Standards evolve as time marches, it is a tale as old as time. What seemed shocking a couple of decades ago will become tame today, and vice versa. The gruesome slasher escapades that enthralled may many seem trivial to an audience that can get a continual stream and death on demand. In 2021, Amazon Prime took to the forgotten franchise for a dramatic reboot, one that is lurid, scandalous, and filled with a copious amount of slashing In I Know What You Did Last Summer.

After a night of teenage debauchery, identical twin sisters, Alison and Lennon, get into an argument, exposing harsh truths and damaging their relationship. When one of the sisters is accidentally killed in a hit and (almost) run by the group, they all decide to hide their involvement and carry on as if nothing happened. Now a year on, the surviving sister has returned, only faced with the terrifying discovery that someone knows, and is taking their vengeance out on the group. As this mysterious opponent’s campaign ratches up in severity, the conspiratorial group will find out everybody has a dark secret.

Madison Iseman plays twin sister Alison/Lennon shining strong at times, making it hard to remember who is who, This confusion does factor into the plot too. With supposed uncertainty about which of the two is the victim. The conspirators themselves include Brianne Tju as Margot, a rich video blogger, Ezekiel Goodman as Dylan, a teen heartthrob, Ashley Moore as Riley, a party girl in every sense of the word, and Bill Heck as Alison/Lennon’s single father. Each one of them is under the suspicion of the vengeful killer. The youthful cast makes the whole thing feel more like a CW show, one that would attract a determined following on social media, yet here the eight episodes provided the entirety.

Working out which one of the cast holds a murderous grudge, is hard enough, as everyone has got a secret. From the affairs, to secret OnlyFans accounts. It feels like a dramatic evolution to the content of the original films, putting the content in a similar sphere to the teenage-centred drama Euphoria. I’m not saying that’s better or worse, just a big difference in the films that share the series’ name. The area is even home to a clandestine underground sect, making the interwoven intrigue all the more enticing, and some victims/suspects are also buried in their private matters, making the pool of suspects even wider.

A Gen-Z take on the classic teen murder mystery makes obvious sense. It’s a slasher mixed with Sam Levison-esque rawness that made that genre go up against some of the greatest H.B.O. offerings and still be talked about to this day. Full of drugs, the intoxicating influence of internet decadence on youth, and an ample amount of carnality. Offering vivid accounts of the secret lives of young, attractive and idle youth in America today. This combined with a sharp (in more ways than one) satirical satire makes only logical sense for the market. Only confined to a single season. Not only is it willing to tell you what it did last summer, but the tall tales make for some of the best Instagram stories yet.

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