SPOILER WARNING: The next article incorporates huge spoilers for I Know What You Did Final Summer season. Severely, in the event you haven’t seen the movie, you actually shouldn’t be studying this… however proceed at your personal threat!
Now we have seen a large number of legacyquels within the final 15 years, however none of them efficiently pull off a twist like what audiences expertise in author/director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s I Know What You Did Final Summer season. Whereas it’s often the case that legacy characters principally exist to tie the story of the brand new technology to the previous, the brand new horror film opts to go a lot bolder: whereas Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Julie James retains her Closing Lady standing, the movie reveals that Freddie Prinze Jr.’s Ray Bronson has misplaced his thoughts and options him as considered one of two killers (the opposite being Sarah Pidgeon’s Stevie Ward).
It’s an surprising and well-invited shock when it’s revealed within the third act, and considered one of my favourite components of the film (as I tease in my spoiler-free CinemaBlend assessment of I Know What You Did Final Summer season). Not solely does the event really feel natural, however Freddie Prinze Jr. actually sells it – which I discovered throughout an interview with the actor was the results of him going deep emotionally to grasp Ray’s journey from hero to villain.
How Ray Bronson Turns into A Killer In I Know What You Did Final Summer season
For many of Ray Bronson’s display time in 2025’s I Know What You Did Final Summer season, he looks as if a reasonably put collectively dude – albeit one with a few chips on his shoulder. He runs his personal bar, and he looks as if a constructive mentor to Stevie, his worker, however it’s additionally made very clear that issues didn’t finish properly in his marriage to Julie James, and he has lengthy been upset that the city of Southport, North Carolina went above and past to brush the entire murders that occurred in 1997 below the rug.
Because it seems, these chips on his shoulder ought to have been acknowledged as pink flags. Ray’s relationship with Julie didn’t work out due to his seething anger, and the anger he has lengthy harbored towards the city finally ends up not simply being idle and self-harming. His rage finally ends up being infectious virus that he spreads to Stevie, they usually work collectively to take revenge on Southport and Stevie’s former mates.
Freddie Prinze Jr. Examined His Mates’ Damaged Relationships And Trauma To Get At The Coronary heart Of What Occurred To Ray
When an individual experiences an especially traumatic occasion, it has been confirmed that it’s best for them to not simply bottle up all of their emotions. If these feelings aren’t correctly deal with, they’ll find yourself turning into poisonous and do severe harm. Ray Bronson proves to be a dictionary-worthy case of his psychological phenomenon within the I Know What You Did Final Summer season legacyquel, and it’s one thing wherein Freddie Prinze Jr. discovered loads of honesty as he was making ready for his efficiency.
Late final month, I had the pleasure of interviewing the actor alongside Jennifer Kaytin Robinson throughout the Los Angeles press day for his new movie, and whereas digging into spoiler territory, I requested him about his view on what’s been occurring with Ray since audiences final received to see him in I Nonetheless Know What You Did Final Summer season. Prinze Jr. has been married for the final 23 years to his I Know What You Did Final Summer season co-star Sarah Michelle Gellar, however he famous that he is aware of individuals who had troubled relationships a la Ray and Julie, and his character’s issues began along with his lack of ability to correctly course of being hunted by a serial killer as a youngster. Stated the actor,
I’ve loads of mates whose relationships did not work out for a plethora of causes. And generally it is trauma and never coping with that trauma, and that that form of shortens your fuse over years and little issues begin setting you off, and it is not likely related to what simply occurred. It is related to one thing that occurred years in the past.
It’s a cliché, however the phrase “Damage folks harm folks” is a cliché for a purpose: if a person doesn’t correctly course of their very own ache, they’re extra liable to inflict ache on others. Within the instances of some folks, that’s restricted to emotional ache, however within the case of Ray Bronson, he’s skulking round Southport sporting a slicker and killing of us with a hook and a harpoon gun.
Freddie Prinze Jr. added that the fabric was heavy, however he has a substantial amount of enjoyable getting the chance to discover the character after which apply what he had found in his efficiency:
There’s loads of bringing that to work with you, which is not enjoyable. However in between the phrases motion and reduce, it is a blast since you get to type of exhibit it and execute it and present folks what you’ve got ready, after which, hopefully, you are in a position to type of let all that go and see what occurs within the second. You recognize what I imply? All of it depends upon how the times stream. And it dictates on how far you go in a scene.
Concluding, the actor defined that Ray was a comparatively put collectively man once we received to see him by means of the occasions of the unique I Know What You Did Final Summer season and I Nonetheless Know What You Did Final Summer season… however there was a degree within the two-and-a-half a long time that adopted the place he simply snapped. When Freddie Prinze Jr. understood that and methods to play it, all of it clicked:
However as soon as I knew the rationale why and I knew how I might play a damaged man – ‘trigger that is what Ray is at this level. He is not this blue collar hero anymore. He has been damaged by this. He did not cope with it. And trauma both makes you or breaks you. I do know those who it is made stronger, and I do know those who it is damaged in two, and that is so spoiler-y. However yeah. Hopefully this comes out after the film. He is a damaged man, and that is the consequence.
For those who’re curious how realizing concerning the darkish journey of Ray Bronson impacts the viewing expertise of I Know What You Did Final Summer season, the brand new horror film is now taking part in in theaters in every single place – having positioned third on the field workplace in its opening weekend.