This is a great movie. You're Next embraces horror conventions just as openly as it discards them. When horror films invent new conventions, they become the next phase in cinematic terror. But when a horror film discards convention, it is always a comedy. And You're Next is a hilarious horror movie in the vein of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil or Severance.
The plot is essentially your standard home invasion type horror movie. A couple is celebrating their 35th anniversary by having all their grown children (and the spouses) home for dinner. Before they can finish eating, three men donning white animal masks and armed with crossbows lay siege to the house. What do they want and how can this family survive the night?
You're Next is endlessly clever and relentlessly funny. The kills start off as standard horror fare and escalate in gruesomeness, but a point comes where the only way to one-up the kills is to become completely ridiculous. Because the film balances wildly disparate tones so well and embraces an "anything goes" craziness, it maintains a level of suspense. You never know what will happen next. And the few times you do know what's coming, you'll be on the edge of your seat begging for it to happen.
You're Next also inverts the damsel-in-distress motif rampant in horror films. This is a movie about an awesome chick being awesome. It's not often that a horror movie gets to be a "girl power" movie too.
This is my favorite horror film of the year. It's smart and wicked and super fun. For the movie nerds out there, there's some shout outs to other horror movies. For the non-movie nerds, it's just a badass movie. Don't miss it.
8 out of 10
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