Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Although I Know What You Did Last Summer’s legacy sequel has a doozy of a killer reveal, it is somehow not the wackiest twist in the entire slasher franchise. All the I Know What You Did Last Summer movies have their ups and downs. The 1997 original has that stunning chase set piece with Sarah Michelle Gellar’s doomed Helen.
However, while viewers might remember the original movie nostalgically, I Know What You Did Last Summer is let down by a predictable twist ending. Similarly, its first sequel has a zany tropical island setting and a strong supporting cast including Brandy and Jack Black, but is a scare-free effort despite its starry lineup.
Meanwhile, I Know What You Did Last Summer’s legacy sequel earned one of the highest Rotten Tomatoes ratings of the franchise so far, but even this was not necessarily the big win that it seems. Do Revenge director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s sequel brings back the original movie’s Ray and Julie, but not in the way many viewers might be expecting or hoping.
Ray’s Killer Twist Is Shocking, But Not As Unbelievable As I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer’s Fisherman Reveal
I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer Completely Changed the Franchise’s Style for Its Twist
Playing into a fan theory Scream viewers have had since the franchise’s first legacy sequel was announced, I Know What You Did Last Summer’s legacy sequel made the daring decision to turn the original movie’s hero into the killer. Viewers might have grown suspicious when Freddie Prinze Jr’s Ray was revealed to have stayed in Southport, unlike his love interest, Julie.
It was a striking surprise to see Ray reveal himself as the killer in I Know What You Did Last Summer’s ending.
Still, it was a striking surprise to see Ray reveal himself as the killer in I Know What You Did Last Summer’s ending, and it was even more shocking to see the original movie’s final girl forced to kill her erstwhile love interest to save the remaining teens. In this regard, I Know What You Did Last Summer’s ending was truly unexpected.
That said, it is still not the wildest twist in the entire slasher series. That distinction goes to 2006’s I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, the straight-to-DVD second sequel that revealed the original Fisherman had come back as a supernatural force for some inexplicable reason. Ray becoming a killer is surprising, but it did make sense in the sequel’s story.
|
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% |
In contrast, I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer’s twist required the entire franchise to pivot from grounded whodunit mystery horror into full-blown supernatural horror. For a frame of reference, this I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel’s twist was as silly as a Scream sequel revealing the original movie’s killers were back from the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ and killing again, instead of unmasking a new, living villain.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
