YOU'RE NEXT Review

I've said countless times that horror is probably my least favorite genre and that I find little real pleasure in paying to see people killed or haunted and generally made uncomfortable for the sake of entertainment. I understand why people find it engaging and I have no problem watching scary movies, I just don't really look forward to it unless it's fall and the leaves and weather compliment the small towns that are often represented within the film. There is a strange, oddly comfortable layer of relatability and the fantasy of what might go down in these kinds of films is hopefully as far removed from your reality as possible. What makes this latest piece of original horror so enticing is that it could not feel more removed from the majority of its audiences likely realities, but that it is in on the joke the majority of its audiences would be making about if it were legitimately trying to stir up some scares from us. You're Next is a low budget riff on the home invasion thrillers that have been sprinkled through the genre since its inception. Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett (who have both contributed to the horror anthologies V/H/S and V/H/S/2) made this film a little over two years ago (the film premiered at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival), but have been unable to secure a distribution deal for it and so it is with somewhat of a delayed reaction that we receive the film in all its goofy glory. To say I had fun with this film is to say something that might be easily misinterpreted, but trust me when I say You're Next works just as much as a horror flick as it does a comedy. There is brutal violence, a couple of specific shots that gave me the chills, and a body count that will appease anyone in the genre faithful, but on top of that it also has plenty of bad acting from its D-list cast, a musical score for the ages and dialogue that makes it even tougher for these already unskilled actors to allow us to even try and take them seriously. No, You're Next isn't a great film, it may not even be a very good one when we get right down to it, but to say it is not entertaining or that it doesn't have a certain charisma to it that pulls you in and elates your senses would be a tough argument to make and that alone is worth the recommendation.