Review of You're Next (2013) by Charlie M — 03 Nov 2014

An affluent family heads to the country house for the weekend to celebrate their parents 35th wedding anniversary, when suddenly the dinner party turns into a deadly game of cat & mouse.

Early on in this film I questioned the intent of the filmmakers based on how they were presenting the characters. Dialogue goes out of its way to make them rich, unsympathetic dickwads, so it seems that the intent was that the audience watch with glee as smarmy people named Crispin & Drake are slaughtered. So I thought: what's the point? Two of the characters were played by notable indie film directors Joe Swanberg & Ti West, who early on engaged in a conversation about TV commercials vs art films. Then once the terror starts they all began to make cliche horror movie decisions with such vigor as though they had no other choice, that's when I knew something else was coming. All these choices combined indicated a wit waiting to pounce. And boy did it.

When the tables enjoyably turn early in the 2nd act it creates more originality than you'd find in most home invasion movies. The twist midway through the movie was handled skillfully, and created a different style of tension in the last half hour than was expected. This is a genre bender like Cabin in the Woods, with a slick retro synth soundtrack to boot. Great fun for any horror-lover.