I Know What You Did Last Summer (2021)

“IKWYDLS” isn’t prestige television by any means, nor does it break new ground. But it doesn’t have to. It succeeds by taking a tried-and-true formula, adding in some lovely scenery and scantily clad characters, and amping the fright factor up to 10.

Yes, it occasionally copies Euphoria’s lighting and makeup, as well as Gossip Girl and You’s digital stalking and surveillance narratives, and Riverdale’s camp. Together, it makes for an unholy collage, barely able to stand on its own two legs.

Like "Gossip Girl," every teen-driven concept seems destined for a reboot to reach new generations, but stretching out a concept this familiar almost feels like an endless "Summer." If you're discriminating at all, in other words, I don't know for certain but have a pretty good idea of what you won't be watching this fall.

Only the most patient and hardcore fans will want to hitch a ride with this uninventive drama.

It doesn't conjure up nostalgic memories of the late '90s and early '00s. It just turns I Know What You Did Last Summer into yet another sour Gen Z drama without much personality of its own.

There’s no fun to be found in this glossy yet charmless reboot, which takes a swing at bringing the slasher film to the TikTok age and misses by miles.

There are a couple of fun moments to be had, with wince-inducing kills and a level of far-fetchedness that is admittedly hilarious. But devoid of a magnetic ensemble and dominated by characters of overwhelming narcissism, it is unwieldy and dispiriting, and acutely unaware of what made the film version so effective.

This series could easily be far more effective as a movie instead. As it stands, it’s unfortunately just an overlong story that an otherwise talented cast has to work hard to land.

It’s marred by mediocre performances, some bad directing choices and an evasive approach to its chosen genre. But in its sea of logical flaws, it’s captivatingly confusing.

This project feels like a shallow echo of things that have come before, conspicuously dropping slang like “sus” and “merc” to prove its Teen™ bona fides. It’s Riverdale without the camp, bedazzled in Euphoria makeup. ... Its plot in search of purpose, its characters starved for even an ounce of depth.

It leads to a project that's constantly waffling in tone, overplaying its teen melodrama in the first two episodes sent to press before going off the rails in a way that still feels uncertain about the motives behind rebooting this franchise.

The cardinal sin of a mystery is to be not interesting enough to keep people wondering what’s going to happen next. You also have to be rooted in the struggles of these characters enough to care who is torturing them. Unfortunately, that’s the biggest problem with ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ the show: the only motivation for the audience to care who knows what these teens did last summer is so the show will finally end.