With the discharge of the brand new I Know What You Did Final Summer time proper across the nook on the 2025 film schedule, I figured it was time for me to lastly watch the 1997 basic. I’ll say it, it spooked me on many events. So, when Freddie Prinze Jr., who’s returning alongside Jennifer Love Hewitt for the reboot, stated trendy audiences would in all probability chortle at this OG film, I used to be fast to disagree.
Now, there’s extra nuance to this. On the entire, I disagree with Prinze. Nonetheless, I do get his level. Whereas selling his upcoming horror film with Fandango, he began off his clarification by speaking about how the horror style quickly evolves, saying:
Horror evolves extra rapidly than some other sort of film. A comedy is a comedy endlessly. A drama is a drama endlessly. Motion films are motion films. However these horror writers and administrators are continuously attempting to out-scare one another and freak out audiences based mostly on what the final era did, as a result of these are films that impressed this era of administrators and writers.
Now, to an extent, I get this. I additionally suppose his level crosses genres, and doesn’t simply apply to horror. As my not-so-positive opinions about Superbad present, comedy can (and oftentimes is) generational. And which means some people will admire it far more than others. That may be stated about many films throughout genres, too. However there are additionally timeless movies in every style.
For instance, to me, Scream is a superb and timeless flick. It’s one of many finest horror films ever, it got here out in 1996, and whereas it’s purposefully humorous, it’s additionally nonetheless very scary and gory. I wasn’t laughing at it the way in which Prinze implied I could be. And the identical might be stated for I Know What You Did Final Summer time, so to an extent, I don’t agree with the actor’s following feedback:
So, it evolves so rapidly…like in case you ask a child to look at I Know What You Did Final Summer time, the unique one, at this time, they’re going to chortle. They’re going to chortle. After I was 21 and this got here out, they had been screaming and holding one another for pricey life. However it evolves so, so rapidly.
After I watched I Know What You Did Final Summer time just a few days in the past with my good friend, I actually talked to her concerning the a number of soar scares that genuinely obtained me. Each kill within the film, particularly Helen’s, had me on edge, and that closing battle on the boat was extraordinarily tense.
So, no, I wasn’t laughing at I Know What You Did Final Summer time, and I’d take into account myself a contemporary viewers member on this case, since I watched it for the primary time nearly 30 years late.
Nonetheless, once more, I see what Freddie Prinze Jr. is saying, particularly together with his following level:
After I noticed Illusion for the primary time, it wasn’t scary. I believed it was like, ‘Yeah, okay, I am laughing at it.’ And my buddy, who was 5 years older than me, was like, ‘It was the scariest stuff I ever noticed.’ And for me, it was my Freddy Krueger, and for the Scream era, that is humorous. And for the people who find themselves frightened of Scream, they noticed Noticed, after which all a sudden, these are humorous.
Some films don’t age nicely. Additionally, within the realm of horror, I believe he’s proper; it’s gotten extra intense and scarier with every era. Nonetheless, I additionally wouldn’t chortle in such a dismissive means at this film or many others.
There’s a purpose it’s a cult basic and obtained not solely a sequel however a 2025 remake. I definitely wasn’t laughing at I Know What You Did Final Summer time in the way in which that its star was implying, despite the fact that I do agree that the style has advanced. The slasher is efficient, tense, and at instances genuinely scary. So, I believe Freddie Prinze Jr. ought to give his film and us a bit extra credit score to understand classics like this 1997 movie.