The horror genre has been rehashing old ideas for decades. Halloween killer Michael Myers terrorized his victims across 12 movies from 1978 to 2022. The seventh installment of the 1996 slasher movie Scream is currently in production with original star Neve Campbell set to reprise her role as Sidney Prescott. And now, the 1997 film I Know What You Did Last Summer is getting in on the legacy sequel action with a third movie in the works.
Spoiler warning for the events of the first two I Know What You Did Last Summer movies.
It’s easy to see why Hollywood execs would sign off on these projects. Repackaging old, successful ideas means instant access to an existing audience who will, even though they are slightly skeptical, check out the new movies because familiar stuff makes everyone feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Basically, nostalgia sells and it’s an easy way to make a quick buck. But do we really need them since the originals are so easy to find thanks to existence of streaming platforms?
Objectively speaking, that would depend on whether or not the story can be expanded upon. In Halloween, Meyers’ various deaths were never confirmed, which allowed him to return multiple times. Scream works a little differently since the identity of the Ghostface killer changes with each movie. But the essence of the big bad remains the same because the spooky gimmick (the phones, the voice changer, the costume, the knives) stays constant.
I Know What You Did Last Summer also has the creative leeway for a legacy sequel to work. The original story follows four teenagers, Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.), Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), and Barry Cox (Ryan Phillippe), who accidentally hit a man with their car on their way home from a Fourth of July celebration. The teens, having just finished high school with big dreams for the future, panic, pronounce him dead, and decide to dump the body in the ocean.
Somewhere in the chaos, the man regains consciousness, which means the initial accident suddenly turns into an intentional drowning, and the teens swear to never speak of that night again. A year later, the once close-knit group has drifted apart, with Julie in particular haunted by the events of that summer. The nightmare continues when Julie returns home from college and receives an ominous message that simply says, “I know what you did last summer.”
It quickly becomes clear that someone knows about their dark secret, which prompts Julie to reluctantly reconnect with Helen, Barry, and Ray. They are eventually hunted one by one by a figure in a fisherman’s slicker wielding a hook. The killer seems to know every detail about what happened that fateful night, and as the bodies start piling up, Julie and her friends race to figure out who is behind the attacks before it’s too late.
Julie and Ray manage to survive when the killer is thrown off his fishing boat into the ocean. Helen and Barry were killed just as the film’s final act began. In the sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Julie and a new group of friends are hunted by Ben Willis, the original movie’s killer, and his son Will. Fortunately, Ray shows up just in time to save the day. When Ben tries to stab him, he accidentally kills his own son. The distraction gives Julie time to pick up a gun and shoot him.
Both killers appear very dead at the end of the movie, which would make a resurrection difficult to pull off. However, in a flash-forward, Julie and Ray are seen living a happy life until she sees Ben’s reflection in a mirror and is dragged away. That ending could be interpreted in many ways. If one wanted to end the story, it could be written off as a dream. It could also be another member of the Willis family out for revenge. Since Hewitt and Prince are returning for the legacy sequel, it will probably be the latter.
Like Halloween and Scream, the story will likely take place decades after the 1997 film, with Julie and Ray living happily with their kids. Happiness is not a prerequisite for being hunted again, but it does make it all the more entertaining, especially if Ben had a grandkid or two. They would be the same age as Julie and Ray’s children (if they had any) and would allow the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise to go on for several more years.
Learn more about the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel here.
