You're Next (2013)
Directed by Adam Wingard
When the Davison family comes under attack during their wedding anniversary getaway, the gang of mysterious killers soon learns that one of their victims harbors a secret talent for fighting back.
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As they drive through remote countryside towards the English Tudor style mansion, Crispian's mom Aubrey (Barbara Crampton, "Re-Animator") is insisting her husband Paul (Rob Moran, "Hall Pass") investigate a noise she heard coming from upstairs in the just-opened (and found unlocked) house.
She brings a nice horror heritage to the movie, having starred in "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond."
It’s a testament to the skill Wingard and his actors (among them Crampton, of Re-Animator fame) evince that the oft-improvised dinner-party dialogue between Swanberg and West (director of The House of the Devil) fits so seamlessly with the overall narrative of a family reunion gone straight to hell.
And, as mother Aubrey, it is a treat to see Barbara Crampton (best-known for her work with Stuart Gordon in 1984's "Re-Animator" and 1986's "From Beyond") onscreen again, her shattering portrayal of motherly anguish at the sight of what she cares for the most falling apart a lingering force even after she's exited the scene.
They are ostensibly celebrating the parents' wedding anniversary (the parents are played by colorless character actor Rob Moran and, in a stroke of pure fucking genius, Barbara Crampton from "Re-Animator" and a particularly memorable 1986 Playboy pictorial).
Many of the cast members are either genre filmmakers (Larry Fessenden, Joe Swanberg , Ti West ), or horror icons (Crampton, from Re-Animator).
Inspiringly directed by Adam Wingard and cunningly penned by Simon Barrett (collaborators on the spooky jack-in-the-box "Phase I Clinical Trials" segment of 2013's " V/H/S/2 "), "You're Next" is the most exciting piece of work within the genre all year, a film that revitalizes the home-invasion thriller in unexpectedly vibrant ways while giving masterfully sly nods to vintage '70s and '80s Carpenter-esque synth scores and quintessential classics such as 1974's " The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ," 1978's " Halloween ," and 1984's " A Nightmare on Elm Street ."
Maybe in 20 years, they'll be praising this like older horror fans do "Halloween"--but for everyone else, this is absolutely juvenile, moronic filmmaking done by people who have seen way too many movies, but didn't bother to pay attention to what made them any good.
She's got a Jamie Lee Curtis-in-Halloween vibe going on, making Erin a resilient fighter who is nobody's victim.
While it's been hailed as a departure from the home-invasion genre, much as Wes Craven's Scream series redefined slasher films, Next is really little more than an excuse to have a hot Aussie pound her enemies' brains into gray jelly.
Indeed, it’s hard to think of something new to do with this genre, and certainly not every slasher can be as smart as “The Cabin in the Woods” or “Scream,” but if they weren’t going to at least try something new (or at least come up with a better mid-way reveal), then why bother at all?
What follows is an energetic mix of “Scream”-like dark comedy, senseless violence, satisfying surprises, and good old-fashioned mayhem.
The horror show here begins with a well-staged "Scream"-style murder, than skips ahead to a country estate where a millionaire couple — he was in armaments, she's been in therapy — prepare to welcome their four grown children, and partners, for a weekend.
This section of the film approaches “Scream” or “Cabin in the Woods” in its filmmakers’ awareness that their viewers have certain expectations of the movie at this point.
The filmmakers have crafted seriously derivative fun that plays like "Scream" molded with "Cabin Fever" in the twisted universe of "Final Destination."
Inspiringly directed by Adam Wingard and cunningly penned by Simon Barrett (collaborators on the spooky jack-in-the-box "Phase I Clinical Trials" segment of 2013's " V/H/S/2 "), "You're Next" is the most exciting piece of work within the genre all year, a film that revitalizes the home-invasion thriller in unexpectedly vibrant ways while giving masterfully sly nods to vintage '70s and '80s Carpenter-esque synth scores and quintessential classics such as 1974's " The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ," 1978's " Halloween ," and 1984's " A Nightmare on Elm Street ."
The music bares a striking resemblance to the synth-heavy John Carpenter-directed films of the 1980s, and the amateurish tone, along with deliberately odd camera angles and stilted acting, all give You're Next a pleasant grindhouse feeling tempting comparison to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
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It's a potent scenario, whether used for psychological explorations of manhood, as in Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs (1971), or simply as a taut exercise in form and formula, like You're Next.
(Earlier examples of the sub-genre include Straw Dogs, Desperate Hours, Panic Room, and Funny Games.)
Whether that be this year's "The Purge," or the earlier "Straw Dogs," "The Strangers," "Funny Games" or the most popular if older one, "Panic Room" (with Jodie Foster and a young Kristen Stewart) they feature a variation of the old "Three Little Pigs" tale where the old wolf threatens, "Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in" while trying to get to the title characters to eat them.
Just that one character transforms "You're Next" from a formulaic gore fest into a female version of "Straw Dogs," with maniacs trying to get into the house and a mild-mannered person inside, blossoming into a homicidal genius.
In fact, it all but wears its influences proudly on its sleeve (with nods to Scream and Straw Dogs, among others).
She brings a nice horror heritage to the movie, having starred in "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond."
And, as mother Aubrey, it is a treat to see Barbara Crampton (best-known for her work with Stuart Gordon in 1984's "Re-Animator" and 1986's "From Beyond") onscreen again, her shattering portrayal of motherly anguish at the sight of what she cares for the most falling apart a lingering force even after she's exited the scene.
Barbara Crampton (star of two of my genre favorites, Re-Animator and From Beyond) gives You're Next much-needed gravity in the early scenes, as the family realizes what's happening.
Genre fans will remember her fondly as the victim of all sorts of devilish debauchery in "The Re-Animator" and "From Beyond"; to see her playing a stiffly stylish society matron here is a neat treat.
Inspiringly directed by Adam Wingard and cunningly penned by Simon Barrett (collaborators on the spooky jack-in-the-box "Phase I Clinical Trials" segment of 2013's " V/H/S/2 "), "You're Next" is the most exciting piece of work within the genre all year, a film that revitalizes the home-invasion thriller in unexpectedly vibrant ways while giving masterfully sly nods to vintage '70s and '80s Carpenter-esque synth scores and quintessential classics such as 1974's " The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ," 1978's " Halloween ," and 1984's " A Nightmare on Elm Street ."
With their inhuman appearance and no apparent motivation to their actions, the aggressors seem to be playing random, cruel games with their victims (in a way that is reminiscent of David Moreau and Xavier Palud’s Them).
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From such classics as the play and the subsequent William Wyler film The Desperate Hours (1955) to recent entries like The Strangers (2008) and The Purge (2013), this horror subgenre keys in, so to speak, on the primal outrage of our safest, most secure space being violated.
Reuniting A Horrible Way to Die writer Simon Barrett and director Adam Wingard, this low-budget home-invasion movie—shot on video and looking it—works both on its own terms and as a throwback to such slapped-together shockers as Fight for Your Life (1977) and Last House on Dead End Street (made in 1973 and released in 1977).