The finale has plenty of twists in store this time.
In the idyllic seaside town of Southport, N.C., young people are prone to grave errors in Fourth of July night judgment that result in horrible accidents. At least, that's what the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise would have you believe.
Nearly 30 years on from the 1997 original, a new I Know What You Did Last Summer from writer-director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge, Someone Great) and co-writer Sam Lansky (a TIME contributor and author of The Gilded Razor and Broken People) introduces a whole new group of friends—Ava (Chase Sui Wonders), Danica (Madelyn Cline), Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), Teddy (Tyriq Withers), and Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon)—whose coverup of their involvement in a seemingly deadly roadside incident leads to them being stalked by a killer decked out in a fisherman costume. If we had a nickel for every time that happened, we'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
This time around, rather than hitting someone with their car while speeding around the Southport bluffs—and then dumping their victim's body in the ocean, as in the first movie—the crew of 20-somethings cause a driver to wildly swerve to avoid them and subsequently smash through the curve's guardrail. While the group attempts to pull the truck back from where it's dangling over the cliff edge, it ultimately ends up plummeting to the rocks below with the injured driver still inside. The friends then decide to call the cops but flee the scene, and later rely on Teddy's rich and powerful real estate developer father Grant (Billy Campbell) to ensure they aren't implicated.
The following year, once the now-somewhat estranged pals are all back in Southport, Danica receives a mysterious note reading, "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER," and the violence begins. After they realize their friends and loved ones are being brutally murdered by a hook and speargun-wielding Fisherman in a pattern that mirrors a local killing spree from 1997, the friends turn to the survivors of those long-ago attacks, former couple Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.), for help figuring out who's behind the disguise. Sarah Michelle Gellar also reprises her role as murdered pageant queen Helen Shivers in a dream sequence in which she appears to Danica to warn her about the consequences of her and her friends' misdeeds.
Here's how the legacy slasher sequel, now in theaters, ends.
Read More: The Filmmakers Behind the New I Know What You Did Last Summer on What They Changed This Time Around
Who is the killer in the new I Know What You Did Last Summer?
In the wake of Danica's fiancé Wyatt (Joshua Orpin), true-crime podcaster Tyler (Gabbriette), off-putting pastor Judah (Austin Nichols), Teddy, Grant, and Milo all being brutally killed off by the new Fisherman, Ava, Danica, and Stevie attempt to flee to safety on Teddy's boat. However, unfortunately for Ava and Danica, it turns out their old friend Stevie may have been keeping a few secrets from them.
Once they're out at sea, Stevie turns the tables on the pair by revealing that the victim of their accidental manslaughter was actually her pseudo-boyfriend, Sam Cooper, the only person who had been there for her when her friends had previously deserted her in the wake of her father's abandonment. She strangely hadn't recognized the car or realized it was him at the time, but once she found out who was behind the wheel, her intense grief and rage pushed her to make a plan to seek revenge and take on the mantle of the Fisherman. The only person involved in the accident who she was considering sparing was Ava, since she had argued they should stay and try to help the driver. But Stevie has since scrapped that idea.
After Ray arrives on a smaller boat and Stevie stabs Danica, causing her to fall overboard, Ray ends up shooting Stevie to stop her and she also falls into the ocean. Ray then takes Ava back to his bar, where he sets the scene for his own big reveal. Turns out, this time around, there were two Fisherman committing the murders—and Ray himself, Stevie's boss and mentor, was one of them. Traumatized Ray was driven to this heel turn by the fact that the powers-that-be of Southport were trying to erase the town's violent history in order to make it a more attractive vacation destination. Ray makes Ava question whether he even shot Stevie and also stabs her. But, luckily, Julie has put the pieces of the puzzle together and shows up in the nick of time. When Ray attacks Julie, Ava shoots him through the back with his speargun, killing him.
In the movie's final minutes, Ava reunites with Danica, who ended up washing up on the beach alive, and the two discuss the fact that Stevie apparently also survived her fall into the ocean, seemingly leaving the door open for another installment.
Is there going to be a sequel?
In addition to revealing that Stevie is still alive, the new I Know What You Did Last Summer also features a mid-credits scene in which Julie arrives at the home of Karla Wilson (Brandy), her fellow final girl from the original 1998 sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, to ask for her help dealing with any future attacks. Karla quickly gets on board and the final credits roll.
But, according to Robinson, the potential for a sequel is still firmly in fans' hands. "If the audience shows up and people love this movie, we would love to make more," she says.
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USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
Buy now, return later, money back guaranteed. How America scores free stuff
Have free returns gone too far? Shoppers return air conditioners after a heatwave, TVs after the Super Bowl, even American flags after the Fourth of July to Costco, Home Depot and other stores. When Tom Haverford goes camping with coworkers in a 2011 episode of the NBC comedy 'Parks and Recreation,' he tricks out his tent with an Xbox, fondue pot, panini press, soft-serve ice cream maker, DJ roomba, even a real bed. 'How do you afford all this stuff?' he's asked. 'I just return it the next day and claim it was defective,' replies Haverford, played by actor Aziz Ansari, while sprawled in a hammock enjoying an electric scalp massage. 'The key is crying a lot. No one likes to hear a grown man cry.' Like most sitcom material, the antic is borrowed from real life. Liberal return policies have inspired sketchy behaviors such as 'wardrobing' – when people buy expensive outfits for a special occasion and tuck the tags out of sight so they can return them the next day. Now, in a practice known as 'weekend rentals,' shoppers take home a leaf blower or a hedge trimmer only to return it when they're done with it. With high inflation and tight budgets, Paco Underhill, author of 'Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping,' says this 'rent the runway' mindset is only spreading. People are 'renting' and returning more things: Plants for open houses, outdoor tables and chairs for a party and giant televisions to watch the Super Bowl. Pressure washers and paint sprayers are discarded after home-improvement projects. Some people even bring back the ladders they used to string holiday lights from their rooflines. 'So many of the things that we buy are based on some form of immediate need and often, when that's over, it's just over,' Underhill said. 'Renting' from Costco? Retail staffers who process returns at big-box stores frequently grouse online about 'rentals through the returns desk' or the 'service desk rental program.' And they say they can predict product returns by the seasons. At Costco, where a "risk-free 100% satisfaction guarantee" gives members an unlimited grace period to bring back most purchases, snowblowers flood the returns area after the last winter storm, portable generators and chainsaws after hurricane season and air conditioning units after the summer heatwave. A Costco employee who has worked with the company in multiple states says trees, inflatables and other holiday decor get stacked seven feet high after Christmas. Some members fly Old Glory only to return the American flag after July 4, according to the staffer who also spoke on the condition of anonymity. Others 'rent' jewelry for black-tie events, including one customer who returned three $2,000-plus necklaces in one summer. And just this month, the employee processed a return for $500 worth of meat, cheese and dip left over from a wedding with fewer guests than expected. A couple of years ago at a Connecticut warehouse, a Costco member showed up at the returns desk in early November lugging an animatronic scarecrow, a 10-foot-tall witch and bags of candy from a haunted tractor ride. With no room at home to store his Halloween haul, he demanded a full refund. The store's manager explained that Costco isn't in the rentals business but processed the return anyway, an employee told USA TODAY on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing her job. When the same member turned up in early January with thousands of dollars worth of inflatable snowmen, reindeer yard decor and string lights from a winter wonderland-themed tractor ride, Costco turned him down. Other returns, the employee said, that have been accepted at her warehouse: massage guns after the member worked out a muscle knot and a fully assembled gingerbread house because 'it looks bad.' They returned dirty toilets and rugs. Then came the backlash. Shoppers who abuse return policies often excuse their behavior as a one-off or say they're just doing what everyone else is. After all, they say, what's the harm in swindling a megabucks corporation? 'Consumers often justify their actions by believing that the benefit to them outweighs the harm to the company,' said Ayelet Fishbach, professor of behavioral science and marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. How money-back guarantees caught on The money-back guarantee dates back at least as far as the mid-1700s when an innovative small-town English potter Josiah Wedgwood used the gimmick to lure customers and close sales in the fine china market, according to USA TODAY research. In America, businessman Potter Palmer embraced the concept a century later when he encouraged well-heeled customers of his dry goods store in Chicago to take home merchandise on approval. Marshall Field, who took over from Palmer, carried on that legacy with his namesake department store's no-questions-asked return policy. The policy soon caught on elsewhere. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Sears catalogs were printed with the slogan: 'Satisfaction guaranteed or your money cheerfully refunded.' With successive generations of merchandising legends, from James Cash Penney of JCPenney to Sam Walton of Walmart, 'the customer is always right' became an article of faith. But the returns free-for-all really took off with the advent of internet shopping as e-commerce companies jockeyed for shoppers' eyeballs and their wallets. The competitive pressure forced more brick-and-mortar establishments to loosen their return policies, too, according to Zac Rogers, an associate professor of operations and supply chain management at Colorado State University. Zappos' customer-centric return policy was so successful that eventually Amazon bought out the retailer for $1.2 billion. 'What e-commerce has done is reset consumer expectations for the ways that retailers should behave,' Rogers said. But goosing sales with lenient returns quickly turned into a logistical and costly headache for retailers. Returns were projected to reach $890 billion in 2024, according to a report by the National Retail Federation and Happy Returns, a UPS company. Retailers estimated that nearly 17% of their annual sales in 2024 would be returned. The vast majority (93%) of retailers point to retail fraud and other exploitative behaviors as a major issue for their business, citing the increased operations expenses to process returns and increased shipping costs. "They created this monster that they now have to deal with,' Rogers said. America's $890 billion bad habit With so much merchandise headed for liquidation centers or landfills, many retailers have responded by shrinking their refund windows or by charging return fees. Despite the high costs, retailers are still cautious about how much they rein in liberal return policies, worried that discouraging returns will discourage people from making the purchases in the first place. But they aren't the only ones stuck footing the bill. 'As a vendor, we are required to accept 100% of the returns of our products, no questions asked, regardless of the reason,' an executive for a vendor told USA TODAY on the condition of anonymity because he feared losing business from Costco and other big-box stores. Return rates can run as high as 20% or more depending on the product, he said. It's not just lost sales vendors have to absorb. They have to cover the cost of shipping returned products back to the warehouse and all other associated fees. A few years ago, Costco briefly considered narrowing the return window to 90 days on outdoor power equipment, but management rejected the proposal, according to the executive, and vendors have paid the price. When he worked for a company that sold lawnmowers to Costco, the lawnmowers would fly out the door in the spring, only to fly back in come October. 'We would get used lawnmowers back and they were not even our brand,' he said. 'People would go buy a new mower, put their old mower in the box and return it.' That behavior 'is not the norm,' he said. 'But it's not the exception either.' Is a returns crackdown coming? Neil Saunders, a retail analyst at the research and analytics firm GlobalData, said he expects to see more retailers crack down on bad behavior. Home Depot, sometimes referred to as "Rent a Depot" or 'Returns Depot' because of returns abuses, recently instituted a 7-day return policy on pressure washers, dehumidifiers, window and portable air conditioners and generators. A spokeswoman denied that frequent returns were behind the policy shift. 'We added the 7-day return policy for categories that our customers need in the event of a natural disaster,' Beth Marlowe said in a written statement. 'By shortening the return window, we can have more inventory on hand to quickly move to the communities where these products are needed most.' Whatever the motivation, the new policy has slowed returns in these product categories, according to store employees. A Home Depot worker in Virginia, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, said he used to watch customers return window AC units typically within two to three weeks. After the new policy took effect in June, he overheard some customers saying they planned to buy an air conditioning unit to cool off during a heatwave. When they approached him, he pointed out the new policy and they left without buying one. But what about customers with legit returns? When Josh Powell, a 31-year-old organ transplant coordinator from Sherwood, Arkansas, fired up the pressure washer he bought online from Home Depot to clean the siding on his new house, it began belching black smoke. So he packed up the big box and crammed into his compact SUV for the 10-minute drive to his local store. With a full refund in hand, he bought another pressure washer on the spot, but this was before the 7-day policy went into effect. Now, Powell worries what will happen if he has a problem outside that window. Too often, he says manufacturers make it difficult to return defective goods. Will he get stuck with a $500 lemon? 'People are always looking for the best benefit for them and they will take advantage of any policy they can find, so I understand why certain retailers are cracking down,' he said. At the same time, he says he would go 'full Karen' if a retailer refused to return a faulty product. 'I don't know what the answer is,' Powell said.
Tom's Guide
3 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
I loved this underrated 2010 thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo — and it just got added to Paramount Plus
It's tough to call any Leonardo DiCaprio movie forgotten or underrated, but "Shutter Island" just might fit the mold. It probably isn't helped by the fact that this Martin Scorsese film should be one of the biggest new additions to Paramount Plus this August. Yet I struggled to find it on Paramount's streaming service when searching for it on Google (I did ultimately find it, of course — it is my job). For those who have seen it and are reading this, many of you might agree with me that the twist in this movie alone is reason to watch, and why, for me, this is still one of the more memorable movies Scorsese has ever made or that DiCaprio has ever starred in. It's no "The Wolf of Wall Street," but give me "Shutter Island" over "Kundun" or "The Revenant" any day. If you haven't seen "Shutter Island," though, you might be wondering what the big deal is about this thriller. Well, spoiler alert, I'm not going to give away the movie's big twist in this article, which is up there with "The Sixth Sense" in terms of movie twists you can't unlearn. However, I am going to tell you why this movie is a must-watch — and maybe even watch a second time — now that it's on Paramount Plus. "Shutter Island" stars Leonardo DiCaprio as U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels. He and his new partner, Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), have arrived at Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane on Shutter Island in the Boston Harbor, run by psychiatrists Drs. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) and Naehring (Max von Sydow). They're there to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer), a patient of the hospital who was institutionalized after drowning her three children. Upon arrival, though, it's clear things are not as they seem. Cawley and Naehring are uncooperative with Teddy's investigation, and it's revealed that a Dr. Lester Sheehan disappeared from the island right after Solando was discovered missing. As Teddy's investigation progresses, he starts experiencing intense migraines and flashbacks, and begins to vividly dream of his wife, Dolores (Michelle Williams). It's then revealed that his wife was killed in a fire set by arsonist Andrew Laeddis, who Teddy thinks is still in the facility on the island, and Teddy's reason for taking the Solando case. As "Shutter Island" progresses, so do the twists and turns in the story. Multiple people hospitalized at the island claim to know Teddy during his investigation, with one patient, George (Jackie Earle Haley), going as far as to warn the Marshal not to trust his new partner, Chuck. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. This all builds to a stunning reveal that, again, I won't spoil in this article. But I will reveal that it's aided by the movie's incredible cast, as is most of the film. Between DiCaprio, Ruffalo, Kingsley, von Sydow and Williams, you have 21 Academy Award nominations for acting, and a few wins from those nominations. That cast results in numerous performances in "Shutter Island" that will keep you engaged during the movie's 139 minutes, if, for some reason, the story does not. But that story should keep you plenty engaged, and once you've watched all the twists, you might want to hit play again. It's a movie that rewards a second viewing, allowing you to not only spot things you may have missed the first time around, but also consider the story from the perspective of characters other than Teddy. For the record, I'm not the only one to love this movie. While it's rated a meager 68% "fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes, plenty of prominent critics praised the film, including Roger Ebert, whose review also indicates that a second viewing might be worthwhile, and praises Scorsese's directing in particular. So if you have some spare time, sit down, boot up Paramount Plus, and hit play on "Shutter Island." Then, when you're done, hit play again. Stream "Shutter Island" now on Paramount Plus Malcolm has been with Tom's Guide since 2022, and has been covering the latest in streaming shows and movies since 2023. He's not one to shy away from a hot take, including that "John Wick" is one of the four greatest films ever made. Here's what he's been watching lately:
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Video: Corgi Makes Toddlers Laugh Hard During Playtime
Bath time might be fun for kids, but it's double the fun for dogs. A Corgi named Benji unleashed chaos on his baby siblings as they went in for a bath. An Instagram video on the account @benjithecorgidog captured the canine running into the bathroom and leaping over the toddlers sitting in the bathtub. He ran around the house only to run towards the kids, who laughed along to their pet's antics. The joy and the chaos made for a viral moment, with netizens adoring the beautiful family. Corgi playing with toddlers turns into laughter fest in adorable video A Corgi named Benji gave his baby siblings some company during bath time. Only this time, he decided to bring out his chaotic and fun persona to the table. The viral Instagram video captured the dog enjoying the moment to his fullest while also giving the kids something to laugh about. In the clip's caption, the owner claimed that his actions were a way to tease the toddlers. In the post, they wrote, 'It's so cute how much they love each other…' The bond between Benji and the kids was evident in the Instagram video. It began with the Corgi jumping up the steps that led to the bathroom, where his siblings were preparing to freshen up for the day. As he ran towards them and leapt over the bathtub, his baby sister screamed in response, which was followed by non-stop laughter from the kids. The dog soon realized this was a fun activity and decided to repeat it. Benji left the bathroom and took a right turn towards a room, only to return with more force. The siblings, who were still laughing from his first attack, weren't prepared for his comeback. The Corgi leaped once again, extracting more laughter from the toddlers. By this time, the dog understood that his siblings loved his antics. For the final run, he ran far into another room and disappeared for a bit. Just when the kids' laughter subsided, Benji sped into the bathroom at the speed of light and continued his chaotic interaction with his brother and sister. The siblings couldn't get enough of their pet's love and kept asking for more. Meanwhile, fans took to the comments section to shower praises for Benji and his bond with his siblings. A few noted that this is a moment worth remembering forever. The post Video: Corgi Makes Toddlers Laugh Hard During Playtime appeared first on DogTime. Solve the daily Crossword
