IKWYDLS 2025: Gen Z guilt and gentrification are the real killers in this slasher
In 1997's I Know What You Did Last Summer, four teens committed a hit-and-run crime and hid the evidence, dumping the supposedly dead body in the ocean – only to be stalked by a mysterious fisherman with a sharp hook one year later. It was based on the Lois Duncan YA novel of the same name from the 70s and adapted by Scream scribe Kevin Williamson (before he wrote the script for the iconic 1996 slasher actually – little do people know).
And now we have the "requel" (to use Scream's portmanteau of "remake" and "sequel"). Directed and co-written by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, IKWYDLS 2.0 finds a new generation in Southport, North Carolina dealing with the aftermath of a death that – get this – they didn't really cause. These five friends were just goofing off on the side of the road when a car swerved around them, crashing into the guardrail before eventually falling off a cliff.
And therein lies the first problem with this new movie: there are no real stakes to begin with. None of our characters commit any crime. In fact, they try to rescue the hurt driver before his car teeters off into the ocean rocks below. Unlike the 1997 characters, who knowingly chose to deepen their crime, our 2025 characters are just witnesses to an accident.
While discussing the film on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, journalist Reanna Cruz explains how making these Gen Zers argue and torture themselves over something that's really nothing ends up hurting the story: "This is not 'they choose to do something.' This is 'something happens to them.' And...changing it from a proactive beginning to a reactive beginning really colors the rest of the film."
In other words, these twentysomethings let their guilt override every emotion and take over their logical thinking, leading to unnecessary complications. There is a dubious culpability here that does not drive the plot effectively. Their overreaction is what causes their demise.
And of course, we have to talk about the return of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr., reprising their roles for this requel...but do we really? SPOILERS AHEAD.
Unlike 2022's Scream (yes, we have to compare because there wouldn't be an IKWYDLS without it), the return of JLH's final girl, Julie James, feels forced. Both she and Freddie's Ray Bronson each have an average screen time of ten minutes throughout the entire movie, and they only get to share two scenes, the last one delivering a very divisive twist (we'll get to that in a bit). All of which should tell you how this particular production reeks of desperation, a little too eager to jump on the requel bandwagon after seeing other franchises succeed in doing so (2018's Halloween, the aforementioned Scream, and the recent Final Destination: Bloodlines).
Now, about Ray...
Our final boy, who came to Julie's rescue twice (let's not forget that 1998 sequel), has now aged into a disgruntled townie. He's the divorced owner of a dockside bar that seems to be the only remnant of the old Southport, a former working-class hamlet that our guilt-ridden characters from 1997 aspired to leave in order to pursue their dreams (Helen Shivers, we say your name).
However, in 2025, the town has gotten a shiny upgrade, populated with waterfront McMansions and nicer cars. Southport's been injected with a hefty dose of gentrification. The landscapes look brighter, the ocean bluer – perhaps a result of the movie being shot in Sydney, Australia (another case for those urging productions to remain in California). And our boy Ray, clinging to the past, doesn't like the transformation. He's revealed to be a grumpy Xennial who hates the changes made to his hometown that have erased the past and forgotten the tragedy he and his peers endured. He hates it so much, he ends up being one of the two killers donning the fisherman outfit this time around – shoving that metal hook into those who have seemingly disrespected his town's history.
Sheesh.
That all said, perhaps it's time to put a hook in the requel trend. The original recipe IKWYDLS was a solid B-movie with some grit that had capitalized on the late-90s resurgence of the genre. IKWYDLS 2025, by comparison, comes off as a committee-workshopped attempt to capitalize on a trend that has already overstayed its welcome.
It's the gentrification of the slasher – glossier production design, a cast with a ton of Instagram followers, and an alluring facade with nothing much on the inside.
For more film reviews, follow me on Letterboxd.
Comments