I Know What You Did Last Summer: Why The Fisherman Killer Tease Isn’t Used

Warning: This post contains spoilers for I Know What You Did Last Summer.

I Know What You Did Last Summer didn’t use the fisherman killer tease the way the ‘90s films did — here’s why. The Amazon series is, like the 1997 film of the same name, based on the 1973 novel by Lois Duncan. But while the movie heavily utilized the fisherman, Ben Willis, the series abandons this concept and goes in another direction entirely.

In the original slasher horror movie, Ben was already a killer before the teenagers hit him with their car. A year after the incident, he went after the four involved in his hit and run, using his fisherman’s hook to brutally slice open their throats and gut them like he would the fish he catches on his boat. I Know What You Did Last Summer used the hook as a point of reference, so that whenever the audience saw it, they knew Ben Willis was on the prowl, even when his face was shrouded in the shadows. However, one of the many changes the Amazon series made to its story, which has the same premise as the film, was to remove the fisherman and his hook.

Of course, using the fisherman hook would have too closely mimicked the film’s killer. The Amazon series seems to want to stand on its own; plus, 2021’s I Know What You Did Last Summer is set in an entirely different place and a fisherman’s hook wouldn’t have made as much sense within the scope of the film. Rather, the mysterious killer in the updated I Know What You Did Last Summer doesn’t employ any particularly memorable weapon, costume, or symbol. Stalking the teens responsible for Lennon’s death, the killer primarily operates through text messages, leaving dead bodies (and severed heads) to be found.

In short, the killer in the series has no calling card, no obvious tease to announce they’re coming like Ben Willis did in the film. To that end, the TV show essentially avoids the typical slasher horror trope by abandoning the weapon or costume hinting at the killer’s arrival behind. By leaving out the calling card of the killer, I Know What You Did Last Summer resolves to keep the mystery going without the appearance of a shadowy figure to loom over the characters. Allison’s friends, as well as other townsfolk, are still being brutally murdered, but there’s no one to blame in the immediate aftermath.

In some ways, this makes the series more ominous because the killer could be anyone; this is especially true now that Lennon’s been confirmed to be dead. Whereas the fisherman’s hook and costume offered clues as to who was after the teens in the film, 2021’s I Know What You Did Last Summer leaves all that to the imagination of the audience. Slasher film killers usually do have something — an object or perhaps a terrifying mask a la Scream — that allows them to stand apart, so the fact that the Amazon series doesn’t have any particular tease for its villain is unique in its own way.

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Mae Abdulbaki
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Mae Abdulbaki is a movie reviews editor with Screen Rant. She previously wrote about a variety of movies and TV shows for Inverse, CinemaBlend, Pajiba, and The Young Folks, where she wrote reviews, features, news pieces. Her other work can be found at The Mary Sue, Film School Rejects, UPROXX, Heroic Hollywood, Looper, The List, and Bam Smack Pow, among others. Mae has also appeared on television segments, podcasts, and panels to discuss all things entertainment.

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