Filmmakers of the new I Know What You Did Last Summer are spinning this movie into a whodunnit, bringing the spirit of the original film back into the fold. The problem is, people don’t know if it’s a sequel, a requel or a remake. There is no number after the title, however legacy stars Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. reprise their roles from the original. The term “legacy sequel” has been thrown around.
When you read the plot synopsis it’s pretty much the same story with the same character troupes as the first. Furthermore I Know What You Did Last Summer is loosely based on a book of literally the same name written by Lois Duncan in 1973.
Aside from the confusion of the space/time continuum in this universe, Sony released a trailer for the film, and again were confused, but entertained.
Plot synopsis: “When five friends inadvertently cause a deadly car accident, they cover up their involvement and make a pact to keep it a secret rather than face the consequences. A year later, their past comes back to haunt them and they’re forced to confront a horrifying truth: someone knows what they did last summer…and is hell-bent on revenge. As one by one the friends are stalked by a killer, they discover this has happened before, and they turn to two survivors of the legendary Southport Massacre of 1997 for help.”
This franchise has been around cinematically since 1997. We haven’t had a straight sequel since 2006; a fresh, but unpopular adaptation of Duncan’s book was released on Amazon Video in 2021.
Another elusive franchise film got a sequel this year after a long pause: Final Destination: Bloodlines. It was well-received by fans and continues to be a box office draw.
Can I Know What You Did Last Summer capture that same magic, or will it get hooked off stage as a routine cash grab? We’ll see.
