I Know What You Did Last Summer

On a windy coastal road a few nights of misjudgment lead four teenagers to a desperate decision after a fatal crash. They choose to hide what happened by dumping a body into the sea and moving on with their lives. A year later their fragile cover starts to crumble as a masked figure with a hook for a hand closes in, turning everyday streets into a tense minefield. Julie James, Ray Bronson, Helen Shivers, Barry Cox and Elsa Shivers find themselves stalked as the past returns with a deadly punctuality. The group wrestles with guilt and fear while their ordinary routines are upended by a relentless pursuer. Friends fear exposure while the town starts whispering about what happened that night.

Directed by Jim Gillespie and adapted by Kevin Williamson from Lois Duncan's novel, the 1997 thriller follows teenage life and consequences. It arrives with a brisk pace and stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, prominently.

It grossed $125,586,134 worldwide against a $17,000,000 budget, marking a solid profit and helping lift late 90s teen horror into the mainstream, boosting careers for its young leads and shaping the era's market for genre films across global audiences worldwide.

By the end of the 1990s this movie stood as a touchstone for teen horror, pairing sunny beach images with a lurking threat. The hook handed killer and the cast's dynamic helped shape later thrillers and reminded audiences that secrets have consequences, and inspired a wave of youth centric thrillers.

Critics offered mixed reactions, noting tense setups and strong performances while calling the plotting familiar. The film centers on guilt, peer pressure, and the ripple effects of a reckless act, using suspense to probe how a community handles a dangerous secret. Some critics praised its energy; others questioned lasting originality.