You’re Next (Adam Wingard, 2011)

Here’s a movie I’ve noticed for a few years now, and I even have it on my wish list at Amazon...but never felt for buying it. Most people I know who have seen it likes it, and the reviews have been good - but there’s something with home invasion films that bores me. I just don’t feel for watching people get terrorized in their home for a few hours, often ending up killing the intruders after a fight to the death. Sometimes it’s becomes a good film, like Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left and (to a certain degree) Ruggero Deodato’s House at the Edge of the Park. The last one in the genre I saw before this one was the utterly boring and terrible Hate Crime, pointless in both entertainment and as a good thriller or touching drama. Pure dreck. Thank Satan You’re Next isn’t dreck though, it’s won’t change your world - but it’s brings a breeze of fresh air into the genre, mostly because it’s a school example of excellent directing and fine acting.

It’s a family reunion and Crispian (AJ Bowen) and his new young girlfriend Erin (Sharni Vinson) hooks up with the rest of his siblings and parents and their new home in the countryside, a big luxury mansion - something his father, Paul (Rob Moran), now can afford after retiring from a huge weapon manufacturer as chief of public relations. After a slightly awkward family dinner where Crispian gets into a verbal fight with his more successful brother someone attacks the house...and now hell breaks loose. A trio of men wearing animal masks over their faces starts killing them one by one...but soon they meets a very unexpected opponent…

I still have a hard time categorizing this as a typical home invasion movie. I mean, there’s no torture or taking hostages - this is more like Assault on Precinct 13, the baddies outside trying to get in and a bunch of people inside trying to stop them, learning to kill in the process. I could more or less see the celebrated twist coming miles away, but I still enjoyed it a lot. Why? Because this is a damn well-written and acting film with a rare, almost perfect storytelling flow. Many in the cast are filmmakers - directors and producers - themselves, for example Ti West, Joe Swanberg, Larry Fessenden - to name the more famous ones, which make more or less everyone very experienced in more than just acting. The true acting highlight is Barbara Crampton as the super-sensitive, ex-alcoholic (according to Barbara herself in a recent interview) mother, Aubrey, who makes a very touching performance, in perfect chemistry with Rob Moran as her lovingly but sometimes patronising husband.

I really would tell you more about the cast, but to not spoil anything I won’t tell you who impresses me the most - but this person is brilliant in every way possible and in a cool way changes the way we sees characters in film. But enough of that, You’re Next is filled with crazy violence, balancing between absurdity and realism. It’s graphic and fun, but never becomes a horror comedy. This is more like a fun, gory thriller - I can’t find a good movie to compare it with to make it more clear what kind humour it have, but prepare for good laughs and a lot of blood and you won’t be disappointed.

You’re Next survives the hype, that’s the best twist with it all.

Comments

[Megatron]

"but there’s something with home invasion films that bores me. I just don’t feel for watching people get terrorized in their home for a few hours, often ending up killing the intruders after a fight to the death."

I like this subgenre, or type of films.....they can be a lot of fun to watch.

But of course, it can be very generic.....

"The last one in the genre I saw before this one was the utterly boring and terrible Hate Crime, pointless in both entertainment and as a good thriller or touching drama."

I missed this one.....

"I still have a hard time categorizing this as a typical home invasion movie. I mean, there’s no torture or taking hostages - this is more like Assault on Precinct 13, the baddies outside trying to get in and a bunch of people inside trying to stop them, learning to kill in the process."

Yeah, or a better version of Below Utopia (1997)....they share the same plotwist, oddly enough.

But of course You're Next (2011) is better.

"I really would tell you more about the cast, but to not spoil anything I won’t tell you who impresses me the most - but this person is brilliant in every way possible and in a cool way changes the way we sees characters in film."

I think I know which you mean......and I agree with you.

"But enough of that, You’re Next is filled with crazy violence, balancing between absurdity and realism. It’s graphic and fun, but never becomes a horror comedy."

It´s nice blend.

"You’re Next survives the hype, that’s the best twist with it all."

I guess you can say that.....I can´t say the same thing for Lincoln (2012), Cloud Atlas (2012), Blue Valentine (2010).

Good review Fred....please do a review of The Aggression Scale (2012), its flawed but better than it´s reputation.

And it has some great performances.