It stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze Jr., with supporting roles played by Johnny Galecki, Bridgette Wilson, Anne Heche, and Muse Watson.

[6] The film centers on four teenage friends, who are stalked by a hook-wielding killer one year after covering up a car accident in which they supposedly killed a man.

Where Scream, released the previous year, contained prominent elements of satire and self-referentiality, Williamson's script for I Know What You Did Last Summer reworked the novel's central plot to resemble a straightforward 1980s-era slasher film.

The film was parodied in Scary Movie (2000) and is frequently referenced in popular culture, as well as being credited alongside Scream with revitalizing the slasher genre in the 1990s.

Written by Kevin Williamson, the screenplay for I Know What You Did Last Summer was rushed into production—having previously been disregarded—by Columbia Pictures upon the success of the Williamson-written Scream, released in 1996.

[10] Producer Erik Feig pitched the idea of a screen adaptation to Mandalay Entertainment, and subsequently appointed Williamson to retool the core elements of Duncan's novel, rendering a screenplay more akin to a 1980s slasher film.

"[10] Gillespie also claimed that he felt Williamson's screenplay did not resemble a "slasher horror movie" and that he saw it rather as simply "a really good story" with a morality tale embedded within it.

[11] Jennifer Love Hewitt, who at the time was mainly known for her role on the television series Party of Five, was cast in the lead of Julie James based on her "ability to project vulnerability", which the producers, director Gillespie and writer Williamson unanimously agreed upon.

"[10] For the supporting role of Missy, Gillespie sought an actress with significant screen presence, as the character, despite appearing in only two scenes, is central to several major plot points.

[i] Approximately seven weeks of the ten-week shoot took place at night, which Gillespie says was difficult for the cast and crew, and also created commotion in primary small-town locations in which they shot.

The opening shots of the sun setting on a rugged coast were filmed at Kolmer Gulch, just north of the town of Jenner, on Highway 1.

[24] The final sequence on the boat was shot on an actual water-bound vessel on the Cape Fear River, which proved difficult for the actors and crew.

[10] According to Gillespie, the filmmakers nearly lost the boat while attempting to dock it due to the volatile waters, after which they were forced to leave and shoot other footage until the following day.

However, producer Feig worried that the scene appeared "medically impossible" after which Gillespie re-shot it (post-principal photography) with a visual effect of blood spattering across the glass.

[10] The scene in which Max is murdered in the crab factory was subsequently filmed and implemented into the final cut to achieve this (in the original script, his character was not killed).

[13] Miramax Films subsequently filed a lawsuit against Columbia, arguing the statement was misleading as it suggested that Wes Craven, the director of Scream, had been involved with the production.

[13] The week following the film's theatrical release, a federal judge awarded Miramax an injunction requiring that Columbia remove the claim from their advertising.

In a press release, executive Bob Weinstein noted plans to "vigorously pursue" damage claims against Columbia Pictures.

The site's critics consensus reads: "A by-the-numbers slasher that arrived a decade too late, the mostly tedious I Know What You Did Last Summer will likely only hook diehard fans of the genre.

[38] Richard Harrington, on the other hand, cited I Know What You Did Last Summer as superior to Scream; he described the newer picture as "... a smart and sharply-drawn genre-film with a moral center, and with a solid cast of young actors to hold it.

"[39] Derek Elley of Variety was also enthusiastic, calling the film a "polished genre piece with superior fright elements that should perform at better-than-average theatrical levels.

"[43] James Kendrick of the Q Network wrote that "Williamson's characters are all generic types; but they're still believable as people, and they react realistically according to the situations."

"[46] Movie historian Leonard Maltin gave the film 2 out of a possible 4 stars; he described it as "...Too routine to succeed overall...Despite being based on a young-adult novel, this is absolutely not for kids.

"[47] Motion picture scholar Adam Rockoff notes in his book Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978–1986 that, at the time of its release, many critics branded I Know What You Did Last Summer as an imitation of Scream.

While, like Scream, it employed the services of a group of young, sexy and almost impossibly good-looking actors, Last Summer played its horror straight.

In February 2023, a legacy sequel was announced to be in development with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. in negotiations to reprise their respective roles.

[54][55] In September 2014, Sony Pictures revealed plans to remake the film, with Mike Flanagan and Jeff Howard writing the script.

[56][57] Flanagan confirmed that this new iteration of the franchise would not include elements of the 1973 novel (the antagonist being a central character) nor of the 1997 feature film (fisherman Ben Willis and the four protagonists Julie James, Helen Shivers, Barry Cox and Ray Bronson).

[59] A television series adaptation of the novel was released in October 2021, with Neal H. Moritz and James Wan producing and Shay Hatten writing the pilot.

"[64] It was also spoofed by Anthony Horowitz in the Diamond Brothers novella, I Know What You Did Last Wednesday (2002) and later in The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror X" as "I Know What You Diddily-Iddily-Did", with Ned Flanders as the killer.