You´re Next

Family dinners. A time when we can all talk about our lives, what´s new, and be grumpy about old problems. I can personally say, i enjoy family dinners, as long as my family don´t bring up divorce memories from 1993. Thankfully, they try not to, and if the do, i try and switch conversation. Every family have arguments, no matter what it is about, most things can be solved. You´re Next is a horror movie about family gatherings, that laid on a shelf for 2 years, before a world wide realese was made. It did screen at Toronto International Film Festival in 2011, but after that You´re Next dissapeared. Not a good sign, but maybe this is better than i would expect, or is this another slasher for horny teenagers with no taste of quality ?

A couple is brutally murdered in a cabin, out in the countryside. Aubrey Davidson ( Barbara Crampton ) and Paul Davidson ( Rob Moran ), have just arrived to their summerhouse. Aubrey hear someone upstairs, but Paul thinks she must have imagined hearing someone else. They are both waiting for their children, for a family reunion. Crispian Davidson ( A.J. Bowen ) and his girlfriend, Erin ( Sharni Vinson ) arrive one day earlier. The next day the whole family arrive, Crispian´s 2 brothers Drake ( Joe Swanberg ) and Felix ( Nicholas Tucci ), along with their wives. Also arriving is Crispian´s sister Aimee ( Amy Seimetz ) with her boyfriend. The whole family begin talking about their lives, careers, and future plans, as dinner is served. But when Tariq ( Ti West ), Aimee´s boyfriend, sees something outside the window, he walk away to take a look. An arrow is fired into his head, chaos breaks out. Everyone is trying to find a safe place, not knowing who is doing this. Erin try to think out a way to keep everyone safe, but Aimee decide to run outside, when her throat is cut open from a wire, attached to the entrance. Suddenly Aubrey is brutally murdered upstairs, it seems that there are more than one person doing this. But something is not right, is it possible that someone in the family is behind all of this ?

I respect director Adam Wingard, since he did direct 2 segments in both V/H/S and V/H/S/2. He have a feeling for making old school horror, instead of using CGI to cover up flaws. I had no expectations while watching You´re Next, and in the beginning i did not feel very interested in this story. Maybe because the acting is dull, and the plot feels kind of blend. But then, when the plot changes, something positive happens. You´re Next turns into a more intelligent horror movie, with some different turns than you would expect. I still can´t agree with some movie critics who loved this, maybe because this is not original enough too keep me on the edge of my seat. We have seen this before, but thankfully director Adam Wingard finds a way to take a different turn, and this is why You´re Next works pretty good. Leading actress Sharni Vinson is a tough woman, and boy does she kick ass here. I would not want to mess with her in a bar. Even if the first 26 minutes could have been better, we get some nice surprises later on with some very gory scenes. A good choice if you also felt disappointed  with a number of horror movies lately.

Rating: DDD