Honestly, if you grew up in the late '90s, you couldn’t escape Jennifer Love Hewitt. She was everywhere. But for horror fans, she wasn’t just a pop star or a TV actress—she was Julie James. The girl with the tank top and the lungs of steel. When we talk about I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, we’re talking about a very specific era of slasher cinema. It was loud, it was glossy, and it was deeply obsessed with its leading lady.
There is a weird kind of magic in how Jennifer Love Hewitt handled that role. Most people remember the "What are you waiting for?" scream from the first movie. It’s iconic. It’s been parodied to death. Even her own three-year-old son apparently shouts it at her when he wants to go to the park. But the sequel, released in 1998, is where things got really interesting for her character.
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The Bahamas, Ben Willis, and the 1998 Chaos
Let’s be real for a second. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is a wild movie. The plot hinges on a radio contest where the characters think the capital of Brazil is Rio. Spoiler: It’s Brasilia. Julie James, who was supposed to be the "smart one," gets it wrong and winds up on a tropical island during hurricane season.
It’s easy to poke fun at the logic. In fact, people have been doing it for decades. Critics at the time weren't kind either. The movie holds a measly 10% on Rotten Tomatoes. But if you look past the "Rio" blunder, you see Jennifer Love Hewitt doing some heavy lifting. She wasn't just playing a victim; she was playing a woman with massive PTSD before we really talked about that in mainstream slashers.
In the first film, Julie is paralyzed by guilt. By the time we get to the sequel, she’s jumpy, she’s haunted, and she’s trying to reclaim her life. Hewitt brought a vulnerability to Julie that made her feel more human than your average "final girl." She wasn’t a martial arts expert. She was just a girl who wanted to survive.
Why Julie James Is Different
Most horror heroines of that time were following the Sidney Prescott blueprint—meta, cynical, and increasingly hardened. Julie James felt different. She felt shook.
Hewitt has often said she felt a responsibility to the fans of Julie. She didn't want the character to be a caricature. When she returned for the 2025 legacy sequel—nearly 30 years later—she made it clear she didn't want to be a "ghost of '90s past." She wanted Julie to have evolved.
- The Survivor Mentality: In I Still Know, Julie actually ends up being the one to take down Ben Willis (well, temporarily).
- The Emotional Weight: Unlike other slashers where characters forget their dead friends by the next scene, Julie carries the weight of Helen, Barry, and the others throughout the entire sequel.
- The Wardrobe: Yes, the fashion was a thing. But it also defined the "teen scream" aesthetic of the late '90s.
The 2025 Return: A New Chapter
Fast forward to right now. The franchise just got a massive shot in the arm with the 2025 release of the new I Know What You Did Last Summer. Getting Jennifer Love Hewitt back wasn't easy. There were scheduling conflicts with her show 9-1-1, and she was very protective of how Julie would be portrayed.
In the new film, we see a version of Julie who has become a psychology professor. It makes sense, right? She spent her youth being hunted by a guy with a hook; of course she’d want to study trauma. Seeing her back on screen with Freddie Prinze Jr. (Ray) felt like a fever dream for millennial horror fans.
The 2025 movie isn't perfect—it's got a 36% critic score—but audiences are loving it. It’s already crossed the $60 million mark globally. Why? Because we missed this version of the slasher. We missed the simplicity of a fisherman with a grudge and a final girl we actually care about.
Breaking Down the Legacy
People love to debate who the best final girl is. You’ve got Laurie Strode, Sidney Prescott, and Nancy Thompson. Julie James often gets left out of that "Holy Trinity," but she deserves her spot.
She represents the bridge between the gritty 70s slashers and the meta-horror of the 2000s. She was the face of the post-Scream boom. Without the success of Jennifer Love Hewitt in these films, we probably wouldn't have seen the same investment in teen-centric horror for the next decade.
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What You Might Have Missed
If you haven't watched I Still Know in a while, go back and look at the climax. The hotel setting is genuinely claustrophobic. The scene in the tanning bed? Still terrifying.
Also, look at the supporting cast. You’ve got Brandy (Karla), who was a powerhouse. The chemistry between Hewitt and Brandy is actually one of the highlights of the film. It’s a rare '90s slasher that gives the "best friend" character as much to do as the lead.
What’s Next for Jennifer Love Hewitt and the Hook?
So, where do we go from here? The ending of the 2025 film definitely leaves the door open. There’s a post-credit scene that fans are already losing their minds over involving a potential reunion with Karla.
If you want to dive deeper into the world of Julie James, here is what you should actually do:
- Rewatch the 1998 Sequel: Don't watch it as a masterpiece; watch it as a time capsule. Notice how Hewitt plays the "paranoia" beats.
- Check out the 2025 Legacy Sequel: It connects the dots between the original films and the modern era in a way that respects the original characters.
- Listen to Hewitt’s recent interviews: She’s been very open on podcasts like I’ve Never Said This Before about the struggle of being a "Scream Queen" while also trying to be taken seriously as an actress.
The Fisherman might have a hook, but Jennifer Love Hewitt has the staying power. Twenty-seven years later, we’re still talking about her. We're still watching. And honestly? We still know.