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I Know What You Did Last Summer

Stories, casts, production history, galleries and videos for I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Franchise History

It started with a book. Lois Duncan published I Know What You Did Last Summer with Little, Brown in October 1973. Four high school seniors in Silver Springs, New Mexico, near Cibola National Forest, hit and kill a boy on a bicycle while driving home from a party in the mountains. Ray calls an ambulance from a pay phone without giving his name, and the four swear never to tell. A year later Julie James gets a note that says "I know what you did last summer." The stalker turns out to be Collie Wilson, the dead boy's older brother, a war veteran who calls himself Bud. Nobody dies in the present-day story. Barry is shot, Helen is attacked in her apartment, and Ray saves Julie at the end.

The novel sold for decades as a teen thriller. The 1997 movie tie-in edition sold 517,000 copies by November 1998 and topped the Publishers Weekly children's fiction bestseller list for October, November and December 1997. A 1999 Dell paperback made the American Library Association's 2005 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults list. In 2010 Duncan updated the book for a paperback reissue on October 5, 2010. She added cell phones and newer clothes, moved Collie's war service from Vietnam to Iraq, and renamed the victim from David to Daniel.

Duncan's own life gave the story a hard edge later on. Her youngest daughter, Kaitlyn Arquette, was shot to death in Albuquerque on July 16, 1989, at age 18. Duncan wrote about her own investigation in Who Killed My Daughter? (Delacorte, 1992) and moved away from suspense writing. That is a big part of why she hated the 1997 film. In a 2002 interview she said she was appalled her book had been turned into a slasher film, and that as the mother of a murdered child she did not find violent death something to squeal and giggle about. She did not promote the movie. Duncan won the Margaret A. Edwards Award in 1992 and was named a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master in 2014. She died in Bradenton, Florida, on June 15, 2016, at 82.

The film series came out of the mid 1990s slasher comeback. Producer Erik Feig pitched a film of the novel to Mandalay Entertainment, the company Peter Guber founded in 1994 with an exclusive deal at Sony. Feig brought in Kevin Williamson to rewrite it. Williamson's script sat on the shelf until Scream, his other script, became a hit in December 1996. Columbia then rushed I Know What You Did Last Summer into production. Williamson moved the story to a North Carolina fishing town and made the killer a fisherman with a hook. He has said the idea came from his father, who was a commercial fisherman. Where Scream joked about horror movies, this one played it straight, like an early 1980s slasher.

Scottish director Jim Gillespie shot the film in ten weeks starting March 31, 1997, mostly at night, in and around Southport, North Carolina, with the crash scene filmed on Highway 1 in Sonoma County, California. Jennifer Love Hewitt played Julie James, Freddie Prinze Jr. played Ray Bronson, Sarah Michelle Gellar played Helen Shivers and Ryan Phillippe played Barry Cox. Muse Watson played the killer, a grieving fisherman named Ben Willis. Columbia opened it October 17, 1997. It debuted at number one with $15,818,645, stayed on top for three weekends including Halloween, and finished with about $72.6 million in the United States and Canada and about $125.6 million worldwide on a $17 million budget.

Columbia wanted a sequel fast. Director Mike Mendez pitched a college-set follow-up in 1997 that went nowhere. Mandalay hired Trey Callaway, and separately hired Stephen Gaghan to write a New Orleans version. Callaway's script won. British director Danny Cannon made I Still Know What You Did Last Summer in Mexico and Los Angeles in the spring of 1998, and Columbia released it November 13, 1998, only 13 months after the first film. Hewitt, Prinze Jr. and Watson came back. Brandy, Mekhi Phifer, Matthew Settle, Jennifer Esposito, Bill Cobbs, Jeffrey Combs, John Hawkes and an uncredited Jack Black joined them at a Bahamas resort called Tower Bay. It opened second behind The Waterboy with $16.5 million and made about $40 million at home. Variety later put its worldwide total at $84 million. Critics were far harsher on it, and Gillespie later said it hurt the franchise.

A third film took eight years. In August 2000 Variety reported Columbia was developing one written by Simon Barry about a group on an Outward Bound style wilderness trip. That version was dropped. In July 2005 Sony moved ahead with a script by Michael D. Weiss under the working title I Know What You Did Last Summer 3. The first director was let go right before shooting, and Sylvain White took over with about two weeks to prepare. The film shot in Utah and went straight to DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on August 15, 2006, as I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer. It had no returning actors. Stuntman Don Shanks played the Fisherman, and the film revealed him to be an undead Ben Willis. It has a 0 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.

For years after that the series was quiet. In September 2014 Sony announced a remake written by Mike Flanagan and Jeff Howard, with Flanagan saying it would be a reboot that used nothing from the novel or the 1997 film. It was budgeted at $15 to $20 million and was never made. The first two films stayed in print on home video. Sony put the original on Blu-ray in 2008 and the sequel in 2009, Mill Creek licensed budget and SteelBook discs, and 88 Films in the United Kingdom released all three films as a limited Blu-ray trilogy set in December 2020.

Television came next. Amazon Studios announced a series on July 26, 2019, with Neal H. Moritz producing and Shay Hatten writing. Amazon ordered it straight to series on October 14, 2020, with Sara Goodman as showrunner and James Wan's Atomic Monster and Sony Pictures Television Studios on board. It shot on Oahu starting January 25, 2021, and premiered on Prime Video on October 15, 2021. The show was a new take on the book with no tie to the films. It moved the story to a fictional Hawaiian town called Wai Huna and built it around identical twins played by Madison Iseman. Reviews were mixed to negative, and Amazon canceled it on January 7, 2022. Goodman said people just did not watch it.

After the show ended, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson and Leah McKendrick pitched Sony a new sequel late in 2022. Deadline and Variety reported it in February 2023, tying it to the success of the Scream revival. Sony confirmed in July 2024 that it would follow the 1998 film. Freddie Prinze Jr. signed on in September 2024, and Hewitt announced her return in December 2024. The new film shot in Sydney, Australia, from October 2024 and in Los Angeles through March 13, 2025, with a new ending shot in June 2025 after test screenings. Sony released I Know What You Did Last Summer on July 18, 2025. Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers and Jonah Hauer-King played a new group of friends in Southport. Gellar appeared as Helen in a nightmare, and Brandy returned as Karla in a mid-credits scene.

The 2025 film made money but not much. It opened third with $12,755,359 and finished with $32,165,634 in the United States and Canada. Box Office Mojo now lists $64,808,120 worldwide, with $32,642,486 from other countries led by the United Kingdom, France and Mexico, and The Numbers lists $63,354,791, on an $18 million budget. Rotten Tomatoes scored it 36 percent and CinemaScore audiences gave it a C+. Fans split over the twist that Ray Bronson was one of the killers. It came out on digital August 26, 2025, on disc October 7, 2025, and streamed on Netflix from October 16, 2025, under Sony's first window deal.

Where the franchise stands in 2026: it is four films, one canceled season of television and one novel. Every film has been a Sony release, and Neal H. Moritz is the one producer who has worked on every film and the series. The 2025 film ends with Julie getting a note that says "it isn't over" and going to see Karla, which sets up another film. Stevie Ward's body was never found either. On February 24, 2026, Scream Horror Magazine reported, citing an unnamed source, that Sony was developing a direct sequel to the 2025 film. It said Sony wanted Hewitt back as Julie in a bigger part and that Brandy was in talks to co-lead as Karla, with the two hunting a killer who goes after their families and taunts them about what they survived in 1998. The report said Robinson was unlikely to return. Sony had not announced the film as of September 2026. The Fisherman also turned up in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone during Season 05 in August 2025.

The home video side stays busy. The original film has been on 4K since its 25th anniversary disc on September 27, 2022, the sequel since September 26, 2023, and the 2025 film since October 7, 2025. The 2006 film got its first United States Blu-ray on September 26, 2023. The 2021 series has never had a physical release and remains on Prime Video.

Real life caught up with the book's author too late for her to see it. Kaitlyn Arquette's killing went unsolved for more than 30 years. In July 2021 Paul Apodaca was picked up by University of New Mexico police on a probation violation and confessed to her murder and two others from 1988 and 1989. He pleaded guilty on January 25, 2024, to three counts of second degree murder plus attempted rape and kidnapping, and was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Duncan had died in 2016 without knowing who killed her daughter.

Lore and rules

Every version starts the same way. A group of young people causes a death on the road, hides it, and swears never to talk. A year later someone sends the words "I know what you did last summer." The book, the films and the series all keep that setup. What changes is who the victim was and who is doing the knowing. In the novel it is a boy on a bike and his brother. In the films it is a fisherman who survived. In 2006 it is a friend killed in a prank. In the series it is one twin killed and the other taking her place. In 2025 it is a truck driver, and the avengers are his friend and a survivor of the first film.

The Fisherman is the films' icon. He wears a full length oilskin slicker with a deep hood and carries a steel hook. Kevin Williamson tied the hook to the campfire scene in 1997, where the friends tell the old Hook legend, so the film could say here is the old legend, now here is a new one. Later entries add weapons. Will Benson uses a harpoon in 1998, and the 2025 Fisherman uses a speargun. The series swaps the note for a severed goat head left with a message.

The Fourth of July is the franchise's clock. The 1997 accident happens on July 4, 1996, and the killings come during the next Fourth of July weekend, around the Croaker Queen pageant and parade. The 2006 prank happens on July 4, 2005. The 2025 crash happens on July 4, 2024. The series moves the night to graduation.

Ben Willis has the fullest backstory. His daughter Susie died in a crash while David Egan was driving. He killed Egan and made it look like suicide, and his fake suicide note is the handwriting clue Julie finds. The 1998 film adds a wife, Sarah, found murdered years before, and a son, Will Benson, who helps him. So Willis was already a killer before the friends ever hit him.

The films split into branches. The main line is the 1997 film, the 1998 film and the 2025 film. The 2025 film says the Bahamas murders happened, calls them the Tower Bay murders, and picks up 27 years later. Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson told Entertainment Weekly that the last-minute scares at the end of the first two films are not canon. That means the shower attack in Boston and the under-the-bed attack are nightmares, which is how Julie and Ray are alive.

The 2006 film is its own branch. It follows the first two films, mentions the Southport murders eight years earlier, and brings Ben Willis back as an undead killer who can be hurt by a hook. The 2025 film ignores it. It is the only film set inland and the only one to make the killer supernatural.

The 2021 series is a third branch. It adapts the novel fresh, has no link to the films, and adds a cult, a twin switch and a Hawaiian setting. Sara Goodman's series bible set out the killer and the deaths from the start. The canceled second season would have explained more of the cult.

The canceled 2014 Flanagan and Howard remake would have been a fourth branch. Flanagan said it would use nothing from the 1973 novel or the 1997 film.

Inside the main line, the in-story dates run like this. July 4, 1996: the accident on the coast road. July 1997: the Southport murders, with Max, Barry, Helen, Elsa and Officer Caporizo killed. Summer 1998: the Tower Bay murders in the Bahamas, where Willis dies. July 4, 2024: the Reaper's Curve crash. Summer 2025: the new Southport murders, where Ray dies and Stevie's fate is left open. The 2025 film also shows that Southport buried the 1997 murders to protect its tourist trade, which is part of Ray's motive.

The novel runs on different rules from the films. Its town is Silver Springs, New Mexico, Helen's last name is Rivers, the victim is David Gregg, and the stalker is his brother Collie. Nobody dies in the present day story. The 2010 revision changed David's name to Daniel and made Collie an Iraq War veteran instead of a Vietnam veteran.

Karla Wilson is the franchise's other thread. She survives 1998, and the 2025 mid-credits scene has Julie bring her a note that says "it isn't over" with a photo from the Bahamas. Stevie Ward's body was never found. Those two loose ends are where the story was left.

Timeline

  • April 28, 1934: Lois Duncan is born in Philadelphia.
  • March 14, 1965: Kevin Williamson, who would adapt the novel, is born in New Bern, North Carolina.
  • October 1973: Little, Brown and Company publishes Lois Duncan's novel I Know What You Did Last Summer, 199 pages in hardcover.
  • July 16, 1989: Duncan's youngest daughter, Kaitlyn Arquette, 18, is shot to death while driving home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
  • 1990: Neal H. Moritz and Bruce Mellon found Original Film, the company that would produce every film in the series.
  • 1992: Duncan publishes Who Killed My Daughter? with Delacorte and wins the Margaret A. Edwards Award.
  • September 30, 1994: Peter Guber founds Mandalay Pictures with an exclusive film and television deal at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
  • Spring 1995: Miramax buys Williamson's horror script Scary Movie for $400,000. It becomes Scream.
  • December 1996: Scream becomes a hit. Columbia pulls Williamson's I Know What You Did Last Summer script back out and rushes it into production.
  • March 31, 1997: Principal photography on I Know What You Did Last Summer begins. The shoot runs ten weeks, about seven of them at night.
  • June 1997: The California scenes, including the crash at Kolmer Gulch on Highway 1, are shot, according to Gillespie's commentary.
  • 1997: Director Mike Mendez pitches a college-set sequel with Hewitt and Prinze Jr. It is not made.
  • Summer 1997: Columbia and Mandalay advertise the film as "From the creator of Scream."
  • October 7, 1997: I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Album comes out on Columbia, and John Debney's score album comes out on Super Tracks.
  • October 17, 1997: I Know What You Did Last Summer opens in 2,524 theaters and takes in $15,818,645, finishing first.
  • October 1997: The week after release, a federal judge grants Miramax an injunction ordering the "From the creator of Scream" line removed from the ads.
  • Halloween weekend 1997: The film holds number one for a third straight weekend.
  • October to December 1997: The movie tie-in edition of the novel tops the Publishers Weekly children's fiction bestseller list three months running.
  • December 1997: The first film ends its domestic run with $72,586,134.
  • 1997: John Debney wins an ASCAP Award in the Top Box Office Films category for the score.
  • February 1998: Variety reports that Danny Cannon, director of Judge Dredd, will direct the sequel.
  • March 1998: Miramax wins again at a hearing over the Scream ad line, and Bob Weinstein says the company will pursue damages.
  • March 19, 1998: Variety reports Matthew Settle cast in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer with Brandy, Hewitt and Prinze Jr.
  • April 1998: Jennifer Esposito joins the sequel cast.
  • 1998: The first film is nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film, which goes to The Devil's Advocate. Gellar is nominated for Breakthrough Performance at the MTV Movie Awards.
  • March 10, 1998: At the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, Hewitt wins Favorite Female Newcomer and Gellar wins Favorite Supporting Actress, Horror, for the first film.
  • 1998: Mandalay's film division moves its distribution from Sony to Paramount. Mandalay Television stays with Columbia TriStar Television.
  • June 16, 1998: Columbia TriStar Home Video releases the first film on VHS and DVD.
  • November 1998: The movie tie-in edition of the novel passes 517,000 copies sold.
  • November 13, 1998: I Still Know What You Did Last Summer opens in 2,443 theaters with $16,520,038, second behind The Waterboy.
  • November 17, 1998: The sequel's soundtrack comes out on Warner Bros. Records, led by Hewitt's "How Do I Deal."
  • 1998: Simon Spotlight Entertainment publishes Trey Callaway's screenplay for the sequel as a paperback.
  • December 31, 1998: Copyright on the sequel is registered, to Global Entertainment Productions GmbH & Co. Medien KG, per the AFI Catalog.
  • January 19, 1999: "How Do I Deal" is released as a single. It peaks at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100.
  • February 26, 1999: The sequel opens in Mexico.
  • April 6, 1999: The sequel comes out on DVD from Columbia TriStar Home Video.
  • April 29, 1999: The sequel opens in Germany.
  • 1999: Brandy is nominated for Breakthrough Female Performance at the MTV Movie Awards. Hewitt wins Choice Movie Actress at the Teen Choice Awards for the sequel.
  • July 7, 2000: Scary Movie opens. Its plot spoofs the first film's hit and run after a beauty pageant.
  • August 2000: Variety reports Columbia is developing a third film written by Simon Barry, set on an Outward Bound style wilderness trip.
  • October 17, 2000: Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th is released by Trimark.
  • 2002: Duncan says in an interview that she was appalled her book became a slasher film. Gellar and Prinze Jr., who met on the first film, marry.
  • 2003: Kucch To Hai, an Indian film widely called an unofficial remake, is released. Star Tusshar Kapoor says the idea came from the American film but was adapted to Indian traditions.
  • July 2005: Variety reports Sony is moving ahead on I Know What You Did Last Summer 3 with a script by Michael D. Weiss.
  • August 15, 2006: I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer is released direct to DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
  • July 22, 2008: Sony releases the first film on Blu-ray with the Now I Know What You Did Last Summer making-of.
  • July 14, 2009: Sony releases I Still Know What You Did Last Summer on Blu-ray.
  • October 5, 2010: An updated paperback of the novel comes out with cell phones, an Iraq War veteran killer and the victim renamed Daniel. Hachette Audio puts out an audiobook of the updated text read by Dennis Holland the same year.
  • 2014: Duncan is named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.
  • September 2014: Sony announces a remake written by Mike Flanagan and Jeff Howard, budgeted at $15 to $20 million. It is later canceled.
  • September 30, 2014: Mill Creek Entertainment releases a budget Blu-ray of the first film.
  • June 15, 2016: Lois Duncan dies in Bradenton, Florida, at 82.
  • 2017: Jim Gillespie says in interviews that he did not like the sequel's premise and felt it hurt the franchise.
  • 2018: Trey Callaway tells Bloody Flicks the story of the sequel's four studio rules and the rival Stephen Gaghan script.
  • July 26, 2019: Amazon Studios announces a television series with Neal H. Moritz and Pavun Shetty producing and Shay Hatten writing.
  • October 14, 2020: Amazon orders the show straight to series with Sara Goodman as writer and showrunner.
  • December 9, 2020: Craig William Macneill is hired to direct the pilot.
  • December 2020: 88 Films releases the I Know What You Did Last Summer Trilogy limited Blu-ray set in the United Kingdom. A standard edition follows in 2021.
  • January 11, 2021: Nine series leads are announced, led by Madison Iseman, Brianne Tju and Ezekiel Goodman.
  • January 25, 2021: Filming on the series begins on Oahu, Hawaii.
  • July 2021: University of New Mexico police pick up Paul Apodaca on a probation violation and confesses to killing Kaitlyn Arquette and two other people in 1988 and 1989.
  • October 15, 2021: The first four episodes premiere on Amazon Prime Video. Madison Gate Records releases the score by Drum & Lace and Ian Hultquist.
  • November 12, 2021: The series finale, "Your Next Life Could Be So Much Happier," is released.
  • January 7, 2022: Amazon cancels the series after one season.
  • September 27, 2022: Sony releases the 25th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD of the first film with new Gillespie and Muse Watson interviews and deleted scenes.
  • Late 2022: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson and Leah McKendrick pitch Sony a new sequel.
  • February 2023: Deadline and Variety report the sequel, with Robinson directing and Hewitt and Prinze Jr. in talks.
  • March 2023: Prinze Jr. says he has not received a formal offer.
  • September 26, 2023: Sony releases the 25th Anniversary 4K of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and the first United States Blu-ray of I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer.
  • January 25, 2024: Apodaca pleads guilty to three counts of second degree murder, attempted rape and kidnapping and is sentenced to 45 years.
  • February 26, 2024: Mill Creek releases a Walmart exclusive Blu-ray SteelBook of the first film.
  • March 2024: McKendrick says social media will be part of the new film's plot.
  • July 2024: Sony confirms the new film follows the 1998 sequel. Camila Mendes, Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers and Jonah Hauer-King are cast.
  • August 2024: Brandy says she wants to play Karla Wilson again.
  • September 2024: Mendes leaves for Masters of the Universe, Chase Sui Wonders takes the lead, and Deadline confirms Prinze Jr.
  • October 2024: Billy Campbell joins, and principal photography begins in Sydney, New South Wales.
  • November 2024: Lola Tung, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Austin Nichols and Gabbriette join. Tung's and Chavez's scenes are later cut.
  • December 2024: Hewitt announces on Instagram that she is returning as Julie James.
  • March 13, 2025: Principal photography on the 2025 film wraps in Los Angeles.
  • Early June 2025: New scenes are shot so Danica survives, after test audiences objected to her death.
  • June 24, 2025: Sony releases a 4K SteelBook of the first film ahead of the new one.
  • June 28, 2025: Madelyn Cline tells The Hollywood Reporter she learned about the new ending about two and a half weeks earlier.
  • July 14, 2025: The new film premieres at the United Theater on Broadway in Los Angeles.
  • July 18, 2025: I Know What You Did Last Summer opens in about 3,200 theaters. It takes $12,755,359 for the weekend, third place. Milan Records releases Chanda Dancy's score.
  • July 19, 2025: Activision confirms the Fisherman is coming to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 as a playable character.
  • August 7, 2025: Season 05 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone launches. The I Know What You Did Last Summer bundle with the Fisherman operator arrives in the in-game store during the season.
  • August 26, 2025: The 2025 film comes out for digital purchase and rental.
  • October 7, 2025: The 2025 film comes out on DVD, Blu-ray and a 4K SteelBook.
  • October 16, 2025: The 2025 film starts streaming on Netflix under Sony's first window deal.
  • February 24, 2026: Scream Horror Magazine reports that Sony is developing a direct sequel to the 2025 film, with Hewitt wanted in a larger role and Brandy in talks to co-lead as Karla. It says Robinson is unlikely to return. Sony has not confirmed it.
  • March 5, 2026: The 2025 film is nominated for Outstanding Film, Wide Release at the 37th GLAAD Media Awards.
  • March 14, 2026: The 2025 film is nominated for Worst Remake, Rip-off or Sequel at the 46th Golden Raspberry Awards.
  • May 20, 2026: DC publishes Absolute Green Arrow. Writer Pornsak Pichetshote had pitched it on April 21 as "I Know What You Did Last Summer for billionaires."
  • June 5, 2026: The new Scary Movie opens from Paramount with jokes aimed at this franchise.
  • June 8, 2026: Bully's "Days Move Slow" from the 2025 film is nominated for Best Sync Usage at the Libera Awards.

Characters

The killers

Collie Wilson

Played by
No screen version
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (novel, 1973)
Motive
Revenge for his younger brother David Gregg, killed by the four teenagers in a hit and run.
Fate
Ray knocks him unconscious with a flashlight as he strangles Julie. Nobody is killed in the book's present day story.

Benjamin "Ben" Willis, the Fisherman

Played by
Muse Watson (1997, 1998); Don Shanks (2006)
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997); I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998); I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)
Motive
His daughter Susie died in a crash with David Egan driving. Willis killed Egan on the coast road on July 4, 1996, and was walking away when the four friends hit him and dumped him in the water. He came back to punish them. The 1998 film adds that his wife Sarah was found murdered years before, supposedly by Willis after he caught her cheating. In 2006 he returns as an undead version of the town's Fisherman legend with no human motive given.
Fate
1997: Ray cuts off his hand with the boat rigging and he goes overboard, body never found. 1998: Julie shoots him dead in the Tower Bay graveyard, and his under-the-bed attack at the end is treated as a nightmare by the 2025 film. 2006: Amber stabs him in the head and shoves him into a thresher, and he attacks her again a year later. 2025: dead and part of Southport history, with his murders the subject of Tyler Trevino's podcast.

Will Benson

Played by
Matthew Settle
Appears in
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Motive
Ben Willis's son. He befriends Julie, poses as a radio host to rig the contest, and gets her to Tower Bay for his father. He kills Estes with a harpoon.
Fate
His father stabs him by mistake while swinging at Ray.

The Fisherman (Broken Ridge)

Played by
Don Shanks
Appears in
I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)
Motive
A local legend given flesh after Roger wore the costume in the prank that killed PJ. He hunts the friends who covered up the death.
Fate
Revealed as the undead Ben Willis. See his entry.

Stevie Ward

Played by
Sarah Pidgeon
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Motive
She met Sam Cooper in drug rehab and was close to him. When she learned the group caused his death, she turned on them.
Fate
Ray shoots her off the yacht. She is never confirmed dead.

Ray Bronson

Played by
Freddie Prinze Jr.
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Motive
Stevie's partner. He is furious that Southport erased the 1997 murders to sell itself to tourists, and never dealt with what that summer did to him.
Fate
Ava Brucks shoots him in the back with his own speargun at his bar, with Julie there. He bleeds out.

Margot Gilbert

Played by
Brianne Tju
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Motive
She loved Lennon, worked out that Allison was posing as her, and killed to avenge Lennon and force Allison to confess.
Fate
Free. Allison blames Dylan and stays with Margot.

Margot's bodyguard

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Motive
Margot's accomplice in the killings, per the finale coverage.
Fate
Not caught.

Dylan (Clara's death)

Played by
Ezekiel Goodman
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Motive
Not the main killer. He was in the cave with a knife when Clara died and said he set her free, which strongly hints he killed her.
Fate
Framed for Margot's murders and locked in a psychiatric facility.

Characters

Julie James

Played by
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (novel, 1973); I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997); I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998); I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025); Scary Movie (2000, parody)
Bio
The heart of the film series. In the novel she is the girl who gets the first note and decides to confess. In 1997 she comes home from her first year of college, gets the letter and works out that the man they hit was Ben Willis. In 1998 she is at summer school in Boston, still having nightmares, when a rigged radio contest sends her to Tower Bay, where she shoots Willis dead. In 2025 she teaches college, warns the new group, and walks in on the end of Ray's secret. The mid-credits scene has her get a note saying "it isn't over" and go to Karla. Hewitt told Extra that the 2025 Julie is in her 40s, teaches about trauma and PTSD, and throws herself into work instead of dealing with her own. She won a 1998 Blockbuster Entertainment Award as Favorite Female Newcomer and a 1999 one as Favorite Actress, Horror, for the sequel.

Ray Bronson

Played by
Freddie Prinze Jr.
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (novel, 1973); I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997); I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998); I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Bio
Julie's boyfriend. In the novel he makes the anonymous ambulance call and saves Julie from Collie. In 1997 he was driving when the car hit Willis. He becomes a fisherman, visits Missy Egan under the name Billy Blue out of guilt, and cuts off Willis's hand. In 1998 he pawns an engagement ring for a gun and gets to the island in time. In 2025 he runs a struggling bar and turns out to be Stevie's partner in the killings, angry that Southport erased 1997. Ava Brucks kills him with his own speargun.

Helen Shivers

Played by
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (novel, 1973, as Helen Rivers); I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997); I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025, nightmare cameo)
Bio
Southport's Croaker Queen in 1996. In the novel she is Helen Rivers and survives. In 1997 she wants to be an actress, ends up working at her family's department store, has her hair cut off in her sleep, and is killed in the alley a few steps short of the parade crowd. In 2025 she appears in Danica's nightmare wearing her Croaker Queen tiara, and her grave appears in a scene added in reshoots. The 1998 film shows her photo by Julie's bed.

Barry Cox

Played by
Ryan Phillippe
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (novel, 1973); I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Bio
Helen's rich, hotheaded boyfriend. In the novel he is shot in the stomach and lives. In 1997 his drunken clowning distracts Ray at the wheel, he shoves the still living man into the water, and the killer runs him down with his own BMW. He is killed on the theater balcony during the pageant while Helen watches.

Max Neurick

Played by
Johnny Galecki
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Bio
A local who likes Julie and drives up just after the accident. The friends lie to him. He is hooked to death at the crab plant, and his body turns up covered in crabs in Julie's trunk. In the script Max lived. His death was added after test screenings.

Elsa Shivers

Played by
Bridgette Wilson
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Bio
Helen's older sister, who runs the family department store. Her throat is cut against a glass door. The blood on the glass was added after producer Erik Feig objected to the bloodless version.

Melissa "Missy" Egan

Played by
Anne Heche
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Bio
David Egan's sister, living alone outside town. She tells Julie and Helen about Billy Blue and shows Julie David's supposed suicide note, which matches the killer's handwriting.

David Egan

Played by
Jonathan Quint
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Bio
Susie Willis's boyfriend, who was driving in the crash that killed her. Ben Willis killed him on the coast road the same night the friends hit Willis, and his death was written off as a suicide.

Susie Willis

Played by
Not seen
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Bio
Ben Willis's daughter. Her death in a car crash with David Egan driving sets off her father's killings.

Karla Wilson

Played by
Brandy Norwood
Appears in
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998); I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025, mid-credits)
Bio
Julie's roommate in Boston. She takes the radio call that wins the Tower Bay trip, survives the attic attack and the storm cellar, and turns up alive at the end. Brandy said Karla's survival was written into her contract. In 2025 she lives with her partner Andrew, and Julie comes to her door asking if she is ready.

Tyrell Martin

Played by
Mekhi Phifer
Appears in
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Bio
Karla's boyfriend on the Bahamas trip. Willis kills him in the hotel kitchen.

Will Benson

Played by
Matthew Settle
Appears in
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Bio
A college friend who likes Julie. He is secretly Ben Willis's son, the voice on the radio who rigged the contest, and the man who kills Estes. His father stabs him by mistake while swinging at Ray.

Estes

Played by
Bill Cobbs
Appears in
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Bio
The Tower Bay bellhop, who practices voodoo. He figures out that the radio contest answer was wrong and tells the group about Ben Willis and his murdered wife Sarah. Will Benson impales him with a harpoon.

Mr. Brooks

Played by
Jeffrey Combs
Appears in
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Bio
The resort manager, who does not believe Julie and keeps everyone on the island because of the storm. He is found dead the next day.

Nancy

Played by
Jennifer Esposito
Appears in
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Bio
The resort bartender. She hides in the kitchen with the group and is killed after finding Estes's body with Karla.

Titus Telesco

Played by
Jack Black
Appears in
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Bio
The stoner pool boy with long dreadlocks, killed by the pool. Jack Black has no screen credit.

Dave

Played by
John Hawkes
Appears in
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Bio
Ray's coworker on the docks. He is hooked to death after he and Ray stop for a mannequin lying in the road.

Olga and Darick

Played by
Ellerine Harding; Benjamin Brown
Appears in
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Bio
The resort housekeeper and the dockhand. Darick's body is left in Julie's closet. Olga is slashed and dragged into a room.

Amber Williams

Played by
Brooke Nevin
Appears in
I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)
Bio
The final girl of the third film. She comes home to Broken Ridge a year after the prank that killed PJ, gets 50 texts reading "I know what you did last summer," and fights off the undead Ben Willis with a hook and a thresher. A year later he attacks her on a desert road.

Colby Patterson

Played by
David Paetkau
Appears in
I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)
Bio
Amber's boyfriend, whose Los Angeles internship fell through. He brushes off the threats and is hooked through the mouth in a kitchen at the festival.

Zoe

Played by
Torrey DeVitto
Appears in
I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)
Bio
A singer who stays in town for a shot at a talent scout at the festival. She is stabbed and thrown over a balcony after her set.

Roger

Played by
Seth Packard
Appears in
I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)
Bio
Wore the Fisherman costume for the prank. Guilty and drinking, he secretly confesses to Deputy Hafner and is killed and left with a suicide note.

Lance

Played by
Ben Easter
Appears in
I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)
Bio
PJ's cousin, who survives the festival massacre with Amber.

PJ

Played by
Clayton Taylor
Appears in
I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)
Bio
The sheriff's son. He is supposed to fall safely onto mattresses in the prank and is impaled on a tractor smokestack.

Sheriff Davis and Deputy Hafner

Played by
Michael Flynn; K.C. Clyde
Appears in
I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)
Bio
PJ's father, who blames his son's friends, and the deputy who saw PJ die. The Fisherman kills both at the festival. Hafner is impaled on a forklift. His name is also spelled Haffner.

Ava Brucks

Played by
Chase Sui Wonders
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Bio
The new lead. She comes home to Southport for her best friend's engagement on July 4, 2024, is part of the Reaper's Curve cover-up, spots Ray's wound, and kills him with his speargun.

Danica Richards

Played by
Madelyn Cline
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Bio
Ava's best friend, first engaged to Teddy and a year later to Wyatt. Stevie stabs her and throws her overboard. The reshot ending has her wash ashore alive.

Milo Griffin

Played by
Jonah Hauer-King
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Bio
Ava's ex. He is strangled with a rope in his car.

Teddy Spencer

Played by
Tyriq Withers
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Bio
The mayor's rich son. His drunk stand in the road causes Sam Cooper's fatal crash. He is hacked to death with a hook in the Spencer home after a long chase.

Stevie Ward

Played by
Sarah Pidgeon
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Bio
One of the five friends and secretly the new Fisherman. She had grown close to Sam Cooper in drug rehab. Ray shoots her off the yacht, and she is never confirmed dead.

Grant Spencer

Played by
Billy Campbell
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Bio
Southport's mayor and Teddy's father. He covers up the crash and has spent years burying the 1997 murders to protect tourism. He is killed with a hook.

Tyler Trevino

Played by
Gabbriette Bechtel
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Bio
A true crime podcaster digging into the 1997 Fisherman murders. She is chased through Bayside House, the old Shivers Department Store, and killed. Sources differ on whether she was hanged or stabbed.

Pastor Judah Gillespie

Played by
Austin Nichols
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Bio
Owner of the truck Sam Cooper was driving. He is found in his church with his eyes gouged out.

Sam Cooper

Played by
Ben Toyer
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Bio
The truck driver who swerves to miss Teddy at Reaper's Curve and dies going over the cliff.

Wyatt

Played by
Joshua Orpin
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Bio
Danica's new fiance. He is the first to die in the present day story, shot with a speargun by the pool, with "You can't erase the past" written in blood.

Andrew

Played by
Isaiah Mustafa
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025, mid-credits)
Bio
Karla Wilson's partner, seen when Julie comes to their door.

Allison Grant

Played by
Madison Iseman
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
The quiet twin. She was driving the night the jeep killed her sister Lennon and has lived as Lennon ever since, with her father's help. A dream at the end suggests she hit Lennon on purpose. She lies to police to protect Margot.

Lennon Grant

Played by
Madison Iseman
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
The popular party twin, killed on graduation night. The friends hide her body in a sea cave, believing she is Allison.

Margot Gilbert

Played by
Brianne Tju
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
Allison and Lennon's wealthy best friend, and the killer. She loved Lennon and figured out from social media photos that the survivor was Allison. She ends the season free.

Dylan

Played by
Ezekiel Goodman
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
Allison's love interest. He is with Clara in the cave when she dies and says he set her free. Allison frames him for Margot's crimes and he is sent to a psychiatric facility.

Riley

Played by
Ashley Moore
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
Dylan's best friend and the group's drug dealer. She is stabbed, loses a hand, is found coated in honey, and in the last shot opens her eyes in a freezer.

Johnny

Played by
Sebastian Amoruso
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
Margot's best friend. He notices "Lennon" smoking like Allison, and is decapitated. His head is left where Lennon died and later found full of Arctic wolf spiders.

Bruce Grant

Played by
Bill Heck
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
The twins' father, owner of Ohana Restaurant and Lodging. He helps cover up which twin died and lies that the twins' mother is dead.

Lyla

Played by
Fiona Rene
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
The police officer investigating the killings. She arrives in the finale to find Dylan holding the weapon.

Courtney

Played by
Cassie Beck
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
Riley's mother. A fake text from Riley's phone lures her into a trap where she is garroted.

Clara

Played by
Brooke Bloom
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
A local eccentric tied to an old cult whose members died in the caves. The town blames her for the murders. She dies coated in honey in the cave.

Helen (the twins' mother)

Played by
Maggie Lacey
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
The twins' mother, who left the family rather than died. She comes back looking for the cult's bible and is killed on Clara's property.

Collie Wilson

Played by
No screen version
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (novel, 1973)
Bio
David Gregg's older brother, a war veteran who uses the name Bud. He learns who the four are from the florist who sold Julie yellow roses for David's funeral. Ray knocks him unconscious with a flashlight.

David Gregg

Played by
No screen version
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (novel, 1973)
Bio
The boy on the bicycle killed in the hit and run. His name was changed to Daniel in the 2010 edition. His sister Megan meets Julie and Ray, and his mother was hospitalized in Las Lunas after his death.

Benjamin "Ben" Willis

Played by
Muse Watson; Don Shanks
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997); I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998); I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006); Referenced in I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Bio
The Fisherman. See the killers list for his full story.

Hannah Decker

Played by
Georgia Flood
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Bio
A Southport local in the 2025 film, credited in the main supporting cast.

Mei Gilbert

Played by
Sonya Balmores
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
Margot's mother, a recurring character in the series.

Kelly

Played by
Chrissie Fit
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
A recurring character in the series.

Dale

Played by
Spencer Sutherland
Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
Bio
A recurring character played by the singer Spencer Sutherland.

Places

Silver Springs, New Mexico

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (novel, 1973)
About
The novel's fictional town near Cibola National Forest. The hit and run happens on a mountain road on the way home from a party.

Southport, North Carolina

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997); I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
About
A real fishing town that plays itself in 1997. The film shot at the Amuzu Theater, the Old Yacht Basin, Southport Fish Company, Dosher Memorial Hospital and a house on Short Street. In 2025 the town is played by Sydney, Australia, and is shown as a tourist town that has buried its 1997 murders.

The coast road and the crash curve

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
About
Where the car hits Ben Willis on July 4, 1996. It was shot on Highway 1 at Kolmer Gulch, north of Jenner in Sonoma County, California, with the campfire at a beach near Bodega Bay.

Reaper's Curve

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
About
The cliff road outside Southport where Sam Cooper's truck goes over the edge on July 4, 2024.

Shivers Department Store / Bayside House

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997); I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
About
Helen's family store, where Elsa dies and Helen is chased. Gillespie liked the location so much he rewrote scenes around it. Location guides name Harrell's Department Store in Burgaw, North Carolina, while Wikipedia places it in Southport. In 2025 the building is Bayside House, where Tyler Trevino is chased and killed.

Croaker Queen pageant theater

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
About
Where Helen was crowned in 1996 and where Barry dies on the balcony in 1997. Shot at the Amuzu Theater, 111 North Howe Street, Southport.

Ben Willis's boat

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
About
The fisherman's boat full of clippings on the four friends, with Helen and Barry's bodies in the icebox. Shot on a real boat on the Cape Fear River.

Julie's Boston college

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997); I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
About
Where Julie studies after 1996. Exteriors in the first film were shot at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Tower Bay, Bahamas

Appears in
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998); Referenced in I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
About
The island resort where the rigged radio prize sends Julie. It has the hotel, pool, tanning bed, attic, storm cellar full of victims and the graveyard where Willis dies. Shot at El Tecuan Marina Resort on the Costalegre coast of Jalisco, Mexico. The 2025 mid-credits note carries a photo from the Bahamas in 1998.

Broken Ridge, Colorado

Appears in
I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)
About
The mountain town where the Fourth of July prank kills PJ. It has a gondola ski lift and a town festival. Shot in Utah, with Park City playing the town per IMDb.

Wai Huna, Oahu, Hawaii

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
About
The series' fictional town, shot on Oahu. Showrunner Sara Goodman said it gave the show a place that looks beautiful but has no escape.

The sea cave

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
About
Where the friends hide Lennon's body. A cult's members once died in the same caves, and Clara and Riley are later found there coated in honey.

Clara's property

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)
About
The compound where Clara chases the friends with a shotgun and dogs, and where Helen Grant is killed in the finale.

Ray's bar

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
About
Ray Bronson's struggling bar in Southport, where Ava notices his wound and kills him.

The Spencer home

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
About
The mayor's house, where Grant and Teddy Spencer are killed.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Appears in
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
About
Main filming base for the 2025 film from October 2024, with location work at Newport Beach, White Bay and Paddington.

Los Angeles, California

Appears in
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998); I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
About
The 1998 film shot interiors at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, a pawn shop at 630 South Main Street and Julie and Ray's house in Pasadena. The 2025 film shot there in February and March 2025 and in June 2025 reshoots.

Cast & Filmmakers

Lois Duncan

Author of the 1973 novel. Credited on every film and the series.

Novel (1973), 1997, 1998, 2006, TV series (2021), 2025

Kevin Williamson

Screenwriter of the first film. Also wrote Scream and created Dawson's Creek.

1997

Jim Gillespie

Director of the first film

1997

Neal H. Moritz

Producer through Original Film. The only producer on every film and the series.

1997, 1998, 2006, TV series (2021), 2025

Erik Feig

Producer. Pitched the novel to Mandalay and brought in Williamson. Executive producer on the series.

1997, 1998, 2006, TV series (2021)

Stokely Chaffin

Producer

1997, 1998

William S. Beasley

Executive producer and unit production manager in 1997, producer in 1998

1997, 1998

Peter Guber

Founded Mandalay Pictures, the company behind the first two films. Executive producer on the series.

TV series (2021)

Denis Crossan

Cinematographer

1997

Steve Mirkovich

Editor and second unit director

1997

John Debney

Composer. Won an ASCAP Top Box Office Films award for the score.

1997

Gary Wissner

Production designer

1997

Catherine Adair

Costume designer who created the Fisherman's slicker look

1997

Mary Vernieu

Casting director

1997

Matthew W. Mungle

Special prosthetics

1997, 1998

Jamie Kelman

Special prosthetics

1997

Bonita DeHaven

Key makeup artist

1997, 1998

John D. Milinac

Special effects coordinator in 1997, supervisor in 1998

1997, 1998

Freddie Hice

Stunt coordinator

1997, 1998

Louis D'Esposito

First assistant director

1997, 1998

Alex Steyermark

Music supervisor

1997

Danny Cannon

Director of the second film. Recorded a commentary for its 2023 4K.

1998

Trey Callaway

Screenwriter of the second film

1998

Stephen Gaghan

Wrote an unused New Orleans sequel script. Credited as co-writer in early trailers.

1998 (unmade version)

Mike Mendez

Pitched an unmade college-set sequel

1997 (unmade)

John Frizzell

Composer

1998

Joan La Barbara

Avant-garde vocals in the score

1998

Vernon Layton

Cinematographer

1998

Peck Prior

Editor

1998

Doug Kraner

Production designer

1998

Daniel J. Lester

Costume designer

1998

Jose Ludlow

Line producer on the Mexico shoot

1998

Simon Barry

Wrote an unmade third film in 2000

Third film (unmade)

Sylvain White

Director of the third film

2006

Michael D. Weiss

Screenwriter of the third film

2006

Justin Burnett

Composer

2006

Stephen M. Katz

Cinematographer

2006

Vance Hartwell

Special effects makeup artist

2006

Paula Fairfield

Sound designer and supervising sound editor

2006

Don Shanks

Played the Fisherman and was stunt coordinator. Also played Michael Myers in Halloween 5.

2006

Mike Flanagan

Co-writer of the canceled 2014 remake

Remake (unmade)

Jeff Howard

Co-writer of the canceled 2014 remake

Remake (unmade)

Sara Goodman

Developer, showrunner and executive producer of the series

TV series (2021)

Shay Hatten

First writer on the series. Co-wrote the pilot and was executive producer.

TV series (2021)

Craig William Macneill

Directed episodes 1 and 2 and was executive producer

TV series (2021)

Logan Kibens

Directed episodes 3, 4, 7 and 8

TV series (2021)

Benjamin Semanoff

Directed episodes 5 and 6

TV series (2021)

James Wan

Executive producer through Atomic Monster

TV series (2021)

Pavun Shetty

Executive producer, head of Original Film's television division

TV series (2021)

Michael Clear

Executive producer

TV series (2021)

Drum & Lace (Sofia Hultquist) and Ian Hultquist

Composers

TV series (2021)

Anka Malatynska

Cinematographer on six episodes

TV series (2021)

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

Director, co-writer and executive producer of the 2025 film

2025

Leah McKendrick

Co-wrote the story of the 2025 film and plays the newscaster

2025

Sam Lansky

Co-wrote the 2025 screenplay and has an uncredited bit as Hunter

2025

Elisha Christian

Cinematographer

2025

Chanda Dancy

Composer

2025

Saira Haider

Editor

2025

Courtney and Hillary Andujar

Production designers

2025

Mari-An Ceo and Alayna Bell-Price

Costume designers

2025

Colin and Greg Strause

Visual effects supervisor and producer

2025

Rob Lowry

Music supervisor

2025

Jennifer Love Hewitt

Julie James. Also sang "How Do I Deal."

1997, 1998, 2025

Freddie Prinze Jr.

Ray Bronson

1997, 1998, 2025

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Helen Shivers

1997, 2025

Ryan Phillippe

Barry Cox

1997

Muse Watson

Ben Willis, the Fisherman. Did most of his own stunts in 1997, including a long underwater sequence.

1997, 1998

Johnny Galecki

Max Neurick

1997

Anne Heche

Missy Egan

1997

Bridgette Wilson

Elsa Shivers

1997

Brandy Norwood

Karla Wilson

1998, 2025

Mekhi Phifer

Tyrell Martin

1998

Matthew Settle

Will Benson

1998

Bill Cobbs

Estes

1998

Jeffrey Combs

Mr. Brooks

1998

Jennifer Esposito

Nancy

1998

John Hawkes

Dave

1998

Jack Black

Titus Telesco, uncredited

1998

Brooke Nevin

Amber Williams

2006

David Paetkau

Colby Patterson

2006

Torrey DeVitto

Zoe

2006

Ben Easter

Lance

2006

Madison Iseman

Allison and Lennon Grant

TV series (2021)

Brianne Tju

Margot Gilbert

TV series (2021)

Ezekiel Goodman

Dylan

TV series (2021)

Bill Heck

Bruce Grant

TV series (2021)

Brooke Bloom

Clara

TV series (2021)

Chase Sui Wonders

Ava Brucks

2025

Madelyn Cline

Danica Richards

2025

Sarah Pidgeon

Stevie Ward

2025

Tyriq Withers

Teddy Spencer

2025

Jonah Hauer-King

Milo Griffin

2025

Billy Campbell

Grant Spencer

2025

Production & Box Office

Box office

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Budget
$17,000,000
Domestic
$72,586,134 (Box Office Mojo). The Numbers lists $72,250,091.
Worldwide
$125,586,134 (Box Office Mojo, with $53 million overseas). The Numbers lists $125,250,091. Wikipedia's infobox gives $125.3 million.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

Budget
$24,000,000 per The Numbers and Wikipedia. Box Office Mojo lists $65 million.
Domestic
$40,020,622 (The Numbers). Box Office Mojo lists $40,002,112.
Worldwide
$84 million per Variety, as cited by Wikipedia. Box Office Mojo and The Numbers list no foreign gross.

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

Domestic
None. Released direct to DVD.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

Budget
$18,000,000
Domestic
$32,165,634, with a $12,755,359 opening weekend. It opened first in France on July 16, 2025.
Worldwide
$64,808,120 (Box Office Mojo, with $32,642,486 international; top foreign markets were the United Kingdom at $3,341,264, France at $3,294,589 and Mexico at $2,123,726). The Numbers lists $63,354,791.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series, 2021)

Domestic
Not applicable. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Worldwide
Not applicable

The three theatrical films cost a combined $59 million. Using Box Office Mojo for the first and fourth films and Variety's $84 million for the second, they grossed about $274.4 million worldwide ($125,586,134 plus $84,000,000 plus $64,808,120), close to the $274.3 million Wikipedia gives for the franchise. Domestic totals come to $144,753,880 using Box Office Mojo's figures. The Numbers' franchise page lists $144,436,347 domestic and $228,625,504 worldwide, but it counts no foreign money for the 1998 film and lists the 2025 film with a wrong June 19, 2025 date. Combined opening weekends were $45,094,042 per The Numbers. In the United States and Canada the first film alone out-grossed the second and fourth films combined.

Rights and business

The films began at Mandalay. Peter Guber, a former head of Sony Pictures Entertainment, founded Mandalay Pictures on September 30, 1994, with an exclusive film and television deal at Sony, releasing through Columbia and TriStar. Producer Erik Feig pitched the Lois Duncan novel to Mandalay Entertainment, and Neal H. Moritz's Original Film came in as producer. Original Film was founded in 1990 by Moritz and Bruce Mellon and had a distribution partnership with Sony from 1997 to 2019. Columbia Pictures released both 1990s films through Sony Pictures Releasing.

Mandalay's film division moved from Sony to Paramount in 1998 and later to Universal in 2002, while Mandalay Television stayed with Columbia TriStar Television. The IKWYDLS films stayed at Sony. The 1998 sequel's copyright was registered to Global Entertainment Productions GmbH & Co. Medien KG, and the AFI Catalog lists it as a United States, Mexico and Germany co-production.

The first film's ad campaign led to a lawsuit. Columbia and Mandalay advertised it as "From the creator of Scream," meaning Williamson. Miramax, which released Scream through Dimension, sued and argued the line made people think Wes Craven was involved. Williamson had already asked for the line to come down. The week after release a federal judge granted Miramax an injunction ordering it removed. Miramax won again at a hearing in March 1998, and Bob Weinstein said the company would pursue damages against Columbia.

The 2006 film was a home video product. Sony moved the project ahead in July 2005, weighed a theatrical run and sent it straight to DVD through Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It is credited to Destination Films, Original Film and Mandalay Pictures.

In September 2014 Sony announced a $15 to $20 million remake with Mike Flanagan and Jeff Howard writing. It was canceled.

Television went through Amazon. Amazon Studios announced the series on July 26, 2019, and ordered it on October 14, 2020. It was made by Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television Studios with Off Center, Original Film, Mandalay Television and James Wan's Atomic Monster. Original Film had signed a Sony Pictures Television deal in 2015 and hired Pavun Shetty to run its TV division. Amazon canceled the show on January 7, 2022. It remains a Prime Video exclusive with no disc release.

The 2025 film is a Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems and Original Film production released by Sony Pictures Releasing. Original Film's own feature deal had moved to Paramount starting in 2019 and was renewed through 2027 in April 2024, but Moritz still produced this Sony title. Sony put it on digital August 26, 2025, and on disc October 7, 2025, and it went to Netflix on October 16, 2025, under Sony's first window streaming deal.

Home video rights have been spread around. Columbia TriStar Home Video released the first VHS and DVD editions. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment made the Blu-rays and 4K discs. Mill Creek Entertainment licensed a 2014 budget Blu-ray and a 2024 Walmart SteelBook of the first film. 88 Films licensed all three films for a United Kingdom trilogy set in December 2020.

The Indian film Kucch To Hai (2003), directed by Anurag Basu and Anil V. Kumar, has been called an unofficial remake of the first film. Its star Tusshar Kapoor said the idea came from the American film but was adapted for India. No licensing deal has been reported.

The Fisherman has been licensed to video games. Activision added him as a playable operator in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone during Season 05 in 2025.

The Kaitlyn Arquette case was finally closed in court. Paul Apodaca pleaded guilty on January 25, 2024, and got 45 years. It has no legal tie to the book or films, but it is part of why Lois Duncan turned against the 1997 adaptation, and it ended the long search she described in Who Killed My Daughter?.

Reception

The first film was a commercial hit and a critical shrug. It spent three weekends at number one. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 47 percent, Metacritic at 52, and CinemaScore audiences gave it a B minus. Roger Ebert gave it one star and wrote that the best shot in the film is the first one. Derek Elley in Variety called it a polished genre piece, and Richard Harrington in The Washington Post liked it better than Scream. Leonard Maltin gave it two stars but said it looked like a classic next to the sequel.

Lois Duncan was the film's harshest critic. She disliked seeing her book turned into a slasher and, as the mother of a murdered child, did not find violent death something to squeal and giggle about. The film still made the book a bestseller again, with the tie-in edition selling 517,000 copies.

The first film helped launch its cast. Kevin Williamson's Wikipedia entry credits it with launching the careers of Hewitt, Prinze Jr., Gellar and Phillippe. Gellar and Prinze Jr. met on it and married in 2002. Scholar Adam Rockoff called it a throwback to early 1980s slashers, and James Berardinelli credited it and Scream with starting a new slasher boom.

The sequel did worse on every count. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 10 percent with a consensus calling it the kind of rehash that gives horror sequels a bad name. Metacritic gives it 21. Audiences were a little kinder, with a CinemaScore of B. Jim Gillespie said it was not the right story and killed the franchise a little bit. Over time fans have held on to some of it, especially Jack Black's uncredited pool boy, the tanning bed scene and Brandy's Karla, who lives because the actor had it written into her contract.

The 2006 film is the franchise's low point with critics. It has 0 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from seven reviews. DVD Talk called it witless and scare-free. Fangoria's Michael Gingold praised its photography and the gondola attack but said the supernatural twist threw away the mystery. Later write-ups at Bloody Disgusting have given it a little credit for trying something new.

The 2021 series drew mixed to negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 41 percent, calling it a bloodless slasher full of plot holes, and Metacritic gave it 45. Variety's LaToya Ferguson said it would have worked better as a movie, while Bloody Disgusting praised the kills and Screen Rant singled out Brianne Tju as a next generation scream queen. Showrunner Sara Goodman blamed early backlash over it not being the movie for keeping viewers away.

The 2025 film got mostly negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 36 percent, with a consensus saying it serves up nostalgia without a hook of its own. Metacritic scored it 42 and CinemaScore audiences gave it a C+. IndieWire gave it a B+, Entertainment Weekly a B minus with praise for Madelyn Cline, and RogerEbert.com one star. The Ray Bronson twist split fans. Robinson called it a deliberate swing and said films people argue about on the ride home are a good thing.

The franchise became a parody target almost right away. Scary Movie in 2000 built its backstory on a hit and run after a beauty pageant, with Buffy Gilmore spoofing Helen, and grossed $278 million worldwide. Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th spoofed it the same year. Its title turned up in television episode names, and it reached other films as far away as India, where Kucch To Hai (2003) was called an unofficial remake.

Its influence runs into Scream too. SlashFilm pointed out that two scenes Gillespie cut from the first film, the killer fighting Helen inside the police car and Helen throwing things while running up the stairs, turned up in Scream 2. The dock set built for the first film shared space with Williamson's Dawson's Creek, which later spoofed the film in its episode "The Scare."

Home video keeps it alive. The first film has had a 25th anniversary 4K, several SteelBooks and a UK trilogy box set, and its 2025 4K SteelBook came out ahead of the new film. Muse Watson has recorded interviews for both 4K discs, and Gillespie, Danny Cannon and Sylvain White have all recorded commentaries.

Julie James has become a topic of her own. Wikipedia now has a page just for the character. For years critics such as Trace Thurman argued she was a weak final girl and that Helen should have lived. Others pushed back, and in 2025 writer Josh Korngut made the case that she belongs in the conversation with Laurie Strode and Sidney Prescott. The 2025 film made her a professor who teaches about trauma, and Hewitt said Julie had carried hers for decades.

The 2025 film ended up the lowest grossing theatrical entry. Its $12.8 million opening was below the first film's $15.8 million and the sequel's $16.5 million. Even so, its low budget kept sequel talk alive, and a February 2026 report said Sony was building the next film around Hewitt and Brandy. Sony has not confirmed it.

Awards

  • 1997 ASCAP Award, Top Box Office Films: John Debney for I Know What You Did Last Summer. Won.
  • 1998 Saturn Award, Best Horror Film: I Know What You Did Last Summer. Nominated. The Devil's Advocate won.
  • 1998 International Horror Guild Award, Best Movie: I Know What You Did Last Summer. Nominated.
  • 1998 Blockbuster Entertainment Award, Favorite Female Newcomer: Jennifer Love Hewitt. Won.
  • 1998 Blockbuster Entertainment Award, Favorite Actor, Horror: Freddie Prinze Jr. Nominated. Nicolas Cage won.
  • 1998 Blockbuster Entertainment Award, Favorite Supporting Actress, Horror: Sarah Michelle Gellar. Won.
  • 1998 Blockbuster Entertainment Award, Favorite Supporting Actor, Horror: Ryan Phillippe. Nominated. Jamie Kennedy won.
  • 1998 Blockbuster Entertainment Award, Favorite Actress, Horror: Jennifer Love Hewitt. Nominated. Neve Campbell won.
  • 1998 MTV Movie Award, Breakthrough Performance: Sarah Michelle Gellar. Nominated. Heather Graham won for Boogie Nights.
  • 1998 Young Artist Award, Best Performance in a Feature Film, Leading Young Actress: Jennifer Love Hewitt. Nominated.
  • 1999 MTV Movie Award, Breakthrough Female Performance: Brandy for I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Nominated. Katie Holmes won.
  • 1999 Teen Choice Awards: Jennifer Love Hewitt won Choice Movie Actress for I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and was nominated for Most Disgusting Scene for the same film.
  • 1999 Blockbuster Entertainment Award, Favorite Actress, Horror: Jennifer Love Hewitt for I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Won.
  • American Library Association 2005 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: the 1999 Dell paperback of the novel.
  • Publishers Weekly children's fiction bestseller list: the movie tie-in novel was number one in October, November and December 1997.
  • Lois Duncan received the Margaret A. Edwards Award in 1992 and the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award in 2014 for her body of work.
  • 2026 GLAAD Media Award, Outstanding Film, Wide Release: I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025). Nominated. Kiss of the Spider Woman won.
  • 2026 Golden Raspberry Award, Worst Remake, Rip-off or Sequel: I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025). Nominated. War of the Worlds won.
  • 2026 Libera Award, Best Sync Usage: Bully, "Days Move Slow," in I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025). Nominated. Wet Leg's "mangetout" in Heated Rivalry won.

Parodies and references

  • Scary Movie (2000), directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. Its backstory of teens who kill a man after a beauty pageant spoofs the first film, and Buffy Gilmore spoofs Helen Shivers.
  • Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th (October 17, 2000), directed by John Blanchard for Trimark. Barbara Primesuspect spoofs Helen Shivers, and the plot has a group keeping a secret.
  • The Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror X," segment "I Know What You Diddily-Iddily-Did."
  • Dawson's Creek, episode "The Scare," spoofing this film and Scream on Kevin Williamson's own show.
  • Popular, season two episode "I Know What You Did Last Spring Break."
  • Boy Meets World, episode "And Then There Was Shawn," spoofing this film and Scream, with Jennifer Love Hewitt as a guest.
  • Anthony Horowitz, I Know What You Did Last Wednesday (2002), a Diamond Brothers novella.
  • Kucch To Hai (2003), an Indian film directed by Anurag Basu and Anil V. Kumar and called an unofficial remake. Star Tusshar Kapoor said the idea came from the American film but was adapted for India.
  • Scream 2 used two scenes Jim Gillespie cut from the first film, the killer fighting inside a police car and a victim throwing things on the stairs, as SlashFilm pointed out.
  • Kula Shaker's "Hush" video was cut with footage from the first film.
  • I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) calls back to the first film again and again: Bayside House is the old Shivers Department Store, Tyler's chase copies Helen's, Gellar wears the Croaker Queen tiara, and the mid-credits note has a 1998 Bahamas photo.
  • The 2025 posters gave each character a line, such as your experience won't save you for Julie and your history for Ray. Another tagline was Karma is a killer.
  • Collider compared Teddy's long death in the 2025 film to Casey Becker's death in Scream.
  • The 2021 series replaces the note with a severed goat head and the message "I know what you did," and names the twins' mother Helen.
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone added the Fisherman as a playable operator in a store bundle during Season 05, which launched August 7, 2025. Activision confirmed the crossover on July 19, 2025, the day after the new film opened.

Fandom

The best-known fan project is I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Unauthorized Musical. It premiered at El Cid in Los Angeles in 2018 with Greer Grammer as Helen and Bianca Gisselle as Julie. Organizers called that first run a sellout, and it returned to The Three Clubs in Hollywood from June 7 to July 13, 2019. Jordan Ross, who had already done the same for Cruel Intentions, adapted and directed it, and Matt Shively and Trent Mills alternated in the slicker. Tickets came with a two item minimum, and the VIP ticket came with a shot.

The fan argument that never ends is Helen against Julie. Trace Thurman at Bloody Disgusting wrote in 2017 that Julie is a terrible final girl and that Helen is the deeper, more likable character who should have carried the film. WhatCulture made the same case in 2020. Others defend Julie. SlashFilm called her resourceful and a realistic survivor, and Decider crowned Hewitt the true queen of scream. In the 2025 film, Gellar came back as Helen in a dream sequence, wearing a copy of the Croaker Queen dress.

The film lives on in podcasts. Horror and nostalgia shows keep going back to it: F This Movie!, The Terror Table, Debt to Cinema, Slaughter Film, Back in Time, Cherish or Perish (which gave the soundtrack its own segment), Cocktail Party Massacre (which invented a drink for it) and The Bechdel Cast. The Faculty of Horror recorded a fan commentary track for I Still Know, and The Hysteria Continues recorded official ones for 88 Films.

Fans were making things for these films from the start. Windows desktop themes for the first film (dated April 9, 1998) and the sequel (February 17, 2000) were passed around on theme sites and Tucows, and copies survive in the Internet Archive. Fan fiction continuations of I'll Always Know, fan-made DVD openings for the 2025 film, and even a 2017 Wings of Fire fan animatic titled I Know What You Did Last Summer have ended up in the same archive.

Parody is a fandom of its own here. Scary Movie (2000) took its central plot from this film and Scream, with Anna Faris's Cindy Campbell based on Julie and Sidney. Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth came out the same year. The Simpsons did "I Know What You Diddily-Iddily-Did" in Treehouse of Horror X in 1999. Boy Meets World's "And Then There Was Shawn" put Hewitt herself in a parody of her street scream. Dawson's Creek spoofed it in "The Scare" (May 5, 1998), and Popular did "I Know What You Did Last Spring Break." Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries and MTV's Scream all named episodes after it. The new Scary Movie, which opened June 5, 2026, went after the franchise again.

Outside America the formula was copied, sometimes closely. In India, Kucch To Hai (January 24, 2003, directed by Anurag Basu and Anil V. Kumar, starring Tusshar Kapoor and Esha Deol) took its idea from the 1997 film. Kapoor said it was adapted to Indian traditions, and Taran Adarsh at Bollywood Hungama called it a poor copy anyway. South Korea's The Record (2000) has also been called a Korean take on it, and Bloody Disgusting covered both films in a July 2025 piece on international copycats.

Books & Comics

Books

I Know What You Did Last Summer

1973 · novel

Author
Lois Duncan
About
The book that started everything. Little, Brown and Company published it in October 1973 as a 199 page hardcover, ISBN 0-316-19546-4. It is set in the fictional town of Silver Springs, New Mexico, near the Cibola National Forest. Julie James, Ray Bronson, Barry Cox and Helen Rivers hit and kill a boy on a bicycle while driving home from a party in the mountains. Ray calls an ambulance anonymously and they swear to keep quiet. The note arrives months later. The one tormenting them is Collie Wilson, the dead boy's older brother, and the book ends with the friends deciding to confess. Nobody in it is murdered. Duncan got the idea watching her daughter Kerry and a friend talk about the same boy in her kitchen, and she wondered what would happen if a boy had deliberately planted himself in the lives of two friends. She later worked in a hit and run story she read in the newspaper. Kirkus said the killer is cleverly hidden among a pile of red herrings with a double identity twist. Jennifer Moody in the Times Literary Supplement praised how the mystery is handled.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (Pocket Books paperbacks)

1979 · novel

Author
Lois Duncan
About
Open Library lists Pocket Books mass market paperbacks dated April 1979 (ISBN 0-671-55713-0 and 0-671-62857-7) and a June 1987 printing (ISBN 0-671-63970-6). It also lists a 198 page paperback dated October 1, 1990 (ISBN 0-671-73589-6), a Perfection Learning prebound library edition from September 1978 (ISBN 0-8124-2033-0) and a Tandem Library school binding from October 1999 (ISBN 0-88103-516-5).

I Know What You Did Last Summer (UK editions)

1982 · novel

Author
Lois Duncan
About
Open Library lists a 199 page Hamilton hardcover from 1982 (ISBN 0-241-10723-7), a 160 page Horizons edition from 1991 (ISBN 0-330-29361-3) and a 199 page Puffin edition from 1995 (ISBN 0-14-037486-8). It also lists an edition from Klett, the German educational publisher.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997 movie tie-in edition)

1997 · novel

Author
Lois Duncan
About
Reissued for the film. Open Library lists it as a 208 page paperback dated November 1, 1997, ISBN 0-671-01722-5, under Archway and Simon Spotlight Entertainment. The tie-in sold 517,000 copies by November 1998, and Publishers Weekly listed it as a top selling children's fiction book for October, November and December 1997.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (Laurel-Leaf paperback)

1999 · novel

Author
Lois Duncan
About
Laurel-Leaf, the Dell young adult line, published a 208 page paperback on April 6, 1999, ISBN 0-440-22844-1. The American Library Association picked the 1999 Dell paperback as one of its 2005 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2010 revised edition)

2010 · novel

Author
Lois Duncan
About
Little, Brown reissued the novel in paperback on October 5, 2010, ISBN 0-316-09899-X (Open Library gives 200 pages and ISBN 978-0-316-09899-1). It was part of the first group of ten Duncan novels updated for modern readers. The kids now carry cell phones, the clothes were changed, Collie Wilson's war service moved from Vietnam to Iraq, and the dead boy's name changed from David to Daniel.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (audiobook)

2010 · novel

Author
Lois Duncan, read by Dennis Holland
About
Hachette Audio released an unabridged recording in 2010 using the modernized text. Booklist's Lizzie Matkowski wrote that Holland sets up a sense of normal life that makes the revelations stand out starkly.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (translations)

novel

Author
Lois Duncan
About
Wikipedia lists editions in Armenian, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Ukrainian.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer: The Screenplay

1998 · non-fiction

Author
Trey Callaway
About
A paperback of the sequel's shooting script, published in 1998 with ISBN 0-671-03456-1. Wikipedia credits Simon Spotlight Entertainment; Open Library lists Pocket Books. There was never a novelization of any of the films. A copy of Callaway's 2nd revised draft, dated February 13, 1998, is kept in the Internet Archive's screenplay collection.

Who Killed My Daughter?

1992 · non-fiction

Author
Lois Duncan
About
Delacorte Press published Duncan's account of her own investigation into the unsolved 1989 murder of her youngest daughter, Kaitlyn Arquette, 18, in Albuquerque. It explains why Duncan hated the slasher version of her novel. A suspect, Paul Apodaca, confessed in July 2021, was indicted February 21, 2022, pleaded guilty on January 25, 2024, and was sentenced to 45 years.

Lois Duncan: Author of I Know What You Did Last Summer

2009 · non-fiction

Author
Kimberly Campbell
About
A biography of Duncan for young readers from Enslow Publishers, listed in Open Library.

I Know What You Did Last Summer study guides

1999 · guide

Author
James S. Scott (Prestwick House); Novel Units
About
Two classroom guides to the novel are listed in Open Library for 1999, one by James S. Scott for Prestwick House and one from Novel Units.

I Know What You Did Last Summer and Combo 502: An Ace Anthology

1977 · guide

Author
Lois Duncan and others
About
A 1977 Scott, Foresman school reader that bundled the novel. A scanned copy sits in the Internet Archive.

Legacy of Blood: A Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies

2004 · guide

Author
Jim Harper
About
Critical Vision guide that covers the 1997 film and is a cited source for how Erik Feig brought the novel to Mandalay. Harper also compares the 2000 Korean slasher The Record to it.

Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film

non-fiction

Author
Adam Rockoff
About
Rockoff's slasher history is cited for Williamson basing the killer on his fisherman father and for the Miramax lawsuit over the "From the creator of Scream" ads.

Teen Movies: American Youth on Screen

2012 · non-fiction

Author
Timothy Shary
About
Columbia University Press study cited in coverage of the 1997 film.

The Philosophy of Horror

2010 · non-fiction

Author
Thomas Fahy, editor
About
University Press of Kentucky essay collection cited in coverage of the 1997 film.

The Diamond Brothers in... I Know What You Did Last Wednesday

2002 · novel

Author
Anthony Horowitz
About
A comic mystery novella. The plot spoofs Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and the title spoofs the 1997 film.

Rhino What You Did Last Summer

2009 · novel

Author
Paul Howard
About
The ninth Ross O'Carroll-Kelly novel. The title plays on the film and on Ross's nose job.

Comics

Absolute Green Arrow

Publisher
DC Comics
Years
2026
About
Not an official tie-in. DC began publishing it on May 20, 2026. On April 21, 2026, writer Pornsak Pichetshote said he pitched the series, about a serial killer hunting corrupt billionaires, as "I Know What You Did Last Summer for billionaires." No official I Know What You Did Last Summer comic has ever been published.

Games

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone (The Fisherman)

2025

Platforms
PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC
About
Activision confirmed the crossover on July 19, 2025, with the line "Last summer, they know what you did. This summer the Fisherman's in your lobby." The Fisherman came to the in-game store as a playable operator in a bundle during Season 05, which launched August 7, 2025. It is the only official game appearance for the franchise.

I Know What You Did Last Summer Windows desktop theme

1998

Platforms
Windows 95/98/ME/XP
About
Not a game. A fan-made desktop theme dated April 9, 1998, posted by themeworld, with wallpaper, icons and sounds from the film. It is preserved in the Internet Archive's desktop themes collection. Tucows also carried an I Know What You Did Last Summer theme with a double image background.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer Windows desktop theme

2000

Platforms
Windows 98
About
Not a game. A fan-made theme for the sequel dated February 17, 2000, also from themeworld. Its read-me warns that it only runs under Windows 98.

Home Media

Documentaries and retrospectives

Now I Know What You Did Last Summer

2008

About
A 27 minute making-of produced and directed by Michael Gillis for Sony's first Blu-ray of the 1997 film. It is the source for Williamson explaining the campfire hook story ("That's that legend. Now here's a new one.") and for Gillespie saying the fun was getting audiences to jump at things they had already seen. It carries over to the 88 Films set and the 2022 4K.

Joyride

About
Jim Gillespie's short film, included with optional commentary on the 2008 Blu-ray and in the 88 Films set as a look at the director's work before the feature.

My Own Summer

2020

About
A 43 minute Jim Gillespie interview made for the 88 Films UK trilogy set. Sony later used a shorter 30 minute cut on the 2022 4K.

Muse Watson interviews

2020

About
88 Films recorded a 15 minute interview for the 1997 disc and a 12 minute interview for the 1998 disc. Sony put the 15 minute piece on the 2022 4K of the first film and the 12 minute piece on the 2023 4K of the sequel.

The Hysteria Continues commentaries

2020

About
The slasher podcast recorded new audio commentaries for all three films in the 88 Films set.

Deleted scenes and alternate ending (1997)

2022

About
Six or seven deleted scenes and the alternate email ending, about five minutes in all, made their first official appearance on Sony's 25th Anniversary 4K on September 27, 2022.

I Know How You Scored Last Summer

2024

About
A 20 minute interview with composer John Debney, found only on the February 2024 Mill Creek steelbook sold at Walmart.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer making-of and Danny Cannon commentary

2009 and 2023

About
The 2009 Blu-ray had a five and a half minute making-of. The 2023 4K added the first ever commentary from director Danny Cannon.

I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer making-of

2006

About
A making-of featurette (Blu-ray.com times it at 27 minutes, the 88 Films listing at 26) and a Sylvain White commentary, first on the 2006 DVD and again on the 2020 and 2023 Blu-rays.

Return to Southport

2025

About
A 9 minute 11 second featurette on the 2025 legacy sequel's DVD, Blu-ray and 4K.

Chills, Kills and Thrills

2025

About
A 10 minute 33 second featurette on the 2025 film's kills, also on every 2025 disc.

Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film

2006

About
Slasher history documentary. I Know What You Did Last Summer is on its list of films featured.

Beyond Clueless

2014

About
An essay documentary about teen movies. Both I Know What You Did Last Summer and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer are among the films it uses.

Boogeymen: The Killer Compilation

2001

About
A 56 minute FlixMix video released October 2, 2001, stringing together seventeen scenes of famous horror villains. The Fisherman gets a segment with a scene from the 1997 film.

The Onion Looks Back At 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'

2016

About
A satirical retrospective video posted October 25, 2016, during The Onion's horror week. The joke is that the killer should have taken the kids to court.

'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Cast on the Series' Most Shocking Moments

2021

About
An MTV News video with the Amazon series cast, posted November 15, 2021.

Music

I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Album

1997

Artist or composer
Various artists
Label
Columbia Records
About
Released October 7, 1997. Fifteen tracks of alternative rock and metal: Kula Shaker "Hush," Type O Negative "Summer Breeze," The Offspring "D.U.I.," Green Apple Quick Step "Kid," L7 "This Ain't the Summer of Love," Soul Asylum "Losin' It," Toad the Wet Sprocket "Hey Bulldog," Southern Culture on the Skids "My Baby's Got the Strangest Ways," The Din Pedals "Waterfall," Our Lady Peace "Clumsy," Flick "One Hundred Days," Goatboy "Great Life," Hooverphonic "2Wicky," Adam Cohen "Don't Mean Anything" and Korn "Proud." Columbia A&R executive Tim Devine co-produced it. Wikipedia's film article gives the running time as 51:14 and its franchise article says 53:40.

I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Album (German CD)

1998

Artist or composer
Various artists
Label
Columbia / Sony Music Soundtrax
About
MusicBrainz lists a German CD pressing dated March 3, 1998.

I Know What You Did Last Summer: Original Motion Picture Score

1997

Artist or composer
John Debney
Label
Super Tracks
About
Debney's score, dated October 7, 1997, running 50:44. MusicBrainz lists a 1997 US promotional CD on Mandalay Way Music rather than a store release. Debney won a 1997 ASCAP award in the Top Box Office Films category. His cue "Final Confrontation" was later licensed for the 2024 Sony film Madame Web.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer: Music from the Motion Picture

1998

Artist or composer
Various artists
Label
143 Records / Warner Bros. Records
About
Released November 17, 1998. Twelve tracks: CJ Bolland featuring Justin Warfield "Sugar Is Sweeter" (Danny Saber Remix), Jennifer Love Hewitt "How Do I Deal," Deetah "Relax," Swirl 360 "Hey Now Now," Orgy "Blue Monday," Bijou Phillips "Polite," Jory Eve "Try to Say Goodbye," Grant Lee Buffalo "Testimony," Reel Tight "(Do You) Wanna Ride," Imogen Heap "Getting Scared," Lamb "Gorecki" and John Frizzell "Julie's Theme." Hooverphonic's "Eden" and Esthero's "That Girl" are in the film but not on the album. The franchise article gives 50:57; the film article's infobox says 51:14.

How Do I Deal

1998

Artist or composer
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Label
143 Records / Warner Bros. Records
About
The sequel's big song, written by Dillon O'Brian, Phil Roy and Bob Thiele Jr. and produced by Bruce Fairbairn and David Foster. It went to US radio on November 17, 1998, and came out as a single on January 19, 1999, with Jory Eve's "Try to Say Goodbye" on the B-side. It peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100. A music video went to music TV channels.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (score)

1998

Artist or composer
John Frizzell
About
No official score album was released. "Julie's Theme" on the song album is the only official Frizzell track. Frizzell said the score used none of the first film's themes. He built it with avant garde vocals by Joan La Barbara, multitracked and manipulated, plus a psaltery and a detuned dulcimer.

Hush

1997

Artist or composer
Kula Shaker
Label
Columbia
About
Kula Shaker's cover of the Joe South song hit number 2 in the UK in 1997 and opens the first soundtrack album. Its music video is an extra on the 2008 Blu-ray and the 88 Films set. The song was used again in the marketing for Kingsman: The Secret Service in 2014.

Summer Breeze

1997

Artist or composer
Type O Negative
Label
Columbia
About
Type O Negative's cover of the Seals and Crofts hit plays over the opening.

Proud

1997

Artist or composer
Korn
Label
Columbia (soundtrack)
About
Produced by Ross Robinson. It first came out as a B-side on Korn's "No Place to Hide" single in 1996, closed the 1997 soundtrack, and was later added to the band's 2006 compilation Live & Rare.

Great Life

1997

Artist or composer
Goatboy (Andy Rosen)
Label
Columbia
About
Andy Rosen's project Goatboy recorded it for the 1997 soundtrack.

2Wicky

1997

Artist or composer
Hooverphonic
Label
Columbia (soundtrack)
About
The Belgian band's track samples Isaac Hayes's "Walk On By" and was already known from Stealing Beauty. Hooverphonic's "Eden" was then used in the 1998 sequel.

Clumsy

1997

Artist or composer
Our Lady Peace
Label
Columbia
About
The Canadian band's hit was included on the 1997 soundtrack.

Waterfall

1997

Artist or composer
The Din Pedals
Label
Epic
About
On the October 1997 soundtrack and briefly heard in the film. The band was on Sony's Epic label, like the Columbia studio and record company behind the film.

Losin' It

1997

Artist or composer
Soul Asylum
Label
Columbia
About
Recorded for the soundtrack. It later turned up on the Japanese edition of Candy from a Stranger and as a European B-side to "I Will Still Be Laughing."

My Baby's Got the Strangest Ways

1997

Artist or composer
Southern Culture on the Skids
Label
Columbia
About
The North Carolina band also appears on screen as the band playing the beach party.

Songs in the 1997 film but not on the album

1997

Artist or composer
Various
About
From the end credits: Ugly Beauty "Forgotten Too," The Mighty Mighty Bosstones "Wake Up Call," Lead Belly "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," George M. Cohan "You're a Grand Old Flag," Bing Crosby "Beautiful Girl" and Ultra Nate "Free."

I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (score)

2006

Artist or composer
Justin Burnett
About
Burnett scored the direct-to-video third film. No official soundtrack album was released.

I Know What You Did Last Summer: Music from the Amazon Series

2021

Artist or composer
Drum & Lace and Ian Hultquist
Label
Madison Gate Records
About
Released October 15, 2021, the same day the series premiered on Prime Video. Running time 56:44.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

2025

Artist or composer
Chanda Dancy
Label
Milan Records
About
Released digitally July 18, 2025, the day the film opened. Twenty cues, 58:35: Reaper's Curve, The Pact, The Note, Harpooned, Dani & Ava, Podcast Girl, Bayside House, It's Happening Again, Make Some Noise, Graveyard, Float Warehouse, Motion Detected, Call Me Back, Broken Doors, We Did a Bad Thing, The Boardwalk, We Need to Leave, The Yacht, Final Showdown and An Old Friend. Anthony Parnther conducted. Wikipedia counts it as the fourth soundtrack album in the franchise.

Songs in the 2025 film

2025

Artist or composer
Various
About
None are on the score album. Screen Rant's scene guide: Chloe Slater "Tiny Screens" (opening), Ravyn Lenae "Love Me Not" (Ava getting ready), The Knocks and Dragonette "Revelation" (engagement party), The Haunted Youth "Teen Rebel" (balcony), The 1975 "People" (the drive before the crash), Renee Rapp "Leave Me Alone" (airport bathroom a year later), Christian Lee Hutson "Carousel Horses" (driving back into Southport), Fickle Friends "Swoon" (bridal shower), the Wedding March, Charlie Houston "Lewps" (Tyler's podcast montage), The Marias "Hush" (Ava and Milo), Angie McMahon "Devil Town" (epilogue), Bully "Days Move Slow" (final reflection) and Addison Rae "Summer Forever" (end credits).

Days Move Slow

2025

Artist or composer
Bully
Label
Sub Pop
About
Its placement in the 2025 film was nominated for Best Sync Usage at the 2026 Libera Awards, held June 8, 2026, at Gotham Hall in New York. Wet Leg's "mangetout" in Heated Rivalry won.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

2015

Artist or composer
Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello
Label
Island Records
About
Borrows the title but not the story. Released November 18, 2015, as the lead single from Handwritten (Revisited) and Cabello's first single away from Fifth Harmony. It was written backstage on Taylor Swift's 1989 World Tour. It peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. Ryan Pallotta directed the video, released November 20, 2015. Certifications include Diamond in Brazil, triple Platinum in Canada and double Platinum in Australia.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

2015

Artist or composer
Jacob Whitesides featuring Kelly Rowland
Label
BMG
About
Another song borrowing the title, released September 1, 2015.

IK What You Did Last Summer

2024

Artist or composer
OsamaSon
Label
Atlantic Records
About
A rap single with the title shortened, released October 2, 2024.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

2012

Artist or composer
The 69 Eyes
About
A 5:05 track on the Finnish goth band's album X, released September 28, 2012, in Europe and October 9, 2012, in the US.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

2026

Artist or composer
Zebrahead
Label
MFZB Records
About
A digital single MusicBrainz dates to May 20, 2026. Wikipedia credits its music video to Connor Udhus.

Events

I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Unauthorized Musical (premiere)

Where
El Cid, Los Angeles
Years
2018
About
A musical parody of the 1997 film that premiered at El Cid in 2018. Entertainment Weekly announced the cast on September 12, 2018. Greer Grammer played Helen Shivers and Bianca Gisselle played Julie James. Wikipedia spells her name Giselle; BroadwayWorld's cast list spells it Gisselle. Organizers later called it a sold-out first run.

I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Unauthorized Musical (return run)

Where
The Three Clubs, Main Stage Theatre, 1123 Vine Street, Hollywood
Years
2019
About
The musical came back June 7 through July 13, 2019, on Fridays and Saturdays plus Thursday, July 4. Jordan Ross, co-creator of Cruel Intentions: The Musical, adapted and directed. Joey Bybee of Cabaret Awesome co-directed. Cast: Matt Shively and Trent Mills as the Fisherman, Bianca Gisselle as Julie, Ryan Sutton Stevens as Ray, Greer Grammer as Helen, Brian Logan Dales as Barry, Matthew Scott Montgomery as Max, and Alli Miller as Elsa and Sunny Egan. Understudies were Katie Welch, Connor Weil, Natalie Masini, Jared Kusnitz, Shanera Richardson and Nick Bredosky. General admission was $34 and VIP was $52 with premier seating and a shot. The Three Clubs produced with Player-Hater Productions.

1998 MTV Movie Awards

Where
Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, California
Years
1998
About
Held May 30, 1998. Sarah Michelle Gellar was nominated for Breakthrough Performance for the 1997 film. Heather Graham won for Boogie Nights.

4th Annual Blockbuster Entertainment Awards

Years
1998
About
Held March 10, 1998. Jennifer Love Hewitt won Favorite Female Newcomer and Sarah Michelle Gellar won Favorite Supporting Actress, Horror. Hewitt (Favorite Actress, Horror), Freddie Prinze Jr. and Ryan Phillippe were nominated.

Saturday Night Live, season 24

Where
NBC, New York
Years
1998
About
Jennifer Love Hewitt hosted on November 21, 1998, the week after I Still Know opened. Muse Watson made a cameo during her monologue as Ben Willis.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) world premiere

Where
United Theater on Broadway, Los Angeles
Years
2025
About
The legacy sequel premiered July 14, 2025, four days before it opened in US theaters.

37th GLAAD Media Awards

Years
2026
About
Held March 5, 2026, hosted by Jonathan Bennett. The 2025 film was nominated for Outstanding Film, Wide Release. Kiss of the Spider Woman won.

46th Golden Raspberry Awards

Years
2026
About
Held March 14, 2026. The 2025 film was nominated for Worst Remake, Rip-off or Sequel. War of the Worlds won.

2026 Libera Awards

Where
Gotham Hall, New York City
Years
2026
About
Held June 8, 2026. Bully's "Days Move Slow" in the 2025 film was nominated for Best Sync Usage.

Southport filming locations

Where
Southport and Burgaw, North Carolina
Years
1997 to present
About
The North Carolina Film Office lists the 1997 film among its credits. The Amuzu Theater, the Old Yacht Basin and Southport Fish Company all appear in the film. The crash scene was shot on Highway 1 at Kolmer Gulch in Sonoma County, California.

Merchandise

Merchandise lines

Cavity Colors

Years
2025 to 2026
Items
Licensed horror apparel, on sale on the Cavity Colors site as of September 2026. For the 1997 film: a title T-shirt and a poster T-shirt ($35 list), matching title and poster zip-up hoodies ($55 list), and Julie James and Helen Shivers tribute T-shirts in standard and Comfort Colors versions. For the 2025 film: a Killer Note T-shirt ($32, or $34 in Comfort Colors) and a Karma Is a Killer T-shirt ($32, or $34 in Comfort Colors).

88 Films (UK)

Years
2020
Items
Collector extras in the Region B trilogy Blu-ray box: a slipbox, a 44 page booklet, a double sided poster and six postcards.

Mill Creek Entertainment (Walmart exclusive)

Years
2024
Items
Matte Blu-ray steelbook of the 1997 film with a clear slipcover and the exclusive John Debney interview.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Years
2025
Items
4K steelbook of the 1997 film, released June 24, 2025, with the four-lead poster art, the Fisherman on the back and the note reproduced inside. The 2025 film's US 4K came only in a steelbook.

143 Records / Warner Bros. Records

Years
1998 to 1999
Items
"How Do I Deal" singles on CD, 7-inch vinyl and cassette in the US, with separate European and Australian CD singles.

Fan-made software (themeworld, Tucows)

Years
1998 to 2000
Items
Unofficial Windows desktop themes for the first two films, with wallpaper, icons and sounds.

Home media collections

I Know What You Did Last Summer Trilogy (88 Films)

2020 · Blu-ray, Region B, 3 discs

Contents
The 1997, 1998 and 2006 films in a slipbox. Blu-ray.com dates it December 21, 2020, and The Big Movie House says December 15. It includes DTS-HD MA 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 audio, the Gillespie and Mirkovich commentary, the Sylvain White commentary, The Hysteria Continues commentaries on all three films, the 43 minute Gillespie interview My Own Summer, Muse Watson interviews for the first two films, Joyride, the making-ofs, the Kula Shaker video and trailers, plus the booklet, poster and postcards.

I Know What You Did Last Summer, VHS and DVD

1998 · VHS, DVD

Contents
Columbia TriStar Home Video, June 16, 1998. The DVD had widescreen and full screen versions, a filmmakers' commentary and the trailer.

I Know What You Did Last Summer, Swedish VHS

VHS

Contents
Egmont released the 1997 film for the Swedish rental market. Scans of the cover and a video store ad are in the Internet Archive.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, DVD

1999 · DVD, VHS

Contents
Columbia TriStar, April 6, 1999. Widescreen and full screen, with no real extras.

I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, DVD

2006 · DVD

Contents
Sony, August 15, 2006, direct to video. 1.85:1 anamorphic, Dolby Digital 5.1, Sylvain White commentary, making-of, trailer.

Leggenda mortale (I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer), UMD Video

UMD Video for PSP, Region 2 Italy

Contents
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's Italian PSP release of the third film, catalog UMDS10125, under the Italian title Leggenda mortale. Scans of the sleeve, booklet and disc are in the Internet Archive.

I Know What You Did Last Summer, Blu-ray

2008 · Blu-ray

Contents
Sony, July 22, 2008. Dolby TrueHD 5.1, the commentary, Joyride, the 27 minute Now I Know What You Did Last Summer, the Hush video and the trailer.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Blu-ray

2009 · Blu-ray

Contents
Sony, July 14, 2009. A five and a half minute making-of, the How Do I Deal video and the trailer.

I Know What You Did Last Summer, Mill Creek Blu-ray

2014 · Blu-ray

Contents
September 30, 2014. Budget BD-25 with 2.0 audio and no extras.

I Know What You Did Last Summer, 25th Anniversary Edition

2022 · 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray

Contents
Sony, September 27, 2022. Scanned from the original camera negative, Dolby Vision, HDR10 and Atmos. New 30 minute Gillespie interview, 15 minute Muse Watson interview, and the deleted scenes and alternate ending for the first time. The Blu-ray keeps the older extras.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, 25th Anniversary Edition

2023 · 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray

Contents
Sony, September 26, 2023. Remastered from the 35mm negative with Dolby Vision and Atmos. New Danny Cannon commentary and the 12 minute Muse Watson interview.

I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, Blu-ray

2023 · Blu-ray

Contents
Sony, September 26, 2023, the same day as the sequel's 4K. BD-50, region free, DTS-HD MA 5.1, the White commentary, a 27 minute making-of and the trailer, at a $26.99 list price. Wikipedia calls it manufactured on demand; Blu-ray.com and JoBlo treat it as a pressed disc.

I Know What You Did Last Summer, Walmart steelbook

2024 · Blu-ray

Contents
Mill Creek, February 2024. BD-25, DTS-HD MA 2.0, with the exclusive Debney interview I Know How You Scored Last Summer.

I Know What You Did Last Summer, 4K steelbook

2025 · 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray

Contents
Sony, June 24, 2025. Same discs as the 2022 4K in new steelbook packaging.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025), home release

2025 · Digital, DVD, Blu-ray, 4K steelbook

Contents
Digital August 26, 2025. DVD, Blu-ray and 4K on October 7, 2025. The extras are Return to Southport, Chills, Kills and Thrills, outtakes and bloopers, and four deleted and extended scenes. The US 4K came only as a steelbook.

Netflix

2025 · Streaming

Contents
The 1997 film was added to Netflix in the US on October 1, 2025. The 2025 film followed on October 16, 2025, under Sony's first-window deal, earlier than the usual 120 days. What's on Netflix reported it would stay about 18 months before moving to Hulu and Disney+.

News

News in 2026

  • February 24, 2026: Scream Horror Magazine reported, citing an unnamed source, that Sony was developing a sequel to the 2025 film with Hewitt in a bigger role and Brandy in talks to co-lead as Karla. It said Jennifer Kaytin Robinson was unlikely to return.
  • March 5, 2026: The 2025 film was nominated for Outstanding Film, Wide Release at the 37th GLAAD Media Awards. Kiss of the Spider Woman won.
  • March 14, 2026: The 2025 film was nominated for Worst Remake, Rip-off or Sequel at the 46th Golden Raspberry Awards. War of the Worlds won.
  • April 21, 2026: Writer Pornsak Pichetshote said he pitched DC's Absolute Green Arrow as "I Know What You Did Last Summer for billionaires."
  • May 20, 2026: Zebrahead released a digital single called "I Know What You Did Last Summer," with a video by Connor Udhus.
  • June 5, 2026: The new Scary Movie opened in US theaters from Paramount after a June 3 premiere at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles. It spoofs this franchise, whose plot the 2000 original borrowed. It grossed $231.9 million on a $30 million budget, went to digital with a 13 minute longer extended cut on July 21, 2026, and reached Paramount+ on September 3, 2026.
  • June 8, 2026: Bully's "Days Move Slow," used in the 2025 film, was nominated for Best Sync Usage at the 2026 Libera Awards in New York.
  • Mid 2026: What's on Netflix expected the 2025 film to reach Netflix Australia around the middle of 2026. The UK was waiting for Sky and NowTV's first window to end, with other regions in 2027 or later.
  • September 2026: What's on Netflix reported the 2025 film would stay on Netflix in the US for 18 months from October 16, 2025, before moving to Hulu and Disney+. That schedule would keep it there until about April 2027.
  • September 2026: Cavity Colors was still selling its licensed apparel for the 1997 and 2025 films, including Julie James and Helen Shivers tribute shirts and a Karma Is a Killer shirt for the new film.
  • September 2026: Sony still had not announced a sequel to the 2025 film. The only report was Scream Horror Magazine's February 24 story from an unnamed source. No second season of the Amazon series or new edition of the novel was announced.

Trivia

  • In the novel the girls are Julie James and Helen Rivers. Rivers became Shivers for the film.
  • Lois Duncan said in a 2002 interview that she was "appalled" her book became a slasher film, adding: "As the mother of a murdered child, I don't find violent death something to squeal and giggle about."
  • Duncan won the American Library Association's Margaret A. Edwards Award in 1992 for her lasting contribution to young adult books.
  • Lois Duncan died June 15, 2016, at 82, in Bradenton, Florida. The man who confessed to her daughter Kaitlyn's murder was sentenced in 2024, eight years after her death.
  • Producer Erik Feig pitched a film of the novel to Mandalay Entertainment and brought in Kevin Williamson to rework it into something closer to an 80s slasher.
  • Williamson moved the story to a fishing village and made the killer a hook-wielding fisherman because his own father had been a commercial fisherman.
  • The campfire story at the start of the 1997 film is the urban legend known as The Hook. Williamson said he wrote it to tell the audience: that's the old legend, here's a new one.
  • Williamson had nothing to do with any of the three sequels.
  • Box office across the three theatrical films comes to $274,288,246 worldwide on $59 million in combined budgets, per Wikipedia's franchise table. The 2025 film's worldwide total is $63.4 million at The Numbers and $64.8 million at Box Office Mojo.
  • Sources disagree on the first film's Rotten Tomatoes score: Wikipedia's film page says 47 percent from 118 reviews, and the franchise table says 46 percent.
  • The Amazon series is listed at 41 percent on Rotten Tomatoes with a Metacritic score of 45.
  • Runtimes: 101 minutes for the 1997 film, 100 for the 1998 sequel, 92 for the 2006 film and 111 for the 2025 film. The eight episodes of the series add up to 6 hours 20 minutes.
  • Muse Watson did most of his own stunts in the 1997 film, including a very long underwater sequence. Before acting as Muse Watson he worked as a stunt driver under his birth name, Robert Gravel, on Steel Magnolias and Mississippi Burning.
  • Watson and Hewitt reunited in 2007 when he guest starred on her show Ghost Whisperer in the episode "Delia's First Ghost."
  • Stephen Gaghan, whose competing sequel script was not used, is still listed with uncredited revisions on I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.
  • Mike Mendez pitched a college-set sequel with Hewitt and Prinze Jr. in 1997. In August 2000 Columbia developed a third film by Simon Barry built around an Outward Bound-style wilderness trip. Neither was made.
  • In September 2014 Sony announced a remake written by Mike Flanagan and Jeff Howard, budgeted at $15 to $20 million and aimed at 2016. Flanagan said it would use nothing from the novel or the 1997 film. It was cancelled.
  • I Still Know What You Did Last Summer opened to $16.5 million from 2,443 theaters, second behind The Waterboy.
  • Jim Gillespie on the sequel in 2017: "I thought it wasn't the right story. I didn't like the premise."
  • Brandy's role as Karla Wilson in I Still Know was her big screen debut, after she backed out of Set It Off.
  • Hewitt's "How Do I Deal" was her first and biggest Billboard Hot 100 single, peaking at number 59.
  • Kula Shaker's "Hush" won a second life in 2014 in the trailer for Kingsman: The Secret Service.
  • John Debney's cue "Final Confrontation" from the 1997 score is on the soundtrack of Sony's Madame Web (2024).
  • Wikipedia lists John Debney's 1997 score on the Super Tracks label, while MusicBrainz lists a 1997 promotional CD on Mandalay Way Music.
  • Singer Spencer Sutherland guest starred as Dale on the Amazon series in October 2021.
  • Amazon announced the series on July 26, 2019, ordered it on October 14, 2020, and started filming on Oahu on January 25, 2021.
  • The eight episodes of the Amazon series are titled "It's Thursday," "It's Not Just for Dog Shit," "A Gorilla Head Will Not Do," "Hot Shrimp Salad," "Mukbang," "Least You Had a Spare," "If Only Dogs Could Talk" and "Your Next Life Could Be So Much Happier."
  • The Hollywood Reporter's Daniel Fienberg noted the series kids are Instagram users, but said the show is only somewhat about Instagram. Bloody Disgusting's Meagan Navarro gave it three out of five for its deaths and mystery.
  • The 2025 film opened against Smurfs and Eddington and was projected at $13 to $17 million.
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar played the love interest in the 2000 music video for Stone Temple Pilots' "Sour Girl."
  • Gellar and Prinze Jr. met on the first film and married in Mexico on September 1, 2002.
  • New Zealand's Office of Film and Literature Classification has records for the 1997 film dated January 26, 1998, I Still Know dated November 27, 1998, and I'll Always Know dated October 25, 2006. All three are kept in the Internet Archive.
  • An Australian Network Ten promo for a 2001 TV airing of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is kept in the Internet Archive's TV commercials collection.
  • Wikipedia's list of legacy sequels lists the 2025 film, with Hewitt, Prinze Jr. and Gellar returning.
  • The 2025 film is a Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems and Original Film co-production. Sony first set a summer 2025 release on May 16, 2024, then opened it July 18, 2025.
  • Chanda Dancy's score credits before the 2025 film include Devotion, Lawmen: Bass Reeves and Blink Twice. Milan Records, which released her score, is a Sony Music label.
  • The Numbers lists the 1997 film at $72,250,091 domestic and $125,250,091 worldwide on a $17 million budget, with a $15,818,645 opening weekend.
  • The Numbers lists I Still Know What You Did Last Summer at a $24 million budget, a $16,520,038 opening and $40,020,622 domestic. It gives no foreign total for the sequel.
  • The Numbers lists the 2025 film at an $18 million budget and a $12,755,359 opening in 3,206 theaters. It finished with $32,165,634 domestic, $31,189,157 international and $63,354,791 worldwide. Wikipedia's page for the film says $64.8 million.
  • The Numbers records no box office for I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer because it never played theaters.
  • The 2025 film's domestic total came to 2.52 times its opening weekend, per The Numbers.

Online

  • The Hysteria Continues, the slasher podcast, recorded commentaries for all three films for the 2020 88 Films trilogy set.
  • The Bechdel Cast covered I Know What You Did Last Summer in an episode released June 13, 2022.
  • F This Movie! episode 587: Patrick is joined by Anthony King to discuss the post-Scream slasher.
  • Debt to Cinema 094: I Know What You Did Last Summer (Dollar Reviews), July 5, 2017. It revisits the Kevin Williamson script 20 years later.
  • The Terror Table, Ep. 151, February 26, 2020. The main discussion of the 1997 film starts at 1 hour 17 minutes.
  • Random Number Generator Horror Podcast No. 9, episode 55, with guest Joe Lipsett, July 1, 2021.
  • Cherish or Perish, Episode 52: I Know What You Did Last Summer Movie & Music, May 27, 2021. Soundtrack talk starts at 40 minutes.
  • Slaughter Film, Podcast Week 56: I Know What You Did Last Summer and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.
  • Back in Time Podcast, Ep. 49, July 20, 2018, a scene by scene breakdown of the 1997 film.
  • Cocktail Party Massacre, #5, July 4, 2018. The hosts watch the film and mix a drink called I Know What You Drank Last Summer.
  • The Faculty of Horror, an audio commentary track for I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.
  • Or Is It? from CanadianMovieCrew.com, an episode on I Know What You Did Last Summer.
  • Pilot Error Podcast, I Know What You Did Last Summer: Not The Movie, October 27, 2021, a pan of the Amazon series.
  • Everything Actioncast, Ep. 614, discussed the February 2023 news of a legacy sequel.
  • The Scream Cast: A Slasher Podcast, June 8, 2016, on MTV's Scream season 2 premiere, an episode titled "I Know What You Did Last Summer."
  • The Onion, 'The Onion Looks Back At I Know What You Did Last Summer,' YouTube, October 25, 2016.
  • Phelous, a video review of I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, June 2015.
  • MTV News, a video of the Amazon series cast discussing its most shocking moments, November 15, 2021.
  • Amazon's teaser trailer for the 2021 series went up September 15, 2021, and the full trailer September 23, 2021.
  • Jennifer Love Hewitt officially announced her return for the 2025 film on Instagram in December 2024.
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar teased the 2025 film with a photo from the set while it was shooting in late 2024, as Deadline reported.
  • Bloody Disgusting, Trace Thurman, 2017: "Julie James is a terrible Final Girl," arguing Helen should have been the lead.
  • Decider, Josh Sorokach, October 21, 2016: "Final Girl Friday: Jennifer Love Hewitt's Julie James Is The True Queen Of Scream."
  • Uproxx, Chris Eggertsen, April 15, 2015: an appreciation of Gellar's Helen Shivers on her birthday.
  • SlashFilm, Shaun Stacy, September 17, 2021: The 15 Best Final Girls in Horror Movies Ranked, praising Julie as resourceful.
  • WhatCulture, December 2, 2020: listed Julie among horror characters who should have died.
  • Bloody Disgusting, Paul Le, July 17, 2025: "'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Copycats: Three International Slashers That Stole the Formula," covering The Record and Kucch To Hai.
  • Screen Rant, Max Ruscinski, July 18, 2025: a guide to every song in the 2025 film and when it plays.
  • NME, Max Pilley, July 18, 2025: Every song on the 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' soundtrack.
  • Film Music Reporter, July 17, 2025: the Chanda Dancy soundtrack album details.
  • What's on Netflix, Kasey Moore, October 2, 2025: the Netflix date for the 2025 film and its rollout by country.
  • Bloody Disgusting, John Squires, August 26, 2025: the 2025 film arrives on digital.

Sources