Film Review: Adam Wingard's You're Next

When recommending this new thriller from Adam Wingard, I cannot say, with any semblance of seriousness, that what you are about to experience is a movie bathed in originality, or even any huge amount of creativity.  You're Next is not a film that will have you talking about the bravura acting prowess of any of its cast, or the sparkling wit and witticisms of its script.  You're Next is not a film that will surprise you much with it's so-called twists and turns - unless perhaps you have never seen a movie before this one.  No, You're Next is not something groundbreaking like The Cabin in the Woods or High Tension, two films of which I was hoping to be able to compare this one.  What you will get with You're Next though, is a fun and surprisingly funny romp through the silly blood and guts of the genre.  Not the high art set of horror/slasher films, but still an oddly enjoyable one.

The premise of the film is simple enough.  A wealthy and appropriately dysfunctional family come together for the parents' 35th wedding anniversary, only to be attacked by a gang of animal mask wearing home invaders who take joy in picking off the family members one by one.  At this point  the film is merely another home invasion story (though one fellow critic called the film a blend of Ordinary People and Scream) but a few twists and turns later, though admittedly easily predicted twists and turns, and we have ourselves an intriguing little arthousey kinda slasher flick.  Even though the film isn't necessarily scary in any way (a handful of gotcha moments), it is fun to watch everything unfold, and there are some rather interesting types of death, especially in the penultimate kitchen fight scene.  

With the Mumblecore movement at its core (Mumblecore bigwig Joe Swanberg even joins in by playing the most obnoxious of the four quite obnoxious siblings), You're Next never sports a big budget or a big name cast (Swanberg probably is the biggest name), and this D.I.Y. attitude helps to make the film work better than better known faces would have done.   Overall, the film, if not anything spectacular (I really was hoping here), is quite fun, and as I stated earlier, quite funny.  Then again, perhaps I am just a bit more twisted than most.  So yeah, I do recommend You're Next, if for nothing else, the chutzpah of the final girl, and the closing scenes.  And don't even get me started on the creepy feel that the eternally looping "Looking For the Magic" by The Dwight Twilley Band, gives to the overall enjoyment of the film.  Fun, indeed.