By The town of Southport, North Carolina has moved on from the tragic events of 1997 and has become the Hamptons of the South thanks to a entrepreneurial real estate developer.
In the new version of “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, the past tragedies have been clever omitted from the towns history and most records as the past negativity is bad for business.
Ava (Chase Sui Wonders) returns home to see her friend Danica (Madelyn Cline) before her wedding and gathers with their friends to enjoy the 4th of July fireworks from a favorite vantage point.
With liberal use of alcohol and drugs in play; the group watches a member of the group participate in hijnx which causes an accident.
When their efforts to help fail; the group is convinced that the police will take care of things and they can go to the station to give a report.
When this does not happen and the incident is suppressed in the name of business by the chief developer whose son was responsible for the accident.
The group agree to keep the incident to themselves and when they regroup a year later; tragedy soon follows in the form of a killer who taunts the group with messages and brutal killings of those around them.
As the carnage and danger increases and the town officials unwilling to help; the group seek out the survivors from the original massacre in a desperate attempt to survive.
While the new version follows the formula of a mysterious killer stalking victims, the cast in engaging and it was so nice to see the returning characters from the first film as well as some unexpected cameos.
While the suspense was mainly kept in check; the gore and killings were clever and what fans of the series expect.
While I predicted the identity of the killer before the movie even started; I was engaged throughout and found the movie was a great example of how to update a horror franchise.
Mixing old and new both in cast and premise was effective and for me worked better than the original two sequels and even the underrated series on Prime Video a few years back.
The bonus credit scene hints and more tales to come which should be welcome news to horror fans looking for some horror escapism.
3.5 stars out of 5
