YOU’RE NEXT starts off as any typical poorly made slasher horror film. The kills are generic and the scares are nonexistent. The lack of creativity sets the mood for a long boring film. But then something begins to happen. The stupid characters and their idiotic decisions aren’t just bad filmmaking, they actually are being ironic, playing up the stupidity. To my surprise, YOU’RE NEXT turns into a purposeful comedy that kind-of works. Unfortunately, for me it was a little too little without enough punch.
Celebrating their wedding anniversary, the Davidson’s invite their four adult children and significant others to their large home in the woods. The family consists of a variety of annoying characters who bicker and react in over-the-top ways when arguing but far too subdued when they start getting killed off. Three strange men with animal masks begin terrorizing the house, killing off family members one by one. Erin (played with killer gusto by Sharni Vinson) is son Crispian’s girlfriend and is the only one who has a fight in her. And boy does she, as things get a bit more exciting with her giving their predators way more than they can handle.
As a horror film, YOU’RE NEXT is a failure with absolutely zero scares. Relying on the occasional sudden musical cue or an image of a man wearing a lifeless fox mask, the film’s effort to be frightening is downright pathetic. However, by making one of the potential victims into a survivalist that fights back with a vengeance brings a fun aspect to a normally played out situation.
Opening with a very typical and rather bland murder, audience is set up for a generic slasher film that is instantly forgettable. YOU’RE NEXT would have been better served to go over-the-top immediately signifying any kind of wink to the audience that might lets us know it intends to have fun rather than go through the motions. The film slowly gets better as it moves along by recognizing how ridiculous the characters are. Unfortunately the beginning fails to lock you in and while it comes close to redeeming itself it never quite goes big enough.
Even with all my complaints, I think fans of the genre might still have fun watching YOU’RE NEXT. Laughing at the ridiculous characters or the HOME ALONE type booby traps and cheering on Sharni Vinson as she destroys some bad guys, the movie has some positives. YOU’RE NEXT is a comedy that is good for some laughs but it is also a horror film that is terrible for any suspense or scares. I appreciate the idea but the film isn’t quite funny enough nor inventive in its action for me to fully recommend.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: (MPEG-4 AVC, 1080p 2.40:1) A good looking picture keeping things clear within the dark tones.
Audio: (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1) Just like many horror films, I felt the audio was a bit unbalanced, with the dialogue much softer than the scary musical cues.
No Ordinary Home Invasion: The Making of You’re Next (11:41): A decent look behind the scenes of the film, full of somewhat insightful interviews and casting.
Audio Commentary with Director Adam Wingard & Writer Simon Barrett: These two have a natural conversational style that helps keep things interesting as they talk about the details in making the film.
Audio Commentary with Director Adam Wingard, Writer Simon Barrett and Actors Sharni Vinson & Barbara Crampton: Usually when adding actors in a commentary things get off track, but this one is surprisingly technical and rather bland.
Theatrical Trailer
