[Locke]

You're Next:

You're Next took so long to be released in the UK, I'm treating this as a 2014 film, as as far as I'm aware it had no UK release - and no, film festivals don't count - until now on home viewing. I know it's so late, the movie is basically not even relevant any more, but let me enjoy this moment. This is a movie I longed for, and it's finally in my hands!

I'm gonna be perfectly honest in saying I really don't know a lot about this films context. Lots of people have spoken about the connection between cast and director in their day to day lives, and in the projects they share - most noticeably projects under the mumblecore genre. That apparently gives you this whole other reading of the film but I didn't even realise this until after I finished the movie and read up on it without fear of spoilers. So this is the first, and last time, this angle will be mentioned in this review. Okay? Okay.

The big twist in You're Next is there is no Final Girl, as such, because the final girl is so from the very beginning. They completely cut out the transformation from innocent virgin into cute Rambo, and with excellent results. The minute the family dinner turns into a horror film, Erin kicks into overdrive taking charge and control of the situation, even killing off one of the Home Invaders before the hour mark comes in. The invaders really have fucked up here, going after a chick who grew up on a survivalist compound. By the end she transforms into the most terrifying thing in the film, reminding me a lot of Ash from the Evil Dead trilogy. Sadly Erin's character is about the only thing of worth in the whole movie as pretty much everything else about You're Next is best described as "well crafted, but unoriginal.".

Director Adam Wingard almost makes the anti modern horror. The horror genre has largely forgotten that build up is as important as pay off, and that constant pay off without any build up is simply flat. That is why we've become so desensitized to jump scares, which are these days used in the absence of genuine scares.

What You're Next does is pretty much the opposite, Wingard stages tension and builds up his sequences exquisitely, constantly keeping you on the edge of your seat. There is no such thing as a cheap scare in You're Next, unless the scare is purposefully meant to be cheap. But after so much wonderful build up, the movie rarely pays off. Minus one kill with a blender, pretty much all of the kills are uninspired, and painfully repetitious, the kills feel bland even in comparison to the slashers of old, which had budgets of peanuts.

There are some well staged set pieces, some extreme bursts of raw violence, but prepare for throat slashing and face stabbing/smashing with next to no variation, with very little in between. I guess they were the only effects they bought.

It doesn't help that the edges of its budget are sadly pretty garishly exposed by the HD. From obvious makeup, to the very fake looking blood, to shots of bodies making no attempt to disguise that they are still breathing, despite being just killed. This film has actually been bouncing around festivals since 2011 and it's looking pretty tired already, even though most of us have only just got it.

That isn't even mentioning how much of this film feels completely wasted. I love the idea of three brothers, who once served together, returning home and becoming home invaders for hire. Each choosing a mask to identify themselves with, and a catchphrase they'd mark every house with. This would make a cool movie, without everything else, shame that isn't the movie we got.