You're Next - Review

The home invasion sub-genre consists of some of the most unnerving films in horror. The idea of masked individuals invading your home to attack you and your family is both plausible and terrifying. The monsters aren’t supernatural. They are human. They aren’t in a place that feels foreign. They are hiding under your bed and coming through your window. Home is primarily a universal symbol of a safe place where a person can rest and escape the dangers of the outside world. A successfully made home invasion film can turn that sense of security upside down. It can make you double check the locks on your windows and leave the closet door open. It can take the safety out of suburbia. You're Next is not the first film to utilize this concept (Funny Games, The Strangers and Halloween immediately come to mind), but it employs it well while successfully mixing in dark comedic elements creating a surprisingly original experience in an arguably tired sub-genre.

Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett have pulled off another great collaboration balancing horror and comedy well with plenty of twists and turns throughout. The story is centered on the Davison family who are celebrating the 30th wedding anniversary of parents Aubrey and Paul in a secluded country mansion. The festivities take a deadly turn when lunatics donning animal masks begin picking them off one by one in gruesome ways. Although You’re Next has not been marketed as a horror comedy it easily falls into the sub-genre. Audience members around me were laughing as much as they were jumping in fright. A lot of the comedy comes from the bickering going on between the siblings. Joe Swanberg (Drake Davison) really shines as the stuck up brother who takes every chance he can to demean his siblings. Director Ti West also has a brief but memorable role as documentary film maker Tariq whose film was screened at the 2008 Chicago Underground Film Festival and prides himself on creating “art”. It’s an amusing skewering of the pretentious art-house filmmaker and his fans should get a kick out of the role.

As members of the Davison family continue to drop dead the story takes several twists and turns which I personally found unpredictable and took the story in some interesting directions. One of the twists that I will sort of spoil is that one character is better prepared to deal with the assailants than anyone (on screen of in the audience) would have ever thought. This isn’t necessarily a reveal as the trailer and Lionsgate’s synopsis pretty much give it away. This character is forced to continuously play a game of cat and mouse with the killers whilst also trying to keep themselves and the remaining family members alive.

Wingard definitely doesn’t shy away from the gore as people are bludgeoned to death with logs and hacked to pieces with machetes. The kills are pretty creative overall (one involving a blender) and are sure to create shouts and applause from your fellow moviegoers. Fleeting glimpses of masked men in windows & mirrors as well as figures constantly popping up in the background add some pretty effective moments of suspense

You're Next has become my new favorite home invasion movie and is one of the best slasher flicks to come out in a while. Unlike a lot of horror comedies which aren’t actually scary this one will literally have you laughing hysterically one minute and holding your breath in fear the next. I truly think this movie will become a classic to be watched over and over by horror fans for years to come. Highly recommended!

Score: 5/5