All 4 I Know What You Did Final Summer season Films, Ranked Worst To Finest

The brand new 2025 legacy sequel marks the fourth feature-length installment within the long-running horror franchise I Know What You Did Final Summer season. It began with the 1973 younger grownup novel of the identical identify by Lois Duncan, which was extra of a thriller thriller.

When it was tailored by screenwriter Kevin Williamson, he made it right into a full-on slasher film. When Williamson’s later slasher script Scream was made and the movie grew to become a smash hit in 1996, his earlier script went into manufacturing kind of instantly, and the film I Know What You Did Final Summer season premiered simply 10 months later.

That is how the primary post-Scream slasher franchise was born (it could shortly be joined by the likes of City Legend and Remaining Vacation spot).

Though the sequence has been dormant on the large display screen for a while, the arrival of the legacy sequel, which options the return of members of the unique I Know What You Did Final Summer season forged, is a powerful reminder of the legacy of the franchise and that not each installment is equal in high quality.

4

I am going to All the time Know What You Did Final Summer season (2006)

A Wan Retread Of The Authentic

It’s a extensively held opinion that the 2006 direct-to-DVD sequel I am going to All the time Know What You Did Final Summer season is the worst of the horror franchise. Regardless that all the flicks have splats on the assessment aggregator web site Rotten Tomatoes, it’s the solely installment to have a rating of 0%, that means not one critic gave it a constructive assessment.

Audiences didn’t give it a a lot better rating, as I am going to All the time Know What You Did Final Summer season solely has 20% on the Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter. That is additionally the worst of the franchise, falling under the rating of the 1998 sequel I Nonetheless Know What You Did Final Summer season by 9%.

Under, see a breakdown of the Rotten Tomatoes scores for all 4 motion pictures within the franchise:

There are a lot of totally different the reason why I am going to All the time Know What You Did Final Summer season is taken into account the worst. One is that it is kind of a reboot. The largely standalone sequel follows a brand new group of teenagers in a brand new location (Damaged Ridge, Colorado) being stalked and killed a 12 months after protecting up a brand new deadly accident.

Whereas following the identical story construction as the unique film is just not unusual for a horror sequel (and in reality is a trope that was additionally deployed within the 2025 film), its restricted finances and principally unknown forged forestall it from glowing in the identical manner that the unique did.

Moreover, the one factor of the story that encompasses a legacy character is not sensible within the context of the franchise. The fisherman killer Ben Willis, who died in I Nonetheless Know What You Did Final Summer season, is revealed to be the killer within the film, having returned from the lifeless to apparently proceed to enact revenge for summer-related deaths.

That is perplexing in a wide range of methods. Along with the truth that no different installments of the franchise have supernatural components, Ben Willis (who’s performed by Don Shanks relatively than authentic performer Muse Watson) has no specific motive to care in regards to the loss of life in query and his fisherman outfit makes a lot much less sense within the Colorado setting.

3

I Nonetheless Know What You Did Final Summer season (1998)

An Pleasing, However Very Foolish Sequel

This Nineteen Nineties horror sequel, which got here out simply 13 months after the unique, has many unusual components that mirror how shortly it was rushed into manufacturing. This consists of the truth that one of many survivors, Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.) is barely within the film, solely reuniting along with his love curiosity Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) originally and finish.

Nevertheless, the largest downside with the film is its sloppy script. It depends on too many contrivances, particularly in the case of the ploy that will get Julie and her school buddies to an island in The Bahamas in an effort to be stalked and killed at a near-empty lodge throughout storm season.

The ploy to get Julie to the island entails her successful a radio contest by saying that the capital of Brazil is Rio de Janeiro when the right reply is definitely Brasília, which is a reality that’s handled as a reveal later within the film.

Whereas this off-kilter strategy to storytelling strikes some viewers members and critics as campy and enjoyable, they’re within the minority, as proven by the film’s dismal 20% Tomatometer rating and 29% Popcornmeter rating.

Nevertheless, there are components of this primary sequel that make it significantly stronger than I am going to All the time Know What You Did Final Summer season. These embody the film’s finances, which permits it to have an attention-grabbing and well-designed setting.

Additionally, along with the roster of returning forged members (which incorporates Muse Watson alongside Hewitt and Prinze Jr.), the brand new stars which were added, which embody Brandy Norwood, Mekhi Phifer, and cult movie favourite Jeffrey Combs, have strong display screen presence alongside them.

2

I Know What You Did Final Summer season (2025)

A Satisfactory Legacy Sequel

As proven by its Popcornmeter rating (which is the one Recent rating of all 4 movies, from both critics or audiences), 2025’s I Know What You Did Final Summer season is one thing of a shot within the arm for the franchise, although it doesn’t elevate the sequence past its longtime limitations.

As an illustration, the screenplay is usually a little shaky, shifting haphazardly between strong comedian aid (particularly in the case of references to earlier installments) and clunky exposition. Moreover, whereas the fisherman’s kills are the goriest they’ve ever been, they aren’t significantly inventive, with just a few exceptions.

Nevertheless, the brand new film avoids the foremost pitfall that sank I am going to All the time Know What You Did Final Summer season by honoring the legacy of Ben Willis’ homicide spree however nonetheless making the story a correct whodunit, full of crimson herrings and mystery-solving, similar to the unique film.

It additionally one-ups I am going to All the time Know by assembling a way more well-known forged that features The Studio‘s Chase Sui Wonders, The Little Mermaid‘s Jonah Hauer-King, and Outer Banks‘ Madelyn Cline. Whereas they often don’t gel fairly in addition to the forged of the 1997 authentic, the film carries on a franchise custom of jam-packing the ensemble with intriguing up-and-comers.

1

I Know What You Did Final Summer season (1997)

The Authentic Basic Nonetheless Shines

1997’s I Know What You Did Final Summer season, like many authentic installments in varied franchises, stays the perfect of the bunch. Whereas it might be argued that the legacy sequel is best (as evidenced by the truth that the 2025 film has the perfect Popcornmeter rating of the franchise), that film would not exist with out the strong groundwork laid out right here.

The film’s potential to attach with audiences is proven by the truth that it’s so far the one installment within the franchise to have develop into a smash hit. Whereas I Nonetheless Know did not even double its reported $24 million finances, I Know What You Did Final Summer season earned again its reported $17 million finances greater than seven instances over.

Whereas it stays to be seen how excessive the brand new film can climb by the top of its ongoing theatrical run, the legacy sequel is projected to have the worst opening weekend of the franchise, so it probably will not hit the identical heights. Under, see a breakdown of the field workplace efficiency of all 4 motion pictures:

Along with boasting probably the most vibrant ensemble forged of the franchise (Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe star alongside Hewitt and Prinze Jr.), I Know What You Did Final Summer season has a few of its greatest scenes, most notably an prolonged chase sequence that follows Gellar’s Helen Shivers from a stopped police cruiser by her household’s division retailer.

Supply(s): Rotten Tomatoes