Every I Know What You Did Last Summer Movie & TV Show Ranked

In 1973, author Lois Duncan’s YA thriller novel I Know What You Did Last Summer introduced the story of four high school friends who accidentally kill a young boy on a bike in a tragic hit-and-run after drinking at a party. The teens dispose of the body and make a pact to never tell anyone about what happened that night. A year later, they begin receiving anonymous threats, starting with the familiar note: “I know what you did last summer.” When the book was adapted in 1997 by Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson, the story deviated from the source material, evolving from a simple revenge narrative into a classic ’90s slasher.

Over the years, a media franchise inspired by the novel and its first adaptation has expanded, including movie sequels, a TV series, and an ill-fitting reimagining. Despite a mixed (mostly negative) critical consensus, I Know What You Did Last Summer cemented its place in pop culture and gave us the hook-wielding Fisherman killer.

5) I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)

The direct-to-video movie I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer attempted to revive the slasher franchise in 2006 but proved to be a fairly disappointing installment. The film follows Amber Wiliams (Brooke Nevin) and her group of Colorado friends as they are stalked and killed a year after they covered up a friend’s accidental death during a poorly planned and executed prank that exploited the legend of the mysterious “the Fisherman.”

Directed by Sylvain White and written by Michael D. Weiss, I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer suffers from a lack of originality and overly stylized editing with jarring quick cuts that are overused and work against the movie’s tone. It’s also difficult to engage or empathize with the characters. This entry does have a nice indie horror aesthetic and features an unexpected supernatural twist (which viewers may find either interesting or detracting), but overall, the film is the weakest in the I Know What You Did Last Summer universe.

I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

4) I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

Directed by Danny Cannon (Judge Dredd) and written by Trey Callaway, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer takes place a year following the events of the first film. Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is struggling to move on from her friends being murdered by the Fisherman, aka Ben Willis (Muse Watson), while navigating a rocky romance with fellow survivor and on-again, off-again boyfriend Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.). After her college roommate Karla (Brandy) wins a trip to the Bahamas, Julie joins her, Karla’s boyfriend Tyrell (Mekhi Phifer), and new friend Will (Matthew Settle) on a vacation at a deserted island resort that unsurprisingly ends up being a trap orchestrated by a still-alive and vengeful Willis.

There is some fun to be had with this movie, such as familiar slasher tropes, a few of the new cast members (though Jack Black’s character is largely just painful), more memorable dialogue, and seeing what Julie and Ray have been up to since believing they had defeated the Fisherman. Not to mention, the biggest twist in the sequel (“Ben’s son.”) is revealed in a likely unintentionally hilarious way. Unfortunately, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer has more than a few problems, including pacing issues, predictability, a couple of noticeably weak performances, and plot holes that are hard to overlook.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

3) I Know What You Did Last Summer (2021 Series)

The modern adaptation of Duncan’s novel in the 2021 I Know What You Did Last Summer series was controversial among critics and viewers. Due to its namesake, fans expected the usual slasher vibe, but the short-lived Amazon show leaned more into a sometimes surreal, teen horror drama with extremely flawed characters. When this group of teens is involved in a deadly hit-and-run after an intense graduation party, the victim on the road, Lennon, is the twin sister of Allison, who was driving. However, the other teens believe they have actually killed Allison, since she had assumed her twin’s identity and decides to stick to the lie even after realizing her sister is dead. The only one who knows the truth is her father, who shockingly goes along with the lie and cover-up.

A year later, the friends reunite in their Hawaiian town after returning from college and come home to mysterious notes reading, “I know what you did last summer.” They are then picked off one by one as the season progresses, and the mystery of the murderer’s identity is as significant to the plot as piecing together the events of their messed-up graduation party. The audience is asked to leave logic at the door a little too often throughout the series, and the convoluted cult side plot frequently works against the series’ strengths (it may have paid off more in a Season 2 following an intriguing cliffhanger in the finale, but the show was canceled after Season 1).

Still, I Know What You Did Last Summer featured an ensemble of talented young actors, each tasked with portraying extremely complex characters. Whether you empathized with them or even despised some of them, the characters and their various relationships were compelling. The series was gorgeously shot, and the numerous twists and turns were genuinely surprising, often serving to deepen viewers’ understanding of this handful of very messed-up teens and satisfyingly explaining the killer’s motivations.

The I Know What You Did Last Summer series is streaming on Prime Video.

2) I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

I Know What You Did Last Summer added a legacy sequel to its roster with this year’s newest entry that introduced a new group of friends hiding a deadly secret and the return of Hewitt and Prinze Jr. as Julie and Ray. After covering up a fatal car accident 27 years after the original Fisherman killings in Southport, the school friends find themselves receiving the infamous note of knowing what they did last summer a year later. After learning more about the massacre in 1997, they seek help from Julie and Ray, who have gone down different paths after surviving Ben Willis.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)’s biggest issues are its pacing, some stilted dialogue, and bits of humor that sometimes lean too far into silliness that doesn’t quite work in places. With that said, this sequel pays fun homage to the original while giving fans a chance to get to know new characters, for better or worse. The storylines for Julie and Ray are both interesting and, in some ways, bold in how the filmmakers depict the distinct ways the O.G. characters have been affected by trauma and guilt and how they view justice.

Along with how Julie and Ray have been impacted, we get to see pieces of how Southport itself has changed due to the killings and how the town is still experiencing the aftermath nearly 30 years later. The movie also featured surprising returns, including in a mid-credits scene that sets up an exciting potential sequel. Additionally, one of the most hilarious lines comes from Ray, referencing I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, who makes a crack about why going to the Bahamas is a bad idea. Plus, the return of the Fisherman to the slasher genre in such an on-brand execution is a welcome one.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) is now playing in theaters.

1) I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

As every sequel and additional installments in the I Know What You Did Last Summer universe has proven, the original film that launched the franchise will always be unsurpassable. Directed by Jim Gillespie, fans were introduced to Julie, Ray, Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), and Barry Cox (Ryan Phillippe), and the seemingly unkillable Ben Willis (Muse Watson). The chemistry of the cast was a highlight, as was the time capsule of the ’90s, especially its soundtrack. The slasher tropes follow a formula many horror fans found satisfying, and there are several memorable, suspenseful scenes and pieces of dialogue.

I Know What You Did Last Summer was a box office smash, earning over $125 million worldwide and credited with helping to revitalize the slasher genre during the 1990s, alongside (and benefitting from) 1996’s Scream. Williamson and Gillespie gave us an iconic slasher villain, the Fisherman with his trusty hook and obsession with revenge and killing young people in entertaining fashion.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) is available to stream on MGM+.

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