YOU'RE NEXT

YOU'RE NEXT

Middle-aged couple Paul (Rob Moran) and Aubrey (Barbara Crampton) travel to their holiday home in the country for their wedding anniversary. They're oblivious to the fact that their neighbour Erik (Larry Fessenden) was killed in his home the previous evening, his assailants smearing the words "You're Next" bloodily onto his window after dispensing of his new young girlfriend.

Arriving at their getaway, Paul and Aubrey are initially alarmed to find the front door unlocked. Paul reasons that the workmen who'd been toiling on the place in the spring must've left it open. While unpacking, however, Aubrey is convinced she hears footsteps upstairs.

There's little time to ponder this matter, as the couple's kids arrive soon after. Drake (Joe Swanberg) brings his pretty wife Kelly (Margaret Laney); Crispian (A J Bowen) turns up with demure Australian partner Erin (Sharni Vinson); younger brother Felix (Nicholas Tucci) arrives with surly Goth Zee (Wendy Glenn) on his arm; sole daughter, the excitable Aimee (Amy Seimetz) is showing off her latest beau Tariq (Ti West).

As the family sit round a large table to enjoy dinner that evening, it soon becomes clear why they don't gather more often: the rivalry between the brothers, in particular Drake and Crispian, is enough to drive the others mad. No wonder Aubrey is a crying wreck who's currently on medication.

The dinner goes from bad to worse when Tariq notices something through the window midway through, and gets up for a closer inspection. Suddenly the entire household are under siege from a crossbow attack. Managing to get out of the dining room and into the less-exposed hallway, the surviving party agonise over how they are going to escape from their unseen attacker.

A couple of deaths later, and the remaining group discover the familiar blood-curdling message "You're Next" scraped across one of the bedroom walls. Realising there is a group of deadly assailants in animal masks, not only outside but also now inside the house, the surprisingly resourceful Erin takes the lead and starts organising people in a bid to defend their way through a very long night of terror.

It's not really necessary to give any more away. YOU'RE NEXT relies on a simple home invasion premise and wastes no time in getting the exposition out of the way, the remaining 80-or-so minutes of its action being almost wall-to-wall tension and set-pieces.

What's remarkable, then, is that the characters are still pretty well-rounded and identifiable. This is largely down to the calibre of the performances and, crucially, Simon Barrett's smart, wry script. Although not a comedy, a lot of the reactions from these characters while in dire situations are laugh-out-loud funny in a satisfyingly plausible manner.

Less plausible is Erin's resourcefulness. Still, it makes for an interesting twist on convention (although it may bring to mind NO ONE LIVES for some) and ensures a second half that plays almost like a gore-soaked variant on HOME ALONE.

A nice 80s-tinged score is aided by old-school FX work in evoking the good old gory days of slasher cinema. But this is smarter fare than your average stalk 'n' slash film: nods to FUNNY GAMES, the original MOTHER'S DAY and SUSPIRIA along the way are easy evidence of that.

There's a major reveal about 50 minutes into proceedings, but a few more twists and plenty more action in the final 40 minutes ensure YOU'RE NEXT never peters out.

The cameo appearances by directors such as West and Fessenden could have been cheesy and smug too, but the refreshing thing about director Adam Wingard's film is that it's relatively free of smarmy 'cleverness' or post-modern irony. Ignore the lazy critical comparisons to SCREAM: they're way off the mark.

YOU'RE NEXT is presented uncut on Lionsgate's DVD in a highly attractive 2.35:1 transfer which has been enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Colours are warm and deep, blacks are solid without trace of blocking: it's a clean, sharp transfer as you'd expect from a 2011 production that was shot using the Red camera.

English audio comes in a nicely rounded, meaty 5.1 surround mix. Optional English subtitles for the Hard-of-Hearing are well-written and easy to read at all times.

A surreptitiously animated main menu page gives way to a static scene-selection menu which allows access to the film via 12 chapters.

Bonus features begin with a well-produced and slickly edited 11-minute Making Of featurette entitled "No Ordinary Home Invasion". This contains a welcome mix of behind-the-scenes footage and engaging soundbites from cast and crew alike. It's especially gratifying to see Crampton looking as good as ever, and interesting to hear how the filmmakers had to make her up to have her look more dowdy, such was her well-preserved appearance. Elsewhere, there's chatter about how important it was to stick with old-school practical FX on the set, and talk of how to make a horror film that's different from the norm nowadays. All in all, this is a great supplement - it's just too short.

Two audio commentaries offer a more comprehensive look into the film's making. The first comes courtesy of Wingard and Barrett. They're an affable, down-to-Earth pair who clearly have a great deal of enthusiasm to complement their impressive knowledge of the more technical aspects of movie-making. Both have dry voices, a la Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper, so there is a slight monotony to proceedings as the tracks progresses - but it's still worthy of your time.

It's for this reason that the second track benefits greatly from teaming the aforementioned filmmakers up with the ever-bubbly Crampton and the most agreeable Vinson. Although a fair bit of trivia is repeated from the first track, this is the one to recommend as it's a lot more fun.

The disc is also defaulted to open with trailers for TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D, THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2, THE QUIET ONES and ATM.

Completed in 2011 but not released commercially until 2013, YOU'RE NEXT doesn't reinvent the wheel but does have fun toying with convention. It's also a pretty decent effort in terms of pretension-free tension, with enough old-school gore and set-pieces to satisfy all but the most jaded horror fans.

Also available on blu-ray.

By Stuart Willis


 
Released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Region 2 PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
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