You’re Next – Film Review
Director: Adam Wingard
Starring: Sharni Vinson, Joe Swanberg and AJ Bowen
Release Date: Out Now
Few genres are more established than the Horror slash Slasher movie. Since Halloween and Friday the 13th, very little has changed. A group of teens get drunk and party. A deformed or masked killer watches from the bushes. We scream “Don’t go in there!”. Adolescent boys lean on the edge of their seat as they finally get to see their first obligatory boob shot. And then everyone gets killed, often gruesomely. Only through Cabin in the Woods style genre subversion is the slasher being kept alive and interesting. And while You’re Next tries to do something quite similar, it doesn’t really succeed. The only thing You’re actually Next for is a ho-hum slasher movie that constantly drags itself down under the weight of its ambition.
Unlike the conventional slasher movie, You’re Next doesn’t focus on the teenage nymphos we’re used to. Instead, it focuses on a large family who are reluctantly getting together for a family reunion. This is a nice touch, as it allows for some really great comedy between siblings and parents, rather than the cliched raunchy sex jokes that have become so common. When the first attack comes, everyone in the room panics, but it doesn’t take long for someone to say “Who put you in charge?”, which results in the whole group falling into a bout of personal jabs and name-calling. It is the best scene in the film, and an indicator of what could have been, but it just doesn’t hold together.
Unlike Aftershock (reviewed here), this is an example of mashing comedy and horror together, rather than allowing them to gel together naturally. The result is that neither genre compliments the other and actually succeeds in dragging the overall film down. We are made aware from the very beginning that this is Horror, first and foremost, with an opening scene that is reminiscent of the genre-bending Scream. The tone is dark and the blood splattered opening makes it’s message clear: you’re going to cringe at this. A lot.
But sadly, that payoff never arrives. There are bloody deaths aplenty, but while they may shock your elderly mum, they are never graphic enough to really register for a seasoned horror veteran. An axe to the face? Pfft, I eat those for breakfast. Machete to the chest? That’s so 80’s. It certainly doesn’t help that many of these deaths are often the punchline for a gag, with one lifted directly out of Home Alone. When that moment comes, any semblance of actual horror jumps out the window, and you may as well be watching a particulalry dark episode of Home Improvement.
The lamentable part of this is that the comedy is genuinely solid but inconsistent. If a film isn’t scary, that’s fine. Neither Ghostbusters nor Shaun of the Dead was scary, but that that’s not what they’re known for. If the film is lacking in shocks, it needs to be reinforced with a barrage of gags, or least genuinely likable characters. While You’re Next has black comedy in concentrated doses, it would have benefited in spreading itself out a bit. One scene, in which the killer is revealed, brutally rips into your funny bone with it’s bleak humour, but once this is over, there’s nearly another half hour of ‘whatever’ viewing. Even in the worst horror movie, there is usually some satisfaction in watching the annoying blonde being beheaded with a hedge saw. But here, victims and villains alike are unenthusiastic and unlikable. When the final blow comes, there is every chance you’ll miss it because you’re looking at your watch.
Ambitious, but clumsy, You’re Next does’t function as a genuinely scary horror or a particularly competent comedy. Both genres scramble to fit in the spotlight, and, while there is potential in both, they clearly just aren’t getting along here. The 4 or 5 funny bits are really good though. Worth a look on Youtube, if a ‘Best jokes in You’re Next‘ video ever comes out.
Score: 2/5
Written by Stephen Hill
