Amazon is the latest to jump on the '90s revival craze with the recent premiere of its new series, I Know What You Did Last Summer. Both the show and the 1997 horror film of the same name are based on Lois Duncan’s 1973 novel, also titled I Know What You Did Last Summer.
And with the show now underway, the main question viewers might have is, "Does the series have any connection to the '90s flick?"
What Is 1997's I Know What You Did Last Summer About?
Though the 1997 slasher film is based on Duncan’s novel, the screenplay was written by Scream writer Kevin Williamson, who later went on to create popular TV series Dawson’s Creek and The Vampire Diaries. I Know What You Did Last Summer follows a group of four teenagers who try to cover up their hit and run accident the summer after graduating high school.
Jennifer Love Hewitt stars as Julie James, who's left reeling with guilt after being pressured into leaving a man for dead by her boyfriend Ray (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), best friend Helen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Helen’s boyfriend, Barry (Ryan Phillipe). A year after the accident, the teens are stalked by an unknown assailant claiming to know their secret. Slowly but surely, people start turning up dead as the stalker exacts revenge and the group scrambles to uncover the killer’s identity while fighting to stay alive.
Does the Film Connect to Amazon's I Know What You Did Last Summer Series?
The 1997 film version of I Know What You Did Last Summer and the new Amazon series have very little in common other than the original source material. At its core, the series tells the same story: a group of teens involved in a hit and run accident leave the victim for dead to cover up their crime. A year later, they are in a fight for survival as someone claiming to know their secret goes on a killing spree.
That’s pretty much where the similarities end, as the series packs in many more twists and turns for the new social media-savvy generation. Madison Iseman stars as both Lennon and Alison, twin sisters with an incredibly complicated relationship. Brianne Tju, Ezekiel Goodman, Ashley Moore and Sebastian Amoruso round out the rest of the core cast of friends involved in the accident.
One of the key factors that differentiates the series and the film is that the identity of the accident victim is made apparent right from the start. In the film, the victim’s identity wasn’t made clear as uncovering who he was proved essential to the entire plot.
I Know What You Did Last Summer is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.