The following is a long-form review that I originally wrote in 2013.
Though initially shown in 2011, You're Next has only just gained a theatrical release in the past month. A release for which I'm very glad. Being in Australia, a horror movie in cinema is not common, there's rarely if ever more than two showing at the same time, and very often none.
Stylistically it blends a lot of cliche business with some much more out there and alternative ideas. The cinematography is not unlike that of The Strangers (plus there's some similarity in events) and the vibe reminded me of the Saw franchise (though the events themselves most certainly did not). The result is a film that is oddly both a predictable and completely atypical horror.
Though the most major of the plot twists was seen coming by everyone I saw You're Next with, and personally only one of my many predictions about the film failed to eventuate, I'd still rate it as Adam Wingard's best work to date (who has previously been responsible for on A Horrible Way to Die, Pop Skull and What Fun We're Having as well as collaborative segments The ABCs of Death and both V/H/S entries).
The cast is small, and not exactly overburdened with big names. In fact I only recognised AJ Bowen out of the lot of them (from his work on other Wingard pieces as well as The Signal and Hatchet II). Sharni Vinson who plays a character named Erin (a twist on the Final Girl trope usually seen in slasher films) was unknown to me, though an Australian in a major role of an American film was cool to see. She earned much praise for her portrayal, though personally I felt this was at least as much (if not more so) due to good writing than good acting.
My personal accolades go to the villains of the piece, dubbed simply Fox Mask, Tiger Mask and Lamb Mask (above). Particularly Fox Mask, but that may well be a bias seeing as Hoyts sent me a Fox Mask Mask for free. As well as tickets. Good kids.
You're Next has some new ideas to display, as well as some class act ways of getting around issues like budget constraints. It has some well designed kills, a mostly-engaging story and some absolutely hilarious moments (probably intentional, but laugh-out-loud funny either way). But it didn't blow me away, nor was it groundbreaking. The "new stuff" brought to the table tended to come about in short bursts through an otherwise standard setting, rather than actually being original overall. I enjoyed my time and I'd recommend giving it a a watch, but ultimately it sat in the category of "good" rather than "memorable".
-Gimly
