You’re Next (2011)

Number Rolled: 18

Movie Name/Year: You’re Next (2011)

Tagline: Hunt Sweet Hunt

Genre: Horror

Length: 94 minutes

Rating: R

Production Companies: HanWay Films, Snoot Entertainment

Producers: Simon Barrett, Keith Calder, Chris Harding, Kim Sherman, Brock Williams, Jessica Wu

Director: Adam Wingard

Writer: Simon Barrett

Actors: Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Margaret Laney, Amy Seimetz, Ti West, Rob Moran, Barbara Crampton, L.C. Holt, Simon Barrett, Lane Hughes, Larry Fessenden, Kate Lyn Sheil, Calvin Reeder

Crispian and his girlfriend, Erin, are heading to a remote home to get together with the rest of Crispian’s family. It’s going to be their first time meeting Erin and they’re looking forward to the trip.

Selina’s Point of View:

I loved this film.

Sure, I know the plot was flimsy and it featured some of the most terrible attempts at faking a limp I’ve ever seen… but that doesn’t change anything.

Sharni Vinson (Blue Crush 2, Patrick, Austin Golden Hour) portrayed her character so perfectly, that it made me forget the film’s flaws while I was in the moment. I believed that Erin was who she was made out to be. All that kicking ass just seemed to make sense. I found myself rooting for her and looking forward to what she would do next. It was a well written character and amazingly acted. I’m very interested in seeing more of Vinson in the future.

In the long run, I have to admit the film didn’t have much substance. Ridiculous kills, flimsy story and a not-so-twist twist ending.

I’m giving it a much higher rating than it probably deserves because I was thoroughly entertained and that, boys and girls, is the point of a movie.

Cat’s Point of View:

I have been craving a good horror movie for a while now. After a few roller-coaster rides of hope and disappointment in recent viewings; finally, I do believe we hit the jackpot.

Sure, there were a few of your standard horror movie tropes involved, but I found I didn’t mind so much. It gave me a security blanket with a small sense that I could predict what was coming.

This movie had it all. There were slasher thrills, suspense, subtle creepiness, jump scares, people absolutely losing their minds freaking out, seemingly random serial killer violence, a twist, gore, and a kickass person who just refuses to be a victim.

Speaking of Ms. Kickass; Sharni Vinson (Home and Away, Step Up 3D, Dragon Blade) was spectacular. I have been a fan of this awesome Aussie since I saw her dance on the big screen. She’s no stranger to being a kickass heroine. Before there were sharknados, she was battling tsunami surfing sharks of doom in the movie Bait (2012).

The primary villains in this film, the animal-masked murderers, were seriously creepy. Just a subtle tilt of a masked head in just the right moment was chill-inducing.

The actor behind the tiger mask just happened to also be the writer of this film, Simon Barrett (Red Sands, V/H/S, Contracted). He is also the writer of recently reviewed film, The Guest (2014).  I am looking forward to seeing more work from this writing/directing team.

Director, Adam Wingard (Pop Skull, A Horrible Way to Die, V/H/S: segment "Tape 56") hit this one right out of the park. He directed The Guest  with Barrett and his segment of The ABCs of Death (2012) was one of the very few I found tolerable in that anthology. He is also signed on as the director for the upcoming live-action Death Note movie; based on the anime of the same name.

I can’t wait!

I would have liked more explanation of ‘why’. They threw enough breadcrumbs, however, for me to put together a general idea. This is a film it will be fun to watch again to see if other subtle clues pop out!

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 75%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 59%

Netflix’s Prediction for Selina – 4.5/5

Selina’s Trust-the-Dice Score – 4/5

Netflix’s Prediction for Cat – 4/5

Cat’s Trust-the-Dice Score – 4/5

Movie Trailer: