While for some, summer is synonymous with walks and aperitifs under the dappled sun, for others, the summer period is the ideal time to discover summer horror films in cinemas. The saga Souviens-toi... l'été dernier (I Know What You Did Last Summer) is back on the big screen with a sequel, almost 30 years after the first opus. It's the perfect way to introduce gen Z to this cult - if somewhat forgotten - saga of the 90s.
In the same town of Southport where a massacre took place in 1997, five friends unwittingly cause a fatal car accident. They decide to conceal their involvement and make a pact to keep it a secret rather than face the consequences of this terrible event. A year later, their past comes back to haunt them and they are confronted with a terrible truth: someone knows what they did last summer... and is determined to take revenge by killing them one by one.
30 years on, the clichés of the genre are still thick in the air: the gang of friends consists, of course, of a couple of high-school students and an outsider, the killer is incredibly slow and disappears in the blink of an eye once he's knocked out, and at the end, his explanations are still infinitely heavy-handed. While the film is certainly reverent of a certain cinematic genre, it also suffers from a real problem of tone, constantly oscillating between Scary Movie-style sarcasm and fear that never really arrives.
With, as a sign of the times (e.g. Neve Campbell in the latest Screams, Jamie Lee Curtis in the recent Halloweens), the return of Jennifer Love Hewitt as the PTSD-ridden final girl of the original saga and Freddie Prinze Jr. as Ray Bronson, who come back to lend a hand to a generation of not-so-resourceful youngsters, played by not-so-well-directed young actors.
Suffering from an over-smooth direction, this sequel to Remember Last Summer doesn't bring anything new to the table, repeating the same narrative as the first film (even though it's a sequel, not a remake or reboot!), not even concerning issues that could have been current, brought to life by a female perspective - the film is directed by a female director, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, a first for this franchise.
What's left is a whiff of nostalgia for kids of the 90s, the pleasure of seeing another character from the original saga come back from the dead (literally) (we won't tell you anything so as not to spoil your pleasure), and the relief of being able to enjoy the air-conditioning of a darkened theater on a hot summer's day. Apart from that, we can't wait to see what happens next, as the post-generic scene seems to announce.
Souviens-toi... l'été dernier opens in theaters on July 16, 2025.
Synopsis: When five friends unwittingly cause a fatal accident, they decide to keep it a secret. A year later, they are hunted down by a mysterious killer. To survive, they must enlist the help of two survivors of the 1997 Southport Massacre.
What movies should you see in theaters in July 2026?
All the movie news for July 2026: new releases, showtimes, and schedules to help you choose your movie this month. [Read more]
Blood, thrills, possession or slashers: find out which horror films are showing in cinemas right now and which are coming soon. [Read more]
films to be seen today in Paris and the Île-de-France region. [Read more]
What movies should you see in theaters in July 2026?
Horror films currently showing in cinemas and coming soon
Which film to see today? Our screening ideas
