The new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie is doing things differently with its villain, which is exciting, but there’s still a huge risk. 2025 will see the return of some horror franchises that ended years ago, among them I Know What You Did Last Summer. The franchise began in 1973 with Lois Duncan’s novel of the same name, which was the inspiration for the 1997 movie. Although the movie made many changes to the novel, I Know What You Did Last Summer was popular enough to kick off a franchise.

I Know What You Did Last Summer follows a group of friends who, one night, accidentally run over a man. The group throws the man’s body into the water, but right before they do, the man wakes up. The group swears to never talk about it again, but one year later, they are haunted by a mysterious killer with a hook who claims to know what they did. The movie got a sequel the following year, a direct-to-video third movie, and a TV show, and it’s now getting a new sequel, which will make some changes to the villain.

I Know What You Did Last Summer 2025’s Villain Is “Gorier” & More Methodical

The New Fisherman Will Do Things Differently

The first I Know What You Did Last Summer movie revealed that the fisherman was Ben Willis (Muse Watson), the man the group had run over and thrown into the water, but he wasn’t really a victim here. That same night, Ben Willis had killed his late daughter’s fiancé, who he blamed for his daughter’s death. It was the young man’s body that Julie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) had mistaken for the man they ran over when she read the news, but Willis’ revenge was too much for one movie.

The sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, followed Julie and her friends to the Bahamas, with Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr) arriving later. The trip to the Bahamas was part of Willis’ bigger plan to trap and kill Julie once and for all, but it didn’t go as planned. Julie ended up killing Willis, and she and Ray reconciled and finally moved on together. Willis returned in the direct-to-video sequel, I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, though played by another actor, and Willis came back as an unᴅᴇᴀᴅ.

As the new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie doesn’t ignore the events of the second movie, Ben Willis will be ᴅᴇᴀᴅ in it, so the new villain is a completely new one. Writer and director Kaytin Robinson told People that in her movie there’s more methodology to the kills (and while she says Willis wasn’t methodical, he definitely was) and that, while the first movie isn’t violent or gory, this one is. The slasher genre has changed a lot since the 1990s, and gorier fits the current slasher wave, but this brings a huge risk, too.

I Know What You Did Last Summer Risks Falling Into The “Gorier” Trap Of Legacy Sequels

“Gorier” Doesn’t Necessarily Mean “Better”

I Know What You Did Last Summer being gorier and the villain more methodical than Ben Willis makes sense, but it also risks falling into a trap that has ruined other legacy sequels. Some legacy horror sequels, like Scream 2022 and Scream 6, used more violence and gore to their favor, as the new Ghostface killers were a lot more ruthless, but other movies, like Halloween Kills, felt that they had more gore just for the sake of it. While legacy sequels surely have to adapt to modern audiences and styles, they also have to stay true to their franchise’s essence.

More blood, violence, and gore don’t guarantee a horror movie’s success, more so if it’s a legacy sequel and the previous movies weren’t as violent and graphic. I Know What You Did Last Summer has to be smart in how it portrays its new villain, and there has to be a good reason for him to be more methodical and gorier than Ben Willis. Even though Robinson called her movie “not a serious” one and a “fun, popcorn summer event”, senseless gore wouldn’t do any good to it, more so as the first movies were more toned down in that sense.

How I Know What You Did Last Summer 2025’s Villain Can Be Different From Ben Willis

This Shouldn’t Be Ben Willis 2.0

A big challenge the new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie is bringing is a villain that is different from Ben Willis. I Know What You Did Last Summer already has a story problem that I saw coming, which is that it’s repeating the story of the first movie almost identically, with the addition of Julie and Ray as the survivors who will offer advice or help to the new protagonists. What’s known about the villain so far is that he uses a hook (and other weapons), their murder spree is triggered by an accident, and they are going after those involved in it.

I Know What You Did Last Summer has to bring something different to its villain, whether it has a different twist to their idenтιтy (as in, them not being the person they ran over), a different motivation, or some hidden connection to one of the main characters. The worst that it could do is link the villain to Ben Willis, more so as he had no family left by the end of the second movie. I Know What You Did Last Summer’s “gorier” promise sounds intriguing, but it has to be smart about it.

Source: People.