Premise: A family is terrorized on their remote estate until they find out that one of the son's girlfriends was trained to survive this exact scenario.
So, I've seen this movie before, but I only somewhat remembered it. I'm pretty sure I started it several drinks in the first time I watched it, unaware of how much ass the movie kicks. It's a movie I needed to go back to as well, because it's sort of a Rosetta Stone of my horror fandom for the last decade or so. By that, of course, I mean it's got a lot of people tied to my beloved V/H/S movies. This movie has...
...Ti West: writer and director of a V/H/S segment, The House of the Devil, The Sacrament, an ABCs of Death segment, and more.
...Simon Barrett: Director of a V/H/S/2 segment and writer of You're Next, The Guest, Temple, Blair Witch, and multiple segments from V/H/S and ABCs of Death movies.
...Adam Winegard: Directed most of those movies that Barrett wrote and appeared in many of them.
...Joe Swanberg: Better known as the director of indie dramedies, but also directed a great segment from V/H/S and has been known to act in a number of horror movie.
...Most of the rest of the cast have appeared in numerous horror movies as well.
When this movie was release in 2011, I would've had no way to realize how much of my horror entertainment it would account for over the next decade. You know, other than the fact this this movie by itself rules.
This is an absurd premise that only works because this is, in fact, a horror movie. It's a natural escalation of a familiar movie type. We've all seen a home invasion movie before. What's the extra twist? I've seen a Home Alone where the kid has enough time to prepare a defense. I've seen someone rob a house only to realize that someone more dangerous got there first, like The Collector. You're Next takes the John Wick or First Blood approach. What if home invaders were unfortunate enough to go up against a young woman who grew up on a survivalist compound? It works here, because You're Next doesn't overplay it. There aren't flashbacks to Erin's (Sharni Vinson) childhood or anything. It doesn't go overboard with her skills. It doesn't even make a point to explain why she's prepared for this until later. It simply has moments of great practical and tactical skill.
And the movie is just as concerned with everyone else as her. The rest of the cast play this out like a standard home invasion movie. There are the same double-crossings and mistakes. There's just this one corner of the movie where Vinson is a wildcard fucking everything up, and that eventually affects every other person.
This is so exactly the movie I wanted it to be. Even the ending is pretty perfect. I suppose if the movie had been more successful (which it really should've been), it left room for a sequel, but I love how much it leaves unresolved. Does the axe to the face mean Vinson will be the lone survivor? Or is she going to bleed out from that gunshot wound and leave the next cops who show up on the scene baffled by the carnage?
The only hesitation anyone should have to this movie is if blenders to the head aren't your thing.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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