You’re Next, 2013
Directed by Adam Wingard
Starring Sharni Vinson, Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, Margaret Laney, Amy Seimetz, Ti West, Rob Moran and Barbera Crampton
When the Davison family comes under attack during their wedding anniversary getaway, the gang of mysterious killers soon learns that one of victims harbors a secret talent for fighting back.
Two years after it was first shown around festivals, Adam Wingard’s You’re Next finally sees a theatrical release and has been promoted as one of the scariest movies of 2013. But does this home invasion movie really live up to its hype?
It’s fair to say that 2013 has been disappointing for horror fans after The Purge and Evil Dead failing to live up to certain expectations, but You’re Next succeeds in almost everything it attempts to do. It opens with an unnerving atmosphere that never lets up until the credits roll as a family are reunited for the first time in years to celebrate their parent’s wedding anniversary. The niceness of the meal is sadly interrupted when three men in animal masks start to invade their home, killing each family member one after the other in various and inventive manners, prompting certain members to stand up and fight back.
Where You’re Next succeeds is that you as an audience member are never given a chance to get comfortable and settle into the movie. At every turning point, the film attempts to place viewers on edge with ominous camera choices, distant noises and each scene is given room to breath before getting the required reaction from its audience. It does rely on the tried and tested jump scare method, but when You’re Next does resort to this (cheap) tactic, it feels like it’s earned it. It also does a good job of making you question every characters motives, giving certain points of the movie into a whodunnit atmosphere that works well with the home invasion horror aspect.
The movie also features some decent performances, especially from its lead Sharni Vinson who plays the Australian survival expert Erin and AJ Bowen as her boyfriend and family son Crispien. Together they form the central couple among the other mostly interchangeable family members and spouses and both excel in the roles they’re given. When it’s go time and Vinson needs to step up as the heroic heroine, she never misses a beat and is 100% believable in her character, even if it could come off a bit Kevin McCallister. Presumably due to its low budget, Wingard called in some favours from filmmakers Ti West and Joe Swanberg to fill in some of the family/boyfriend roles and they do a fairly decent job of it, providing one of the funnier conversations round the dinner table about documentary filmmaking versus commercials.
However for a movie that comes with a lot of hype, You’re Next doesn’t attempt or try anything new. The film is far from groundbreaking, from its premise to the survival portion of the movie that seemingly took inspiration from Home Alone. Every tried and tested method of producing a scare is used and even though its jump scares are justified, they often feel like a cheap cop out instead of building genuine tension. The film also features a bizarre soundtrack that jumps from discordant violin scrambles to lively techno beats that would have been right at home in The Terminator.
But this sense of unbalance is not exclusive to the score. Wingard often attempts to throw in some unnecessary humour which feels both out of place and as unwelcome as the movie’s invaders. It would be one thing if these moments were actually funny, but they fall incredibly flat which not only takes away from some of the movie’s impact, but also derails what is a mostly unnerving atmosphere (although the woman being punched through a window did raise an unintentional guffaw). Humour can work in horror movies as a way of luring audiences into a false sense of security, but Wingard uses it at the wrong points and they never lead to anything worthwhile.
With all that said, does You’re Next live up to the hype the movie’s been surrounded with? In short, yes.
You’re Next is a great movie with a phenomenal atmosphere that will not only keep you guessing but will also keep you on the edge of your seat, viewing the movie from behind your fingers. It is incredibly flawed, mostly cheap and it doesn’t always hit the nail on the head, but it’s easily the best cinematic horror experience this year with some good performances, well-executed scares and a simple but unnerving premise.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of Flickering Myth’s Podcast Network. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published September 1, 2013. Updated November 7, 2019.
