Cloaked, hook-handed figure terrorizes NYC: Mystery madman or marketing ruse for ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer?’

This ‘maniac’ wants to kill it — at the box office.  

An apparently cutting-edge ad campaign for the latest installment of the “I Know What You Did Last Summer” franchise is terrifying New Yorkers from Manhattan.

The dead ringer for the villain in the 1997 slasher flick — long black cloak, rubber boots, bucket hat and gleaming fisherman’s hook — has been seen in videos making the social media rounds in the past two weeks. The new movie opened July 18.

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In one viral video, the creep in galoshes slinks up behind a group of nine teenage boys walking just before 11 p.m. on the boardwalk at the South Street Seaport.

One of the teens notices the stalker, whose silver blade could be seen twinkling in the glow of a streetlamp, before alerting his friends who all begin to sprint in terror.

Fifteen minutes later, cameras near the Highline in Chelsea captured footage of an anxious woman repeatedly glancing over her shoulder at the same figure, about five feet behind her, before she takes off running. 

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The mystery man popped up again 24 hours later, lurking behind three people on the Coney Island boardwalk, sending them running with their arms flailing, another clip showed.

Daylight provided no refuge from the shadowy figure. He is seen skulking behind an oblivious woman in Battery Park on the morning of July 11. Unflappable street vendors barely noticed.

The fishy fearmonger was even seen among a captive audience on the Staten Island Ferry.

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Some social media users speculated the cloak and dagger routine was a marketing ruse to promote the sequel to “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” starring Madelyn Cline, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt. 

Sony Pictures, mysteriously, did not respond to inquiries.