Movie Review: You're Next (2013)

Well vacation is over and it's time to get back to the land of scary. With October drawing near things are just going to ramp up. So for this review I've gone with a movie I've heard about for a while that had an interesting cover, You're Next.

"You think they mean me? Maybe they get the wrong house."

You're next is directed by Adam Wingard, a relative new comer to the horror scene with credits in V/H/S and V/H/S 2 along with The ABCs of Death.  I have to say, I hope the guy sticks around, because so far his work has been solid. You're Next started going around the film festival circuit in 2011 and was picked up for wide distribution to be released in 2013. Off a 1 million dollar budget, the film came away from the box office making 25 million. A pretty big success.

A family fit for the obituary column.

You're next is about a couple that decides to get all their children and their significant others together at their large country home for the weekend. Things take a turn however when a group of masked killers begin stalking the family one by one. Sounds like pretty standard home invasion fodder at first glance, but You're Next steps right out of that box and gives the killers and the audience more than they bargained for. Things turn into an R Rated version of Home Alone with one of the potential victims turning the tables on the attackers and they begin to get picked off.

At least these guys know the difference between "Your" and "You're"

The acting talent in You're Next is well above what you may expect. The characters have good chemistry and distinct personalities that you learn after only a few minutes with them. The family members really are terrible. They are the typical movie rich family with spoiled kids and barely concealed dysfunction. Even in the midst of certain death they have the time to argue with each other and point fingers. You get the stereotype yuppie brother with his wife who looks down on and  torment their weaker family members, the rebellious daughter, the liberal son and the sketchy son with a weird girlfriend. Everyone really owns their part and you manage to feel sympathy for almost all of them.  The killers themselves are very unnerving in their simplicity, dark clothes and blank stares from children's animal masks. They really could be anyone.
You're Next also showcases some pretty good practical effects. The gore is believable and wounds look like you would expect them to. Now at first I was a little shocked and disappointed that we weren't seeing any of the kills, but the movie rewarded me for waiting with some truly good violence. Everything from crossbows to nails make an appearance as a weapon. You get a real sense that some of these characters are desperate and will use anything as a weapon, ANYTHING.  Now the camera does get oddly shaky at times, but it's hardly noticeable. It's more of a slight wobble once or twice and shouldn't do anything to mess with your experience.

Ah shit. Wrong guy.

I've decided not to spoil too much about You're Next, because that would be doing you a disservice. This is probably the best slasher/home invasion movie to come out in the 2000's and very likely one of the best horror movies to come out since then too. As of this typing it's even on Netflix streaming, so if you have the service it doesn't cost anything but time to watch. So in closing, please, go check it out. Should be some fun stuff coming to the blog the next few weeks, so be looking out and don't be afraid to be a little scary.