I Know What You Did Last Summer (henceforth referred to as Last Summer 4 to avoid confusion) is another forgettable entry in this consistently dull franchise. It certainly tries to reinvigorate this past-haunting horror series, filled with good frights and mildly amusing 2020s catchphrases and trends that capture the times, just as the original did in ’97. However, plastic scripts, thin characters, poorly choreographed action, an uneven cast, and a lackluster ending twist that should have been the film’s central premise make the latest Last Summer slasher just as mediocre as the original. It’s better than its more immediate predecessors, though, maintaining a slightly fresher uptick than expected thanks to new decently portrayed characters and some interesting (if underused) moments.

Twenty-eight years after a fisherman slicker adorned, hook-slashing serial killer murdered several in the fishing town of Southport, North Carolina, a group of friends celebrate July 4th and a wedding party for friends in the group, Danica Richards (Madelyn Cline) and Teddy Spencer (Tyriq Withers). With them are three other friends, potential lovers Ava Brooks (Chase Sui Wonders) and Milo Griffin (Jonah Hauer-King), and slightly hesitant former addict Stevie Ward (Sarah Pidgeon). Drunk on a road called Reaper’s Curve, Teddy plays chicken with cars until a pickup truck swerves off a cliff in front of them, swiping Teddy’s shirt off him as the unknown victim falls. Teddy and Danica break up in the fallout, and the next time everyone meets again is at Danica’s bridal shower with another guy, where they retrieve a strange note with a warning: “I know what you did last summer.” While Southport’s residents have tried forgetting about the ’97 massacre that started with the same anonymous note, Ava and Danica track down the two living survivors: Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), now a college psychology professor, and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.), now a bar owner and Stevie’s boss. With nothing but the survivors’ previous knowledge and trust in each other, this new group must stop the slicker slasher before he kills them and others in town because they know the group’s sins firsthand.

It should come as no surprise that the newest Last Summer is as ordinary and mindless as its better predecessors. The original, I Still Know, and I’ll Always Know aren’t known for their genuinely clever thrills and chills. The last one, a weird ’06 outing that has nothing to do with the original story, holds a firm 0% from critics and a measly 20% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. This I Know What You Did plays it safe, revitalizing the (mostly yawn-worthy) mechanics that made the first one a cult classic despite its lack of thought or heart. Aside from the added help from Julie and Ray’s involvement—the former adding a small layer of survivor’s guilt and psychological evaluation into the mix, with the latter helping to remind the town “of the horrors we survived, but seemingly want to forget”—it’s the same slasher that tries to make up for character development or meaningful symbolism with meta humor, current-day slang, and social media-driven personality types. For example, not two minutes into the movie, viewers get hit with Ava’s biggest problem: old flames for Milo.

Ava tries on different outfits, flashing reds, whites, and other colors alike, before talking herself down: “Stop it. He’s your high school ex. You don’t even like him.” As soon as she sees him, it’s all mild flirtation and awkward small talk amongst their other friends. While this is intended to make them feel relatable, it comes across as cheesy and somewhat elementary. As in, these are two literal elementary school kids in a playground instead of adults, figuring out what flirting looks like (which feels weirder when Ava suddenly engages in a wild sex scene with a girl who becomes coincidentally necessary later on). These underdeveloped dynamics appear everywhere. Though Danica and Ava are meant to be best friends who ‘lose each other’ after their incident, they seemingly reconcile after a two-minute conversation: “I’m not fine, I’m just better at hiding it,” a frightened Danica admits, to which a hurt but emboldened Ava says “no matter what happens now, I’ll be here, no matter what,” before the pair cuddles into their aggressor’s next killing spree. Even the bits that have more potential—such as seeing Ray and Julie each cope with the return of their long-ago killer—get significantly muted by bland, predictable scripting, rendering most of Last Summer 4 an unfinished drama between slasher bits.

Speaking of, while the jumpscares themselves are usually well executed, most of Last Summer 4’s action is infuriating. From the first kill, characters react poorly. The first victim gets harpooned, and instead of running to find a phone or alert his wife to danger, he stands there almost in wait of the inevitable second and third harpoons. Even though the score keeps the exact moments of death themselves juicy, such a lack of logic distastefully ruins the stakes. One instead screams internally at the screen, “Why aren’t you getting up?!” instead of “He didn’t have a chance to get up” for every scene. It becomes monotonous quickly.

The ending should have been stretched out over the entire film as well. Without spoiling, the killer’s true identity is the most unexpected part of Last Summer 4. But because there’s very little detectable lead-up to it, the big reveal feels wasted, almost out of left field. There’s a whopping single scene that could be deduced as foreshadowing or proper buildup beforehand, and a single line—”trauma makes you learn how to survive. It makes you adapt”—in an attempt to tie everything together. More initial hints were necessary, as focusing primarily on the group of kids with half-baked personalities decays Last Summer 4 to a rotting corpse of gimmicks and nostalgia, even as Julie herself remarks, “Nostalgia is overrated.” The killer’s motives would have helped elevate this Last Summer beyond a baselessly nostalgic, low-effort horror had they been fleshed out more, but as the film stands, those motives feel just as washed away as the rest of the movie does.

Thus, while there are some promising elements, I Know What You Did Last Summer is a waste of its cast and franchise-wide legacy. What could have been the ground-shaking sequel-reboot that tightens previous entries simply by existing with a newly fleshed-out premise, set of characters, and surprising thematic intrigue (*ahem* Final Destination: Bloodlines) is instead a retread of the original’s mediocrity, while promising much more. It’s as timely as the ’97 classic and sometimes punchy, though, so for I Know What You Did Last Summer mega fans and those okay with middling chills, this new outing will probably pass the time. For everyone else, it’s another unnecessary, barebones horror sequel.

In theaters now—get tickets at Landmark’s Kendall Square Cinema!