‘I What You Did Last Summer' Reviews: Is Slasher Reboot A Cut Above Original?

Forbes

6 days ago

Chase Sui Wonders in "I Know What You Did Last Summer."
I Know What You Did Last Summer — a reboot of the 1997 hit slasher classic starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt — is new in theaters. How are Rotten Tomatoes critics reacting to the film?
Rated R, I Know What You Did Last Summer opens Friday in theaters nationwide. The official summary for the film reads, "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.'
Prinze and Hewitt reprise their roles of Ray and Julie from the original I Know What You Did Last Summer, while Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers and Sarah Pidgeon play the friends in the group who try to cover up the deadly accident.
Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, I Know What You Did Last Summer also stars Billy Campbell, Gabbriette Bechtel and Austin Nichols.
As of Friday, Rotten Tomatoes critics have given I Know What You Did Last Summer a 39% 'rotten' rating based on 109 reviews. The RT Critics Consensus for the film reads, 'Faithfully harkening back to the original for better or worse, this I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot serves up plenty of nostalgia without finding a compelling hook of its own.'
I Know What You Did Last Summer earned a 68% 'fresh' score on RT's Popcornmeter based on 100-plus verified user ratings. The RT audience summary for the film is still pending.
What Are Individual Critics Saying About 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'?
Beatrice Loayza of The New York Times is among the top critics on RT who gives I Know What You Did Last Summer a 'rotten' review, writing, 'If only these intriguing elements were attached to a more exciting film: We may live among our ghosts, but it's only fun if they're actually scaring us.'
Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter also gives I Know What You Did Last Summer a 'rotten' rating on RT, writing in his review summary, 'Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson and her co-screenwriter Sam Lansky display clear affection for the franchise... But they haven't succeeded in breathing new life into a tired franchise that, creatively speaking, should have remained dead.'
The film also earned a 'rotten' rating from Owen Gleiberman of Variety, who writes on RT, 'If nothing else, I Know What You Did Last Summer delivers on the nostalgic promise of its title, but that's a qualified compliment. The film should have been called I Know What You Saw at the Megaplex Last Century, and You're Still Seeing It.'
On the positive side, Alison Foreman of IndieWire uses the film's gives a nod to the film's fishing industry setting in her 'fresh' review summary on RT, writing, 'Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson made the catch of the season with this lean, mean serial killer flick.'
William Bibbiani of The Wrap also gives the film a 'fresh' rating on RT — albeit with some reservations — writing, 'Logic, be damned! And begone! Everything about the new I Know What You Did Last Summer strains credulity until credulity breaks open and spills fake blood and candy everywhere. And that's for the best.'
Benjamin Lee of the UK's Guardian also gives the film a 'fresh' rating on RT, writing, 'It's possible that this will live on mostly as a pop culture curio. But at a time of nostalgia overload, [Jennifer Kaytin] Robinson finds a way to make her attempt not exactly necessary but unpretentiously pleasurable enough for that not to really matter.'
I Know What You Did Last Summer opens in theaters nationwide on Friday.