

Land of Geek Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1 out of 5)

We don't hand out low scores lightly, but I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) earned this one fair and square. This reboot is a soulless slog that seems more interested in chasing trends than telling a decent story. It's not scary, not clever, and definitely not worth your time unless you're collecting cinematic trainwrecks.

✅ Pros

• Cool name recognition – The title still carries nostalgic weight for ‘90s horror fans.
• Visually polished – Some cinematography and color grading choices give the film a slick modern look.
• Good intention (maybe?) – There’s an attempt at diversity and tackling modern themes, even if it falls flat.

❌ Cons

• Flat, forgettable characters – Zero emotional connection and no reason to care who lives or dies.
• Laughable script – Dialogue and decisions feel ripped from a bad teen drama.
• No tension, no payoff – Slasher fans will find the kills boring and the scares non-existent.
• Feels like a cash grab – No love for the genre, the original, or the fans.
• Fails at modern relevance – Tries too hard to be Gen Z-friendly but ends up as cringe-bait.

The 2025 reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer isn’t just bad — it’s insulting. It’s an empty cash grab built on nostalgia and trending hashtags. Instead of honoring what made the original memorable, it stomps all over it with zero grace and a hook that’s been dulled by bad writing.

If this was your introduction to the franchise, please, please go watch the 1997 version. It's far from perfect, but at least it respected its genre — and its audience.

Keep your horror standards sharp and your slashers smarter with more unfiltered movie reviews at Land of Geek Magazine!

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