Random Movie: You're Next (2011)

This movie demonstrates that family get-togethers can in fact get worse.

You’re Next is reminiscent of a lot of other recent films like The Purge or The Strangers with a group of people (a rather large one this time around) trapped in their home, being picked off by villainous folks outside. For their 35th wedding anniversary, Paul and Aubrey invite their four adult kids and their respective significant others to their country house to celebrate. They should have known that was the beginning of their downfall.

The film does an excellent job of establishing the characters in the scant minutes available before the carnage begins with some friendly banter between brothers, a nice exchange with the patriarch, and the interrogation of the siblings’ significant others. But all hell breaks loose when cross-bow arrows come flying into the family dinning room as they continue arguing over .... whatever siblings are wont to argue about. This quickly turns the mood from frustratingly hilarious (we’ve all been there before) to terrifying as the group realizes they are being targeted.

With a large cast of potential victims, very little downtime is spared after the assault begins but shockingly, the characters are reasonable and level-headed (especially Sharni Vinson’s Erin, one of the brothers’ girlfriend). They strategize for distractions, set traps in case the intruders enter the home, and (mostly) put the bickering aside instead of being insufferably hysterical lunatics that generally populate this genre. Unshockingly though, some of these best laid plans go horribly awry in grim fashions as the movie goes on.

Director Adam Wingard utilizes the best of the large family estate and the sprawling characters to keep the pace steady and uncomfortable, even as the potential victims wind down. But the film successfully strikes a distinct balance between humor and horror which makes it an outlier in the list of movies that attempt the same and fail miserably. I hope not to spoil much to say there is a twist toward the end of the film that isn’t exactly out of the blue but it fits the narrative and is not pronounced enough to be completely obvious when it’s revealed.

Even though You’re Next may borrow lots of elements from lots of other horror films, it feels fresh because of the delicate weaving of those elements with a great cast and a number of great and suspenseful sequences.