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Released by: Lionsgate Entertainment
Released on: January 14th, 2013.
Director: Adam Wingard
Cast: Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Barbara Crampton
Year: 2013
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The Movie:
Directed by Adam Wingard's You're Next opens with a scene where a chubby middle aged man beds his younger, considerably more attractive girlfriend at his fancy house out in the middle of nowhere. Shortly after they finish, he sees the words 'You're Next' scrawled in blood on the mirror and realizes she's dead. A man in an animal mask approaches him, and sure enough, he's next.
Cut to a middle aged couple named Aubrey (Barbara Crampton) and Paul (Rob Moran), recently retired and about to have their four kids show up with their respective others in tow to celebrate their thirty-five anniversary in an old home Paul intends to fix up in his spare time. Crispian (AJ Bowen) and his Australian girlfriend Erin (Sharni Vinson) arrive first, followed by Drake (Joe Swanberg) and his wife Aimee (Amy Seimetz), then sister Kelly (Sarah Myers) and her filmmaker boyfriend Tariq (Ti West) and then, last but not least, Felix (Nicholas Tucci) and his raven haired goth-ish girlfriend Zee (Wendy Glenn).
As the family sits down for dinner, tempers start to flare as Crispian and Drake argue, as it seems they always have. While this is going on, Tariq sees something in the window. He gets up to look and is promptly met with an arrow through the head. Someone outside in an animal mask has a crossbow and is intent on picking everyone off, one at a time. The family understandably freaks out, but Erin goes into survivalist mode. As it turns out, her dad raised her in the Outback on a survivalist compound and that training has now come in handy. As all of this plays out, they learn that there's more than one intruder and that, yes, they very definitely intend to kill everyone off - but as to why, well, that'd be spoiling things for those who haven't seen this and we don't want to do that.
Fast paced, strong in the practical gore and makeup effects department and often times darkly humorous, You're Next isn't reinventing the wheel but it is a lot of delightfully nasty fun, the kind of movie that puts entertainment value front and center and which seems like it would have been a whole lot of fun to make. The movie starts off with a bang, establishing the presence of the masked killers pretty much immediately, and then from there descends deceitfully into family drama and all of the irritating squabbling that this usually entails. Just as you're about to say 'fuck this shit, I hate everyone in this movie' Tariq takes an arrow to the face and we're off. the movie doesn't really let up from there and the closer it gets to its finish the more it ramps up both the tension and the suspense.
With that said, the twist isn't all that difficult to see coming if you pay attention to the way in which certain characters react. We won't reveal it here but that part of the storyline is a little phoned in. It is, however, interesting to watch Vinson's character immediately go into 'ass kicker mode.' If you're ever found yourself yelling at the screen while watching a horror movie, cursing out characters who throw caution and logic to the wind at the cost of their own lives, you'll appreciate how Erin is written here. Sure, she's pretty enough, but additionally she's a smart, strong and believable female character and a breath of fresh air in that she acts against typical horror movie stereotypes while still maintaining that ever important essence of believability.
The rest of the cast fare well here too. AJ Bowen is likeable enough as Erin's boyfriend, once her college class professor and now her slightly older, slightly paunchier lover. Swanberg excels at playing the completely obnoxious Drake but in doing so provides some effective comic relief that never feels forced or out of place. It's always nice to see Re-Animator's Barbara Crampton show up, as lovely as she's ever been, while Moran, Seimetz, Myers, Gleen, Tucci and, yes, that Ti West, also do fine work here. Additionally the effects are great. This is a pretty gory movie and they avoid using bad CGI, the kind that takes you out of a movie. There's a bit more shaky cam action here than some will like but outside of that, this is a horror movie done right. It's quick, to the point, gory and suspenseful but also manages to craft some interesting characters and situations along the way.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The transfer on this AVC encoded 1080p high definition release frames the movie at 2.35.1 widescreen and it looks excellent. As you'd expect, there's no dirt or debris here and detail is generally outstanding. Colors are nicely reproduced and look quite natural most of the time even if they are a little on the bleak side in terms of style. Black levels are strong throughout and contrast is solid. No complaints here, this is an excellent looking transfer from Lionsgate of a fairly dark looking movie.
The English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix is also very strong. There are moments of intense surround activity throughout, particularly during the attack scenes. There are stretches here without any action that are instead more dialogue and mood based - pay attention during this more restrained moments and you'll pick up on some subtle but effective use of the surrounds - but a lot of the movie, particularly the last half, benefits from a lot of great depth and directionality. Subtitles are offered in English SDH and Spanish and an optional English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix is also included - but not surprisingly, the lossless option trumps it.
Extras start off with two commentary tracks, the first of which is with director Adam Wingard, writer Simon Barrett and actors Sharni Vinson and Barbara Crampton. The second commentary features Wingard and Barrett flying solo. Both tracks are pretty active and cover writing the picture, some of the ideas behind it, casting the film, effects work, stunts, locations and more. Wingard leads both discussions and he comes across as likeable enough, and seems to really have a legitimate love for horror movies and to have had a really good time making this movie.
Additionally we get a twelve minute featurettes entitled No Ordinary Home Invasion: The Making Of You're Next that is made up of cast and crew interviews and behind the scenes footage. Here we learn about how they opted to use practical effects over CGI, the use of (very) dark humor in the movie, the physicality of Wilson's work and more.
Outside of that, we get a trailer for the feature, trailers for a few other Lionsgate properties, menus and chapter selection. As this is a combo pack release we also get a DVD version of the movie and a download code for a digital copy version of the movie. All of this fits inside a Blu-ray case that in turn fits inside a slipcover featuring identical cover art.
The Final Word:
You're Next is pretty solid stuff, a really fun horror movie made with a solid cast be a director who shows great control of pace and tone. As twisted as this gets, there's a great sense of black humor behind much of it which keeps it both enjoyable and suspenseful. Lionsgate's Blu-ray release looks and sounds great and contains a few decent extras as well. Good stuff!
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
