You're Next

Good horror film. In all those months that passed between the world première at the Toronto Film Festival (autumn 2011), where You're Next was labelled a future classic, and the moment when it finally made it to Czech viewers, the expectations reached such heights that it’s impossible not to be a little disappointed. If it had come out of nowhere, I would be fully satisfied; it’s a nimble, well made and fun film with a likeable protagonist. But hype’s a bitch. Home-invasion is one of my favourite sub-genres and what I like so much about it is the penetration of evil right into the living room, the oasis of homely comfort and safety, making the characters lose all certainty and become helpless and at the mercy of the dangerous intruders. That is also the case here for a while, but this film has several catches. To begin with, it doesn’t fully exploit the potential of the masked killers, Lamb, Tiger and Fox could have become iconic horror characters to some extent, but there is no major interaction between them and the heroes, the film doesn’t build any significant aura around them. Also, the film gradually becomes surprising, but in the slasher sub-genre, where the psychical pressure on the characters gets totally lost. This is when You’re Next becomes a fun and fairly bloody ride, but it no longer had a deeper effect on me. And then there are the almost surprisingly uneven performances, where, mostly in the third act, I had trouble believing what the characters are saying or doing. This is unfortunately clearest in the last important conversation, which ruins a little the thus far positive impression of the film. I’m not hiding my mild unease, I was expecting the best home-invasion far and wide, which didn’t really happen. But it’s still a fun, perfectly crafted horror flick that I won’t mind watching again. 8/10 (29.12.2013)

Finally, a slasher whose protagonist is not a silicone damsel running around in distress, but a hardened survivalist who is not the least bit afraid, and who dispatches home invaders with insidious traps with a similar zeal as Kevin McCallister in Home Alone and with similar ingenuity as MacGyver himself (she only needs a kitchen blender to eliminate her opponent). It's not very horror, nor is it very comedic. It's more of a frantic adrenaline ride where everything happens terribly fast and unexpectedly. Fans of the genre will appreciate a lot of cool ideas, drawing attention to genre conventions. It's nothing revolutionary like, say, Scream, but in the flood of all those stereotypical slasher films, it's a pleasant surprise. You can just feel from the film that it was made by horror enthusiasts (there are funny cameos by horror directors Ti West and Joe Swanberg, who spends most of the film with an arrow stuck in his back). (14.07.2017)

You're Next is clearly a film that stands out among current productions, but you shouldn't set your expectations too high. It's professionally made, not just another typical horror flick, but you get something different that exceeds its category. However, if we consider the horror genre as a whole, it's probably not a film that will impact you for the rest of your life, because similar pieces have already been done before. Maybe they weren’t as well-crafted, but you definitely won't feel like you're seeing something completely new. (13.01.2014)

I may look at horror and all its subgenres a lot more strictly than I do, say, comedies (even given that horror's cutting edge is so narrow and unattainable), but this is a screenwriting dud. Home invasion horror is always basically about the same, but while last year's The Purge stirred up the waters with a novel idea and a relatively creative execution, You're Next has nothing that is worth talking about that can elevate the story above the level of bloody teenage bullshit. We've seen all the "shocking" deaths elsewhere, the atmosphere is better in every other found footage film, and I didn't find the inheritance plot believable at all. The only thing I really appreciate is the strong main character, who behaves in a way that was appropriate for the situation. 40% (22.03.2014)