Three decades ago, filmgoers found out what four teenagers did last summer.  Driving in the middle of the night, they accidentally struck and killed a man running alongside the road.  Instead of calling the cops and taking responsibility, they hid the body and agreed to take the secret to their graves.  For some of them, those graves would be dug sooner rather than later.  A mysterious assailant knew what had transpired and was coming after them one by one.  I Know What You Did Last Summer was a solid hit at the 1997 box-office and was followed by a sequel the next year.

Did we need another sequel?  Based on what’s been served up here, the answer is a clear “no”.  They’ve used the same title and largely, the same premise.  We’ve got five college-age adults who, in the middle of the night, negligently cause a passing car to drive off the side of a road and down a steep cliff face.  The vehicle’s sole occupant is killed.  One of their influential dads leans on the local police to cover things up and the quintet decide, after a heated debate, to keep quiet and act as if nothing had happened.

We then pan one year in the future where one of them receives a greeting card with the catchphrase “I know what you did last summer” and yep, the bodies start piling up again.  Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, this new outing makes next-to-no sense.  I’m not sure if it’s the script or something got jumbled in the editing room but there’s no flow, no continuity.  The masked killer gets knocked down and within a microsecond, he’s found a way to magically leave the scene.  How?  A potential victim gets the upper hand and then lets their adversary off the hook.  Why?

There are times when characters are desperately fearing for their lives… and then in the next scene, they’re walking around and taking brazen risks.  You’ve locked yourself in the house because a madman is on the loose but then you go out to the car in the middle of the night to get your mobile phone charger?!?  I won’t reveal the ending but it’s another weak point which makes less sense the more you think about it.  They’d have been better to structure this as a spoof because it fails as a credible thriller.

Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt have reprised their roles but they’re small supporting parts which won’t rank highly on their resume.  A group of new young leading actors will be hoping to use this as a stepping stone to fame, as their predecessors did in 1997, but if other audience members are as disappointed as me, it’ll be largely forgotten.