With the release of the new I Know What You Did Last Summer right around the corner on the 2025 movie schedule, I figured it was time for me to finally watch the 1997 classic. I’ll say it, it spooked me on many occasions. So, when Freddie Prinze Jr., who is returning alongside Jennifer Love Hewitt for the reboot, said modern audiences would probably laugh at this OG movie, I was quick to disagree.
Now, there’s more nuance to this. On the whole, I disagree with Prinze. However, I do get his point. While promoting his upcoming horror movie with Fandango, he started off his explanation by talking about how the horror genre rapidly evolves, saying:
Horror evolves more quickly than any other type of movie. A comedy is a comedy forever. A drama is a drama forever. Action movies are action movies. But these horror writers and directors are constantly trying to out-scare each other and freak out audiences based on what the last generation did, because those are movies that inspired this generation of directors and writers.
Now, to an extent, I get this. I also think his point crosses genres, and doesn’t just apply to horror. As my not-so-positive opinions about Superbad show, comedy can (and oftentimes is) generational. And that means some folks will appreciate it way more than others. That can be said about many movies across genres, too. But there are also timeless films in each genre.
For example, to me, Scream is a great and timeless flick. It’s one of the best horror movies ever, it came out in 1996, and while it’s purposefully funny, it’s also still very scary and gory. I wasn’t laughing at it the way Prinze implied I might be. And the same can be said for I Know What You Did Last Summer, so to an extent, I don’t agree with the actor’s following comments:
So, it evolves so quickly…like if you ask a kid to watch I Know What You Did Last Summer, the original one, today, they’re going to laugh. They’re going to laugh. When I was 21 and this came out, they were screaming and holding each other for dear life. But it evolves so, so quickly.
When I watched I Know What You Did Last Summer a few days ago with my friend, I literally talked to her about the multiple jump scares that genuinely got me. Every kill in the movie, especially Helen’s, had me on edge, and that final battle on the boat was extremely tense.
So, no, I wasn’t laughing at I Know What You Did Last Summer, and I’d consider myself a modern audience member in this case, since I watched it for the first time almost 30 years late.
However, again, I see what Freddie Prinze Jr. is saying, especially with his following point:
When I saw Phantasm for the first time, it wasn’t scary. I thought it was like, ‘Yeah, okay, I’m laughing at it.’ And my buddy, who was five years older than me, was like, ‘It was the scariest stuff I ever saw.’ And for me, it was my Freddy Krueger, and for the Scream generation, that’s funny. And for the people who are scared of Scream, they saw Saw, and then all a sudden, those are funny.
Some movies don’t age well. Also, in the realm of horror, I think he’s right; it’s gotten more intense and scarier with each generation. However, I also wouldn’t laugh in such a dismissive way at this movie or many others.
There’s a reason it’s a cult classic and got not only a sequel but a 2025 remake. I certainly wasn’t laughing at I Know What You Did Last Summer in the way that its star was implying, even though I do agree that the genre has evolved. The slasher is effective, tense, and at times genuinely scary. So, I think Freddie Prinze Jr. should give his movie and us a bit more credit to appreciate classics like this 1997 film.