You're Next

I am unapologetically a huge horror movie fan. I pretty much love horror films more than any other genre. I've sat through my fair share of terrible horror movies, but every once in a while you come across a gem that makes all the bad horror worth it. And, really, bad horror is sometimes pretty fun to watch too. You're Next is one of those horror movie gems that comes along and makes you think, Thank goodness. Someone else out there gets it. You're Next is innovative and unique, fun and frightening, clever and wicked. This year alone, we got two really great horror movies (this and the Evil Dead re-imagining), so I'd say it's a pretty good year to be a horror fan. (And I haven't even seen The Conjuring of which I've heard really good things).

You're Next takes place at a secluded mountain home where a family of four adult children and their significant others gather to celebrate their parents 35th wedding anniversary. Little do they know, but the day before they showed up, their closest neighbor and his college aged girlfriend were brutally killed by some home invaders wearing creepy animal masks. And, it appears, that our protagonists are next. The only bad thing I can say about the movie is that it takes a bit of time to actually get moving. The beginning is sort of boring, as we are treated to the mundane activities of the family as they brush their teeth and put groceries away and turn on the furnace in the long empty home. But once all the guests arrive and they sit down to dinner, an arrow in the head of one guest later, and the horror has begun, and it is pretty unrelenting for the rest of the film. As the masked mad men pick off the family one by one, one of the son's girlfriend's Erin (Sharni Vinson) turns out to mysteriously be really, really good at surviving a mess like this. Her survival instincts kick in and she becomes the ultimate bad ass, which is a fun and refreshing change of pace from the normal survivor girls.

One of the best things about You're Next is that the most famous actor is a chick you may or may not recognize from one of the Step Up movies. It's great that these aren't name actors because then you have no idea who may or may not survive. The other thing that's great about You're Next is that it utilizes what I think is the scariest concept for horror movies - home invasion. It's terrifying because it could actually happen. I think it's more likely that someone break into my house tonight and try to kill me than me moving into a house that is haunted by the ghost of a 12 year old girl, or whatever. Home invasion is a very real thing, featuring very real killers, and the more based in reality a horror movie is, the more frightening I find it. Not that You're Next is especially scary. Or maybe it's just because I've seen so many horror movies that I'm sort of numb to the cheap thrills. But the fact that You're Next isn't scary doesn't make it any less tense or good. And if a movie is tense AND has a clever story AND a fresh take on an overdone genre?? Well, forget it. I'm in the bag for You're Next before I even have time to think about it's flaws.

And, sure, there are flaws in this movie. The first is this sort of annoying habit Erin has of just leaving perfectly good weapons lying around the house. She is all survival instincts, throwing kitchen knives (not literally!) at people, telling them to keep themselves armed, and then she leaves a perfectly good ax lying on a table, and later leaves a perfectly good machete on the floor. Sure, some of the main characters are a little on the annoying side. Sure, the masked killers are just your garden variety Jason Voorhees rip offs. Sure, sometimes it veers a little too much to the gory, violent side just for the sake of being gory and violent. Sure, it takes way too long to actually get started. But I can hardly complain.

Director Adam Wingard (who also directed last year's great V/H/S)has succeeded in making the best all-out slasher film in as long as I can remember. Ignore the trifling, silly flaws and focus on how much damn fun you are going to have watching this movie. And, without giving anything away, allow me to just finish this review by saying this: Best ending of the year.

Grade: B (maybe B+ because I'm in a pretty good mood today)