Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
While I Know What You Did Last Summer features a lot of nods to famous slasher movies, its most unexpected horror influence is an entirely separate, iconic blockbuster, Jaws. Broadly speaking, the I Know What You Did Last Summer movies owe a major debt to the horror genre. Their murder mystery storylines and creative kills are borrowed from Italy’s tradition of Giallo movies.
Meanwhile, the self-aware wit of I Know What You Did Last Summer’s legacy sequel borrows from Scream and its many imitators, populating the plot with savvy teens who know the rules of horror movies. As such, it comes as no surprise that the legacy sequel features a lot of affectionate references to iconic horror movies.
However, the movie that had the biggest influence on 2025’s I Know What You Did Last Summer is a surprising one. Naturally, the legacy sequel includes a lot of references to slasher movies of the ‘80s and the meta-slashers of the ‘90s, including 1997’s original I Know What You Did Last Summer, but it also repeatedly references an older hit.
I Know What You Did Last Summer Surprisingly Has A Lot In Common With Jaws
The Unexpected Homage Adds A New Layer To I Know What You Did Last Summer
I Know What You Did Last Summer’s legacy sequel storyline is surprisingly reminiscent of Jaws, from the local corruption subplot to the gruesome revelation of one kill. In both Jaws and this legacy sequel, the whole plot hinges on town officials trying to downplay a ᴅᴇᴀᴅly threat for the sake of maintaining local tourism during the summer months.
|
тιтle |
RT Score |
Audience Score |
|---|---|---|
|
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) |
46% |
47% |
|
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) |
10% |
29% |
|
I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006) |
0% |
20% |
|
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) |
38% |
68% |
While I Know What You Did Last Summer’s ending reveals that the killer isn’t one of the local politicians trying to cover up the earlier mᴀssacre, there are still more Jaws comparisons that are hard to ignore. Visually, the scene where Teddy and his dad are found strung up echoes the smug fishermen stringing up a caught shark in Jaws.
The similarities are striking, particularly when Jaws is a monster movie and this legacy sequel is a whodunit slasher.
Furthermore, the legacy sequel’s climax (at least partially) takes place on a boat, much like the ending of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster. Admittedly, the ending of the original movie was also set on a boat, but the similarities are still striking, particularly when Jaws is a monster movie and this legacy sequel is a whodunit slasher.
From one of I Know What You Did Last Summer’s most brutal kills mirroring the death of an innocent shark in Jaws, to the local corruption subplot that significantly ups the movie’s body count, the legacy sequel borrows a lot. Thus, viewers might get more nods to Spielberg’s classic Jaws than they expected from the legacy sequel I Know What You Did Last Summer.
