In recent years, there has been a noticeable splash of legacy sequels and reboots, some good and some less so, but all of them providing us with ideas of what works for this specific format. The most recent installment in this particular horror bunch is the new I Know What You Did Last Summer, directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, which offers its own methods of dealing with an established franchise — some common, some controversial. While the movie suffers from many issues, from dubious screenwriting choices and twists to rhythmic and tonal inconsistencies, there is one thing this reboot definitely gets right, by making the main characters slightly older than classic teens. Having teenagers as unlucky protagonists used to be a staple for slashers in both their traditional form, like in Halloween, and their meta-ironic revisions, such as Scream. The canon started shifting in the late aughts with such films as Vacancy (2007) and The Strangers (2008), which offered many familiar elements of the slice-and-dice subgenre, including masked assailants, but with adults as potential victims. Robinson’s reboot decides to go a similar way, and by doing so, aims for more nuance and reliability.
This Legacy Horror Does Try to Have a Stab at Something Different from the Original
The new I Know What You Did Last Summer follows the outline of the original film, written by Kevin Williamson, very closely: same town, same holiday, a group of characters with a similar dynamic in all but one aspect — their age. Obviously, having adults as central characters allows the broader audiences to relate to their more universal struggles, but also, more crucially, it allows the filmmakers to focus on more nuanced motives and themes within the genre. In both Vacancy and The Strangers, having 30-something couples in crisis as protagonists is essential in getting across the message of the importance of appreciating life and meaningful connections while it’s still possible. In the case of I Know What You Did Last Summer, this move gives the authors a chance to add the class divide and the resentment that comes with it to the pool of conflicts — something that the original only briefly acknowledged.
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In the 1997 film, it’s merely a passing remark that Ray, played by Freddie Prinze Jr. then and in the 2025 sequel, is not as well-off as his friends. In the new film, the odd woman out is Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon), who had a falling out with the core group of friends after her family’s financial situation changed, which becomes an important point in the story, while Ray’s apparent inability to move on from his original circumstances and fully fit in hints at additional reasoning for some of the choices the authors have in store for him. Resurrecting long-running, unresolved grudges amid potential bloodshed worked well in another film starring Chase Sui Wonders, who plays Ava, the protagonist of the new IKWYDLS — Halina Rejn‘s deconstruction of slasher tropes, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. In Robinson’s movie, although not fully developed, such grudges still manage to set an effective scene for the rest of the story.
Having Grownup Characters in Horror Has the Power to Cut Deep — In More Ways Than One
Having adults with more life experience under their belts as horror protagonists also makes them more relatable since they are more acutely aware of the faults of the system that’s designed to protect, but ultimately fails them. That rarely happens in classic slashers, where teen characters tend to exist in their own bubble and usually don’t ask for help until it’s too late. The effect of an artificial bubble is often further emphasized in those films by the fact that the young characters seem to exist apart from their parents, who are almost always conveniently away, out of town or are otherwise unavailable. In the 2025 I Know What You Did Last Summer, the main characters are already more integrated into the world around them, so it does hit harder that their consistent pleas for help are purposefully ignored.
Another important shift that comes with the aging of the characters in horror is the depiction of sex in it. Classic slashers that centered around teens often adapted their attitude towards sexual encounters — those often being excessive, graphic, and not entirely meaningful in terms of storytelling. Contemporary horrors that focus on adults tend to approach sex differently, making it a part of the conflict or another indication of trauma. For instance, in the X trilogy, sex becomes a form of self-expression, and most of the horrors shown in these three films are born as a result of its repression. This is something the new I Know What You Did Last Summer succeeds in, too, not aiming for excess, but instead, emphasizing the guilt Ava is driven by in the scene of her failed reunion with Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), which he stops after she asks him to “punish” her.
While several genres known for the exploration of human relationships, including rom-coms, have been struggling lately, modern horror unexpectedly moved to the forefront of this field. Having adult protagonists not only allows the genre to create more opportunities for scary scenarios that would somehow resonate with the audience, but also depict human stories that could potentially cut deep. The original runs of long-standing horror franchises, like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, held on to their teen heroes as long as they could, going for more complex killing scenes instead, but nowadays, it’s time for more complex interpersonal dynamics. In the end, having somewhat mature characters and nuanced connections in horror stories ironically creates an affirmative message: don’t torture yourself or each other, because those wishing to do so, carrying hooks, harpoons, or machetes, might already be on their way.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
- Release Date
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July 18, 2025
- Runtime
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100 minutes
- Director
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Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
- Writers
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Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Sam Lansky
- Producers
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Neal H. Moritz
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Madelyn Cline
Danica Richards
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Chase Sui Wonders
Ava Brucks