The highly anticipated follow-up to the iconic 1997 slasher film, I Know What You Did Last Summer, sees the return of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr., back in the fray with their career-launching roles of Julie James and Ray Bronson.
For director and writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, having the two original actors was critical to the next installment of the franchise. “Working with Freddie and Jen was amazing,” says Robinson. “It was important to me to make sure that both of their stories felt like a continuation. We wanted to know, how would something like this affect them 27 years later? Who would they become, and how will that inform how they advise and help this younger group?”
In I Know What You Did Last Summer, five friends cause a deadly accident, and in fear of the consequences, covered up. As their past comes back to haunt them in the form of a murderous stalker, they dig up clues to a similar incident in 1997, and turn to the survivors for help.
Love Hewitt was delighted to come back to I Know What You Did Last Summer, having seen director Robinson’s passion for the films. “Jenn is truly passionate about I Know What You Did Last Summer, and I found that to be so helpful,” Love Hewitt notes. “She loves Julie and Ray, the story, and even the Fisherman. So, all that love has gone into this new version, and you can see it and you can feel it. I really respect Jenn and honor her for that,” Love Hewitt continues, “because horror movie fans are very specific, and they will feel her love of the franchise in this movie.”
Love Hewitt’s character Julie James was the only other survivor, along with her ex-husband Ray Bronson, of the 1997 killings. Now a psychology professor, the newest victims in a string of killings turn to her for advice. “Julie is all the things that she was but more grown up and wiser. She retains all the gumption and moxie she learned over those earlier stories, and now brings all that with her,” says Love Hewitt.
Prinze Jr., who has always been a horror enthusiast, came back for similar reasons. “Jenn wasn’t going to throw away the past,” he explains. “She treats it with the respect it deserves, while also demonstrating what makes her such an innovative writer and director. In Jenn’s 2022 film Do Revenge, you could see the sort of sexiness that she would bring to I Know What You Did Last Summer. As a horror fan, I think horror movies are, in a unique way, rather beautiful.”
Prinze Jr.’s character Ray has opened a bar a few years after his separation from Julie. They reconnect to help out the newest targets of the hooked killer, in the hopes that more people survive the latest deadly encounter.
I Know What You Did Last Summer stalks into Philippine cinemas on July 30.
Watch the trailer here:
