You’re Next | Film Review

Home invasion thrillers are about as deep as a puddle in the Mojave Desert.  Get a bunch of random people, lock them in a house, show them they’re being attacked, and then prepare for copious amounts of shrieking.  If you have seen a trailer for ‘You’re Next’, then you think you know what to expect.  And for the first half of the film, you would be right.

The film starts with Paul and Aubrey Davison jetting off to their new estate on the quiet countryside to celebrate their 35^th anniversary.  They have also invited their 4 kids and respective mates.  What should be one of those Hallmark bonding experiences, turns into a bloodiest of nightmares when midway through dinner, one of the guests is viciously murdered from an outside presence.

No longer a family reunion film, the Davison family must fight to survive among animal-masked killers lurking outside…as well as the possibility that they may already be inside the house.  From this moment, brother Crispian’s girlfriend Erin (Sharni Vinson), showcases her predatory instinct and tutors the Davison’s on how to repel a full-on assault as they fight to survive, as well as figure out exactly what is really going on.

You’re Next has been getting great reviews, and for the first 30 minutes you would think critics have lost their minds.  Most of that first half hour is downright laughable.  The parents Paul and Aubrey (Rob Moran and scream queen Barbara Crampton) have some of the worst acting I have seen on screen in some time.  Added with almost every other female character embracing the worst in horror stereotypes by doing every single thing you should never do and screaming incessantly anytime a curtain moves, this caused many eye rolls for the first half of the film.   It is unclear if this was intentional camp or just luck of the draw, but my screening drew quite a bit of mocking and that is never a good thing.

Other members of the family fared better, but the only real standout in the cast was Vinson.  It has been a long while since one character single-handedly saved a film, and she does just that.  Everyone else in the film could be replaced with any stock union actor, but her character of Erin is finally what you are dying to see in a horror movie.  From the minute the hell starts, she showcases her natural Australian accent, takes charge and never settles into standard roles of the damsel in distress nor the heroine who uses random luck to survive.  Erin has a plan for everything, she quickly turns the hunters into the hunted, and she is determined to survive.

Director Adam Wingard does employ too many shaky cam shots, which do hurt a few of the more tense moments, but overall this is a horror director to watch.  While solid acting in a film such as this is not required, tense moments and genuine intensity are and You’re Next has several that will make you either jump out of your seat or wince in uneasiness.  The deaths can be gory, but they each have the necessary glee and fist pumping rah-rah that is required in a horror movie of this sort.

He also adds a level of black humor that truly works with giving You’re Next less of that ‘Been There, Done That’ feeling most will be expecting.  And finally, the fact that Wingard and writer Simon Barrett infused an actual plot giving reason for the random attack, gives them a little more legitimacy that most horror films.  A point which ultimately lends itself to the emotional impact in the film’s final moments.

You’re Next is not nearly the instant horror classic that some are claiming it is, but it is a solid, old-fashioned horror film with a heroine equaling the charisma of Ripley in the Alien films.  Yes, she is that good.  Erin makes or breaks this film, and for me, she saved it from an early grave.

 

If $10 is the full price of admission, this one is worth $6.50.  

 

Aaron Peterson

The Hollywood Outsider