“You’re Next” (2011) signaled that a new generation of millennial filmmakers were next, as the horror genre segued into a 2010s style to replace the torture-porn and violence-driven Naughties. The industry was hesitant, as the film – directed by Adam Wingard and featuring fellow filmmakers Ti West and Joe Swanberg as actors — didn’t get a wide release until 2013.
That’s surprising in retrospect, because films in this knowing, cheeky, minorly meta style now seemingly come out monthly. Frankly, I’m a little tired of them. I’m not holding that against “You’re Next,” though, as it must’ve felt fresh at the time.
Writer Simon Barrett brings a bickering family (also including new boyfriends and girlfriends) of 10 together for a rare reunion at the remote estate of the parents (including Rob Moran of “South of Nowhere”). We get early tension from “Strangers”-esque home-invasion horror, with the strikingly direct fear that the killers are inside your safe abode.
“You’re Next” (2011)
Director: Adam Wingard
Writer: Simon Barrett
Stars: Sharni Vinson, Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen
Because they’re home? Or is there more to it?
Jarring light comedy creeps in even amid the deaths, with the way the grown children bicker about things like who is the fastest runner, though not to the point where I understood why this is labeled as a comedy. I understood later.
By the end, I was left with a general sense that more has become less, because Wingard and Barrett so heavily bring the audience into their “Hey, we’re making a horror movie, isn’t this fun?” vibe. The impact is lessened, even as the impact of things like axes to the neck and knives to the head increase. I also notice this effect in newer films like “Bodies Bodies Bodies” and “Abigail.” It’s like the incongruously light tone is there (for both filmmakers and viewers) to stave off nightmares from the gore and violence.
But “You’re Next” had some wit at the time, and I admire a couple other unusual elements that most horror filmmakers are scared to include. (SPOILERS FOLLOW.) Unlike in 2008’s “The Strangers,” the masks come off the three home invaders here. And more impressively, precursing 2016’s “Don’t Breathe,” the target fights back. Here it is Erin (Sharni Vinson), the girlfriend of one of the sons. She was raised as a survivalist in the Australian Outback, and thus becomes one of the most prepared Final Girls of all time. It’s plausible and enjoyable to watch. (END OF SPOILERS.)
Barrett gives personalities to every member of the family and their new additions, and sneaks in some suggested motivations. We wonder if perhaps this family isn’t targeted “because you were home,” as per “The Strangers,” but purposely chosen. Maybe some of the family members know more than they are letting on.
“You’re Next” always gives us something to latch onto even as it bounces between tension, intrigue and desperately crazed violence. I may not be crazy about what was coming next down the horror pipe. But it’s not the fault of Wingard that so many horror characters are now matter-of-fact about finding themselves in a horror movie. He’s more recently the shepherd of the American “Godzilla” saga. If he has something to answer for, it’s that, not the cheeky horror trend.