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Welcome back to the Creepy Catalog daily horror digest! I might be a little late getting to it, but today’s movie of the day is a certain slasher legacy sequel out now in theaters. There’s also some horror news coming out of Comic-Con, and daily trivia.
Movie of the Day
Today’s movie of the day is I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025). I know, I know. I’m a week late, but I have my reasons. The point is, I’ve seen it now. And you know what? I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
You know the basic story. A group of friends are involved in a death, they choose to cover it up, and a year later they’re stalked and slashed by someone in black rain slicker carrying a hook. This legacy sequel doesn’t try to reinvent its subgenre, nor does it even attempt to reinvent too much about the franchise it resides within. But, as a huge fan of slasher movies and the formula that serves as the foundation of the subgenre, I don’t necessarily need a slasher film to add anything new. If it does modify the genre in interesting ways, great. That’s a bonus. But if a movie follows the stalk-and-slash formula and does it well, then I’m happy. I Know What You Did Last Summer follows the formula fairly well.
I do have some gripes though. First, I think the movie is too long. A sizable amount of footage could have been trimmed and it would have made the story leaner and more engaging. As it is, it feels like it takes a long while for any real danger to start happening. Part of that has to do with the first couple of kills not having a huge impact on the overall story. I enjoy a good meaningless slashing as much as anyone, and these are fine, but they aren’t great. Plus, one of the characters was clearly just there to provide exposition, and once that is done, they’re slaughtered. That usually comes across as annoyingly contrived, and that was the case here.
Also, there’s a delicate balance to be made between nostalgia and focusing on what’s new in legacy sequels. I Know What You Did Last Summer goes too far in the direction of reverence for the original 1997 movie, so much so that it feels like pandering at times. Like, it happens a lot. I’m really bummed that a particular cameo that I should’ve loved felt like it needed to be cut and just included as a deleted scene on the Blu-ray. It just seemed strange and unnecessarily distracting (which, again, I hate saying because I adore the person making the cameo).
Back on the good side though, I enjoyed the new characters. Their various relationships worked well, and I got sufficiently invested in the survival of at least one of them. The murder-mystery aspect was okay. I figured it out well before the finale, but that kind of thing never bothers me. Part of the fun for me in whodunit slashers is trying to figure who the killer is, and tracking everyone to see if my theory works as the story is still unfolding.
I’ll be honest though; About three quarters of the way through, I thought the movie was just okay. What I really love about I Know What You Did Last Summer happens towards the end, and it’s something I can’t talk about without spoilers. I’ll just say it has something to do with the reveal of the killer, and it’s something that the Scream franchise hasn’t had the guts to do in five sequels. I hid that last part because even though I don’t reveal the killer, it’s still too much of a spoiler. Tap to reveal if you really want to see.
Star Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Good)
My rating would’ve been lower if not for the final scenes and the killer reveal. That bumped up my star rating at least half a star, maybe a full star. The rest of the movie before the final scenes are perfectly fine, though the issues I mentioned above are present most of the time. If you’re a fan of the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise, definitely go see it. If you don’t care about the franchise, you might not enjoy this movie very much even if you do love slashers in general.
In the News
- Shudder announced at Comic-Con that it has acquired the upcoming film adaptation of the video game The Mortuary Assistant. (Deadline)
- Final Destination: Bloodlines will begin streaming on HBO Max on August 1st. (Variety)
- David Yarovesky (Brightburn, Locked) will write and direct a new horror film produced by Gary Dauberman and Mia Maniscalco of the studio Coin Operated. The title of the movie is He Never Dies (though it does not appear to have anything to do with the He Never Dies from 1986 which is part of the Guinea Pig films from Japan). (Deadline)
- Devin Druid and Ash Santos will star in the film adaptation of the comic book series Crossed created by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows. Rob Jabbaz is directing. Jabbaz wrote and directed the Taiwanese film The Sadness (2021) which took inspiration from the Crossed comics. (The Hollywood Reporter)
- Jason Universe released a trailer for their
commercial“short-form vignette” titled Sweet Revenge, sponsored by Angry Orchard. You can spot someone carrying an Angry Orchard bottle, an Angry Orchard box on a counter, and a couple of crisp, delicious apples all within this 47 second trailer. I can’t wait.
- Bloody Disgusting revealed a teaser for Silent Night, Deadly Night. Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends) stars.
Birthdays
Francesca Ciardi, one of the stars of Cannibal Holocaust (1980), was born on July 26th, 1954. As the legend goes, Ciardi was one of the four actors suspected of being actually killed on film, and they had to appear in court (or on TV depending on the version of the story you get) to prove that director Ruggero Deodato didn’t murder them. There’s no actual evidence of this story ever happening though, and some of the actors have refuted the story’s details.
Also celebrating a birthday today in Thomasin McKenzie. Thomasin was born on July 26, 2000, and her roles in horror/thriller movies include Old (2021) and Last Night in Soho (2021).
Born on this day in 1973 is Kate Beckinsale. Kate played the vampire Selene in the Underworld franchise, and she appeared in the horror film Vacancy (2007) with Luke Wilson.
Events on This Day
The South Korean supernatural horror movie Phone was released in theaters in its home country on July 26, 2002. The film is about a journalist who moves and changes her number after receiving threatening calls, but the calls don’t stop. It’s currently only streaming on Kanopy, but you can find the DVD at a low price.
More movies released on July 26:
- Anaconda 3: Offspring (Sci-Fi Channel, 2008)
- The Dead and the Damned (DVD, 2011)
- Ice Sharks (Syfy, 2016)
Thank you for reading! Now that I’ve seen I Know What You Did Last Summer, the next big horror movie I need to catch up on is Final Destination: Bloodlines. Thank goodness it’s headed to HBO Max soon.
