I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Complete Series
review by Bobby Blakey
In 1997 a new killer and franchise took theaters by storm in I Know What You Did Last Summer that went on to spawn 2 original sequels in 1998 and 20026 as well as a reboot sequel in 2025. In 2021 the story came to TV in a new series of the same title streaming on Prime Video that starred Madison Iseman, Bill Heck, Brianne Tju, Ezekiel Goodman, Ashley Moore, Sebastian Amoruso, Fiona Rene, Cassie Beck, and Brooke Bloom. The series was cancelled after one season, but fans can now bring it home and add it to their collection.
I Know What You Did Last Summer follows a group of teenagers who find themselves bound together by a dark secret and stalked by a brutal killer one year after the fatal car accident that haunted their graduation night. As they try to piece together who's after them, they reveal the dark side of their seemingly perfect town—and themselves. Everyone is hiding something, and uncovering the wrong secret could be deadly.
I think this specific story lends itself better to the TV series style than some of
the others. Much like every film, this film uses the same formula of running over someone, but gives us a new story, cast of characters and location to try to infuse it with something new and fresh despite the familiar territory. It still falls into all the usual tropes of the teen characters, but I was surprised that none of them were overly annoying like we usually get in this genre. Make no mistake they all still have those moments, but they minimized the overuse of those personas so that they can stand to be seen throughout the series.
When making this kind of story you have expectations including some great kills but even though it was a Prime Video series figured it might get watered down some. They go in with the gore, but not so much in the creative kills or graphic nature. This was frustrating since it seemed to be going there but never crossed that line I think would have smashed it home more effectively especially when you get someone dismembered and its more just aftermath instead of seeing it unfold.
The interesting approach to lean into the social media aspect makes it feel more current and exactly how things would be dealt with, but also gets old at times, but probably because I was just wanting an old school slasher mystery. They did have a couple of great twists that most won’t see coming to elevate this story and some red herrings to make you figure things out, but also not at all.
I actually enjoyed the show more than I expected but it does have a slow start and the time jump story elements does sometimes pull you out of the intensity it is hoping to create. This doesn’t kill the series as it ended up being successful and effective overall. While it does have a little moment at the end of the series that could have fed the second season that never came, it also wraps things up well enough to feel complete despite that craziness of its decisions.
This collection doesn’t offer any bonus content but includes all 8 episodes of the series that will no doubt be a must have for completist fans of the franchise. Grab your copy of I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Complete Series comes to Blu-ray on June 23rd from Sony.