You're Next

A woman is brutally murdered by mask-wearing killers who paint the words “You’re Next” on the wall for the boyfriend to see, who is then also brutally murdered (it is always nice the killers take time to smear the wall with blood whilst using the correct grammar). A few days later the Davison family arrive at the family home to celebrate Aubrey and Paul’s 35^th wedding anniversary. However, the Davison family is soon under threat from a group of mask wearing home invaders intent on killing everyone inside. 

Adam Wingard’s You’re Next pays homage to a number of horror films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre with this tense, darkly humorous (in the mould of the Evil Dead) and exciting home invasion flick. You’re Next is The Strangers (mask wearing home invaders) meets Straw Dogs in which the film’s main theme is that anyone has the capacity for violence when pushed into the right circumstances. Sharni Vinson (Erin) plays the female version of Dustin Hoffman’s David Summerfield superbly as she butchers the home invading masked assailants with equal malice and efficiency as the home invaders themselves. Whilst You’re Next does contain a number of elements that feature in other horror films it does not steal the ideas.

Like any horror movie You’re Next contains a number of jump scares, these jump scares are really part and parcel of the genre, however, You’re Next does not rely on jump scares as director Adam Wingard creates a tense atmosphere and a sense of foreboding around the masked killers as the viewers question their motives. However, despite the tension the occasional jump scare can be predictable for any hardened horror fan, but this is where the dark humour and extreme gore come in. The dark humour more than makes up for these false/jump scares and predictable twist in the story which I saw kind of saw coming.

Ominous omens do arise when the camera work becomes overly erratic during the first wave, but the ship is steadied as the film continues. You’re Next is an intense horror flick made with efficient scares, dark humour, and violent and bloody kills – essentially what every horror fan demands from a horror flick.

3.5/5