The Only Recap You Need Before I Know What You Did Last Summer

Once again, a group of teenagers will hit and (seemingly) kill a stranger who comes back to haunt them in yet another installment of the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" franchise. The upcoming slasher flick has a largely new cast, but familiar faces Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. return to play Julie James and Ray Bronson, respectively. It's a good idea to brush up on where we last left them, so Looper has made a handy refresher video you can watch above to walk you through the franchise up to this point.

In 1997's "I Know What You Did Last Summer," a group of teens hit a stranger with their car and dispose of the body without telling anyone. One year later, the kids get picked off one by one by a mysterious figure with a hook for a hand. While the film was a box office hit, earning more than $125 million worldwide, it wasn't exactly received well by critics. Rotten Tomatoes currently has the original film at a 49% positive rating from critics and 41% from audiences.

A sequel came out in 1998, called  "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer," and promptly tanked, while a third film, 2006's "I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer," followed wholly new characters but went straight to home video. Amazon Prime Video also released one season of a "I Know What You Did Last Summer" TV series in 2021 before it was canceled due to poor reviews and ratings.

One could argue the original "I Know What You Did Last Summer" is one of the most overrated horror movies of the '90s, especially considering that none of the installments have done that well critically. It remains to be seen if 2025's version can break the curse, but bad reviews might be the equivalent of a rusty hook looming in the shadows of this horror franchise — something it can never escape.

Not helping matters is that this legacy sequel sounds like more of the same. It'll involve a new group of friends who accidentally kill someone in a car accident only to discover someone taunting them a year later. Fortunately, they'll have some assistance: since the incident mirrors what happened back in 1997, they track down survivors Julie and Ray to see if they can help.

There are no box office projections yet for "I Know What You Did Last Summer," but legacy sequels can be good business. For example, 2022's "Scream," also a legacy sequel to a popular '90s slasher film, grossed $138 million against a reported $24 million budget. When "Scream VI" came out a year later, it had the biggest opening weekend in the franchise's history with $34.7 million. Assuming the new "I Know What You Did Last Summer" has a relatively low budget, it won't take much to turn a profit and bring the franchise back to life. In the meantime, check out our recap video above before "I Know What You Did Last Summer" comes out in theaters on July 18.