“I Know What You Did Last Summer’ a fresh take on horror fave

How much do you know about I Know What You Did Last Summer Anyone could be forgiven for not realizing this week s slasher thriller starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr is a brand-new movie not a revival of the box-office hit which launched those two as stars and had exactly the same memorable title For this IKWYDLS is really the fifth film in a franchise that also includes a one-season Amazon Prime streaming series Rising screenwriter Kevin Williamson had in already scored with his classic thriller Scream starring Drew Barrymore Scream spawned a hit franchise and made Williamson even if he didn t have an Oscar Hollywood s golden guy A year later Williamson again hit the bullseye with IKWYDLS directed by first-timer Jim Gillespie and a cast that included Sarah Michelle Gellar who would marry Prinze and Ryan Phillippe The well-reviewed murder mystery had a simple set-up Four teens from the small North Carolina seaside town of Tower Bay were drunk driving on the th of July weekend when they had a hit-and-run accident Which they tried to cover up by dumping the body Only it wasn t a corpse yet Startled to find their victim still alive they drowned him Now guilt-ridden killers they find a year later their lives have all been stunted with early failures Then comes that ominous warning note with that infamous title and they find themselves summarily stalked by an unseen hook-wielding maniac IKWYDLS was a monster hit making more than million in pre-inflation grosses One year later in came the badly reviewed direct sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer again with Hewitt and Prinze Again making much money As for the series murderous maniac No way would he stay away for too long He resurfaced in with the negligible direct-to-video standalone sequel I ll Dependably Know What You Did Last Summer Sony Pictures soon apparently decided that they d had enough fooling around with variations on that title Since the studio has been dutifully progressing this new-film old-title return It took more than a decade but here comes a new spin on IKWYDLS courtesy of co-writer co-story by and director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson who begins naturally years after the Tower Bay murders of the first film And yes another hook-wielding malevolent murderer appears reducing one by one the members of a group of friends one year after they covered up a car accident in which they supposedly killed someone Gellar married to Prinze for years now has acknowledged they were eager to have her return But since she was killed off in the original wouldn t that be tough to justify I Know What You Did Last Summer opens in theaters July Freddie Prinze reprises his role from the original I Know What You Did Last Summer Photo by Brooke Rushton