You’re Next should fail, but its deadly script earns it a passing grade.
The home invasion movie does so many things wrong in the first 45 minutes, I’m surprised I paid attention long enough to become interested. Director Adam Wingard shoots too closely to his actors, and instead of staging scenes, he seems to point his camera at randomly placed people. Also, after the invasion begins, it’s often unclear where the characters are or what they’re doing. Worse, the footage sometimes gets too shaky to be able to see what’s going on. Ten minutes into You’re Next, I wanted to snatch the camera away from Wingard and shoot the movie myself.
Also, for a film as violent as You’re Next, the actual killings are rarely shown. There’s usually a loud crash, and then a squishy or crunching sound, and then you see the victim’s head cleaved with an axe, or a knife penetrating a skull. I’m fine with that - I’m not a gore hound - but what I didn’t like were the scenes in which I had to fill in the missing shots to understand what happened. In one scene, a girl is walking down a hallway, there’s a loud noise and a series of blurry images, and then a man is standing over her with an ax. Okay... It seems a lot of work was done in the editing room to stitch together what was happening.
You’re Next also allows its characters to do stupid things, as is often the downfall in horror movies and thrillers. After a barrage of crossbow arrows pierce the windows of the home - and someone’s eye – characters still take long, peering looks at the darkness outside, and they frequently separate from each other and go places they know they shouldn’t. If the person who just sliced your spouse into strips of bloody tissue were upstairs, would you grab a Maglite and go look for him - alone? If you found him, what would you do?
Finally, many early scenes have an awkward feel as the actors clearly improvise the dialogue. A dinner scene during which two brothers argue made me cringe.
However...
Writer Simon Barrett does something interesting with the home invasion genre. To get things rolling, he provides the typical setup: Members of a wealthy family come together at their remote vacation home to spend time together. Mom and dad arrive first and give us a tour of the house so we understand the geography of the place, and then brothers and sisters pour in with girlfriends and boyfriends in tow. This provides a large cast for the killer, or killers, to dispatch.
Barrett then unleashes the mayhem in familiar fashion. Things Wingard gets right in this scene are the sheer disbelief the family feels and the utter fear and confusion that immediately sets in. One minute, you’re sitting down to a nice meal, and the next, arrows are hurtling through the windows of your home.
Up to this point, You’re Next is strictly by-the-numbers. But Barrett has an ace up his sleeve. This game changing card turns the tables not only on the killer, or killers, but also on the home invasion genre itself. This twist made me lean forward in my seat for the second half of the movie and had the rest of the audience screaming.
Also, the last ten minutes contain some brutal gut punches I didn’t see coming, which is always a plus.
Cinematically, You’re Next is a mess. What saves the movie is Barrett’s script, which he pieced together well and which has more than a few surprises. Also, despite the poor direction, there’s a lot of energy on the screen, so viewers won’t grow bored. With better filmmaking, You’re Next could have been a classic, but as it is, people who enjoy these kinds of movies will have a good time.
Two-and-a-half stars out of four. Rated R for bloody violence, language, sexuality and nudity.