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Garden variety sequels and remakes are falling out of fashion in Hollywood. Sure, they still largely populate the multiplexes - particularly in the summer - but it's no longer enough to just be a continuation. The term "legacy sequel" or "requel" has made its way into the cinematic vernacular, largely thanks to the "Scream" reboots. "I Know What You Did Last Summer" is the latest horror movie to receive the legacy sequel treatment.

The 1997 teen slasher (which spawned the 1998 sequel "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer") lives in an interesting place in horror film history. The original movie is very much a product of its time; it starred a cast of the most attractive, then-popular stars and was a prominent title in slasher entertainment. It's a movie a generation of moviegoers know, but its legacy feels very much stuck in 1997 (the "Scream" movies, for better or worse, have endured). Even so, "I Know What You Did Last Summer" was the latest movie hit on an executive's dart board when deciding which franchise their studio could squeak a few more dollars from.

Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (who co-wrote the screenplay with Sam Lansky and Leah McKendrick) helms a movie that simply feels like a modernization of the 1997 movie. There's nothing new or inspired here, which makes "I Know What You Did Last Summer" a largely uninteresting outing. The story is set back in Southport, where Ava (Chase Sui Wonders), Danica (Madelyn Cline), Teddy (Tyriq Withers), Milo (Jonah Hauer-King) and Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon) find themselves on that fateful winding road on the 4th of July. Everyone had been having fun throughout the day, so Teddy decides he is going to get out of the car and clown around, which causes an oncoming vehicle to swerve off the road with the driver plunging to their death. The group of friends are frozen in fear but make a pact to not tell anyone what happened.

Fast forward one year and it's a tale as old as time. Danica - who was previously dating Teddy - is now engaged to a different man and during her bridal shower, she opens a plain white envelope. There's no name or anything on the card, but when she opens it up those famous words stand out in large black ink: I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. Is it a cruel prank? Did someone see them that night? Before they know it, a fish hook wielding madman is after the group. Luckily, they get some help from familiar faces (Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. reprise their roles).

The new iteration of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" goes to great lengths to make itself modern while pointing at the past. The movie dwells in some kind of weird purgatory of wanting to honor the original (characters never miss an opportunity to reference the year 1997), while trying to be its own modern film. No one goes to a horror movie for its screenplay, but the writers are desperate to show how hip and modern a new "I Know What You Did Last Summer" could be. The script feels like it was written with the assistance of a Gen-Z dictionary, which in return makes no one sound like an actual human being (there's even reference the the revered AMC ad starring Nicole Kidman).

As for those who go to these movies to see blood splatter, the movie is uninspiring on that front. When it comes time for the big reveals, the movie feels like it knows it will shock you, so it doesn't matter if the motivations make any sense (which they don't to a frustrating extent).There's no real life to this series that was suited for the 90s and might have served its legacy best by staying there.