hree decades ago, the once sleepy seaside town of Southport, North Carolina was stricken by a massacre involving a grizzled fisherman in a black slicker, a victim-hungry meathook, and several unsuspecting teenagers. Despite real estate magnate Grant Spencer’s (Billy Campbell) best efforts to bury Southport’s horrific legacy and reinvent the landscape as a flashy resort city, the slayings return anew. When Ava Brucks (Chase Sui Wonders) returns to her hometown to celebrate her best friend Danica’s (Madelyn Cline) engagement to Teddy (Tyriq Withers), the two girls, along with high school friends Milo (Jonah Hauer-King) and Stevie (Sarah Pigeon), head to Reaper’s Curve to watch fireworks. Mirroring the events of what happened so long ago, an accident claims the life of a stranger, and the five youths make a pact not to reveal their involvement to anyone. Now, one summer later, when Danica receives a threatening letter during her bridal shower, Ava must reunite with her friends, seek the guidance of someone knowledgeable in the original killings, and uncover the connection between the past and present if she hopes to get out of Southport alive.

The soundtrack immediately declares that this is a modern, teen-oriented endeavor, while the unusually bright, cheery settings steer the tone away from the horror elements to come (purposely deflected as well with the Fourth of July time period and the related patriotic visuals). Curiously, despite the new cast, the reappearance of Jennifer Love Hewitt – alongside so many little reminders and references to the previous pictures – suggests that part of the appeal is aimed toward older audience members who grew up with the late-‘90s slashers. Indeed, in countless ways – from the violence to the arrangement of deaths to the jump scares – this update feels like a ‘90s film, despite being made for 2025. But will contemporary viewers care enough about revisiting a franchise that, though influential more than 25 years ago, was schlocky and second-tier at best?

It still involves stupid kids doing stupid things, though here it’s in the hands of a predominantly female crew. It should be notable that the director, story writers (based on a novel by a woman), executive producers, composer, editor, production designers, set decorators, costume designer, and many more positions are all women; yet for this particular script, it makes virtually no difference. The genders of the creative leaders here impart almost nothing specific on the resulting product. It may be universally easy to dislike the wealthy personas at the heart of the plot (perhaps there’s hyper-realism when it comes to rich people in league with local law enforcement making their crimes disappear) – on top of the fact that everyone is largely disagreeable and flawed – but it all centers around the same town, the same murder spree with the same weapons, the same age group (with the same bared midriffs) committing the same acts of negligence, the same costumed nemesis, and the same overly loud sound effects (always preceded by extended periods of unlikely silence). For a production that serves both as a reboot and a sequel, this one certainly doesn’t introduce much creativity.

Most problematic for this slasher is the lack of innovation in the slaughters themselves. For many audiences, guessing the order in which characters will die will surely prove more engaging than attempting to solve the mystery of the killer; but the various deaths just tend to happen, without too much buildup and definitely without much slickness. It’s admittedly limiting for the killer to only have a couple of fisherman-based tools with which to stalk prey. Plus, as the main group must resort to revisiting a survivor from the past, the premise resembles the “Scream” movies, but without the increasing levels of goofiness and self-awareness that that series embraced. It rarely makes sense for the hook-wielding fisherman to be able to materialize right behind someone even when they’re standing in wide-open spaces, or for that antagonist to vanish from sight when they should be in plain view, especially when everyone attempts to take their scenarios seriously. Geographical sensibility and situational acuity are incredibly low. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

Of course, not all of it comes across genuinely. It’s difficult not to chuckle at the sections of rough dialogue when the title is squeezed into conversations, or when comical nods are made about the 1997 film, or when every new character behaves in the most obviously suspicious manner, or when cell phone batteries are always near-dead or left behind in vehicles. A few surprises do turn up, and some of the humor does work, but they’re not frequent enough or amusing enough to truly warrant this combination remake/sequel. “Nostalgia’s overrated.”

– The Massie Twins