‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Ending Explained: Did That Twist Shock You? (POLL)

[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997 and 2005).] 

It’s 1997 all over again.

For those watching the new revival of the slasher classic I Know What You Did Last Summer, now playing in theaters, it certainly doesn’t feel like much has changed. Sure, the once-decrepit fishing village of Southport, North Carolina, has been completely revamped into a luxury tourist paradise now that the messy business of the 1997 massacre at the hands of a revenge-seeking, fish-hook-wielding psychopath has been buried. But the basic story remains the same: A group of friends (led by Madelyn Cline and Chase Sui Wonders) with bright futures and privileged lives accidentally cause the death of an innocent man on a cliffside road on July 4. One year later, the secret they swore to take to their graves comes back swinging when they are hunted down by a killer in a slicker looking to settle the score.

Save for some Gen Z slang, a true crime podcast, and plenty of cell phones (yeah, 1997 didn’t have many of those yet), the story born from Lois Duncan’s original novel hasn’t changed much in 28 years. But in the new film, the past trauma experienced by survivors Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.) collides with the present peril of a new set of victims. Who lives? Who dies? Who is under the fisherman’s hood? Here’s everything you need to know:

Matt Kennedy / Columbia Pictures / Everett Collection

Who is the killer in I Know What You Did Last Summer?

It finally happened! After a decade of legacy sequels rebooting iconic horror franchises like Halloween and Scream, one of them finally had the guts to turn one of their original survivors into the killer. In the final act of this film, not only does Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon) reveal herself to be the face under the slicker, but so does Ray. That’s right, folks. The once-heroic, blue-collar boyfriend Ray, who spent the first two movies in this franchise chasing after Julie only to show up at the end to get his butt kicked, has snapped. Does his heel turn make total sense though? Let’s examine the facts.

Throughout this film, Stevie is very upfront about her bond with her boss, Ray. He was there for her in high school when her father abandoned the family. When her friends Danica (Cline), Ava (Wonders), Milo (Jonah-Hauer King) and Teddy (Tyriq Withers) dropped her from their lives, she spiraled, but Ray helped her get clean. Then she turned to a local church for community, making a new friend in Sam Cooper. Despite that personal growth, she is overjoyed when the old gang invited her to go watch the fireworks last year, until a drunk Teddy dancing in the road caused a guy to drive off the cliff. What she neglects to tell her friends in the aftermath of the crash is that she knew the man at the bottom of the cliff. It was her church buddy Sam, whose loss nearly caused her to take her own life. But as she explains to Danica and Ava after unmasking herself to finish them off, “Why would I kill myself when I could just kill all of you?”

Soon enough, Ray comes sailing up right on cue to save the day, but not before Stevie buries her hook in Danica’s chest and throws her overboard. Ray then laments that Stevie should have come to him if she was struggling, before very strategically shooting her in a way that looks deadly but really just hurls her body overboard dramatically.

Cut to Ray’s bar where Ava is reeling from the loss of her entire friend group, a grief-stricken fog from which she is ripped when she sees a cut on Ray’s arm — the same injury she gave one of the killers earlier in the film. Realizing Stevie had an accomplice, she plays off her discovery so poorly that he immediately knows he has to kill her. She puts up a valiant fight, getting a knife to the back for her efforts. Julie has also put the pieces together and arrives just in time to confront her estranged ex-husband. He explains that the town’s eagerness to ignore the 1997 killings in favor of tourist dollars effectively erases Ray and Julie’s story, something she prefers, and he takes great (in fact, murderous) offense to. “I had to make them remember,” he proclaims. He says it had to be like 1997 all over again to get them to pay attention because people crave nostalgia, to which she responds, “Nostalgia is overrated.” Then, she provokes the killer he’s become by resurrecting her old war cry, not once but twice: “What are you waiting for?”

This is all to distract Ray long enough for Ava to shoot him with a harpoon through the chest, finally doing what no IKWYDLS killer has done before — actually kill Ray in the third act. Does Ray’s new hobby make sense though? He makes an alright case for why the last 28 years haven’t been easy for your average bar owner with PTSD, and the original movies repeatedly used Ray as the red herring to throw audiences off the scent of the real killers. So it isn’t totally unbelievable, but the movie doesn’t show us the bloodthirsty Ray who just strung up Teddy and his powerful mayor father Grant (Billy Campbell) like prized fish in the town square. When did he decide it was the right move to do unto others as Ben Willis has done unto you? In the absence of answers, we must retreat to the eternal wisdom of the ultimate final girl Jamie Lee Curtis, and chalk it all up to one thing: trauma.

Columbia Pictures / Everett Collection

How does I Know What You Did Last Summer end?

The movie ends on an oddly upbeat note considering the carnage that preceded it. First, Danica washes up on the beach alive, having apparently floated to shore with a fish-hook hole in her chest. “This pretty much makes you a mermaid,” Ava points out as they are discharged from the hospital with their various slings and bandages — and a note from Julie that says she will always be there for them.

From there, they go to the beach to eat some non-hospital food and commiserate about their summer so far. “Zero out of 10 stars, would not recommend,” they quip. But Ava has news for her BFF. During Ray’s rantings, he all but told her Stevie was alive (and floating around somewhere in the ocean). Their shouting match on the boat was all a ruse to cover their tracks. Ava then suggests they should take Julie’s original advice and kill her before she gets another shot at them. “That feels a bit extreme, but yes,” Danica says.

Columbia Pictures / Everett Collection

Is there an end credits scene in I Know What You Did Last Summer?

This is where the movie really indulges its OG fans. A mid-credits scene opens with a news report about the new Southport killings, and it’s being watched by none other than Karla Wilson (Brandy Norwood), Julie’s college roommate who survived the vacation from hell with her in 1998’s I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. She proclaims that someone is always trying to kill Julie, who just so happens to be at her front door at this very moment.

After a brief reunion, Julie apologizes for dragging Karla back into all of this, before handing her an envelope. Inside is a picture of them from their dreaded Bahamas getaway, with Karla’s face crossed out. On the back is written a mercifully more concise message than the franchise’s much wordier title threat: “IT’S NOT OVER.” Ever the fighter, Karla greets this with a call to action: “Who we f***king up this time?” NOW SHOW US THAT MOVIE!

What did you think of Ray’s killer turn in I Know What You Did Last Summer? Would you watch a sequel? Vote below and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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