Review of You're Next (2013) by Victor T — 19 Oct 2016

In this day and age the horror genre lacks new directorial talent as the only big name that has risen is James Wan. So when people speak highly of a new horror director my curiosity awakens, thus I watch the overwatched "You're Next" due to people telling me how much of a promise Adam Wingard is. Is this film an overlooked gem?

Erin is young and attractive woman that accompanies her boyfriend to a family meal but little does she know that this family reunion will turn into bloodbath as they become the prey of a violent masked trio.

Let's get right into this. "You're Next" has atrocious acting (not that I expected fantastic acting to begin with, but this is Friday the 13th level of badness) with the exception being the good looking lead (she seems to understand the type of film she's in), the story is dumb, the 'twists' are extremely predictable, the shockingly scarce score is somewhat annoying, the special effects look cheap, the characters are so forgettable and unlikable that you don't care about them, there are pacing problems, the concept is a bizarre mixture of "Assault on Precinct 13" and "Home Alone", the kills are mostly uncreative, and its shockingly boring (I never expect anything from horror films but to be entertained, but this film is so dull and generic). But the biggest problem this film has is the tone. It takes itself seriously but then out of nowhere throws a joke (mostly slapstick), which instead of getting a laugh out of you it takes you out. If you want to be a horror/comedy mashup them go all out and don't take yourself too seriously (unless you are David Lynch). But regardless of all those problems, let's give credit where credit is due: Wingard's direction is quite confident and full of style (which is quite remarkable for film with this minuscule budget), in fact I was more focused on the style than what was actually going on.

"You're Next" is a stylish B movie that serves more as a vehicle for its director than an actual enjoyable film. It is dumb, predictable, quite forgettable, underwhelming, cheap, tonally inconsistent and sadly boring. If you expect a solid and actually scary film then you will be disappointed.