Adam Wingard’s “You’re Next,” an old-school-style slasher movie, leads you to believe that it’s going to be more clever and innovative than it actually is. In the brisk opening scene, a random couple having sex is killed off by maniacs wearing simple, plastic animal masks. We accept it, and we accept the very standard setup that follows.
A family head up to an old, creaky mansion it owns out in the middle of the country to spend some time together. Based off of the opening scene and the movie’s title, we know some of these people will be killed by those same animal-mask-wearing maniacs, but again you go along with it because you expect that there will be some kind of clever twist or innovation on the horizon, much in the same way Drew Goddard’s horror/comedy “The Cabin in The Woods” did last year. At this point, “You’re Next” is so simple and routine, the characters so thin, that there must be something more to it…right?
Not long after the family arrives, those maniacs return and gory mayhem begins. While the family is eating dinner (and while two of the brothers, played by AJ Bowen and Nicholas Tucci, are having a heated argument), arrows start flying through the window, killing one of the significant others.
From there, the score by Mads Heldtberg, Jasper Justice Lee and Kyle McKinnon (which is a combination of classic horror-movie string music and ‘80s synthesizer horror music) picks up, the camera starts shaking and whirling around and chaos ensues.
There’s some B-slasher movie fun to be had here. Simon Barrett’s script contains some funny one-liners, delivered with the right amount deadpan, and the killings should satisfy your slasher-movie appetite.
And then the twist we’ve all been waiting for finally comes toward the end, but sadly, it’s really not all that good or innovative of a twist.
I think Wingard and Barrett rely too much on the killings, the comedic one-liners and the overall old-school, slasher-movie vibe “You’re Next” gives off. But its B-movie thrills wear off immediately after watching.
Ever since it premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, it has received early critical acclaim; likewise, the audience at my preview screening seemed to be having a ball.
Maybe I shouldn’t have gone into it expecting a clever or innovative twist, but then, that would make the movie even more forgettable and pointless. When it comes to horror, I need more than just gnarly killings and creepy masks.
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