You're Next (FILM REVIEW)
You're
Next
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Masked Maniacs Wreak Havoc at Family Reunion
in Harrowing Horror Flick
Paul Davison (Rob Moran) recently retired
after receiving a generous golden parachute from KPG, the defense contractor with
which he’d enjoyed a long career as an executive. Hoping to spend their golden
years in the country, he and his wife Aubrey (Barbara Crampton) purchased a
sprawling Tudor mansion in need of a little TLC.
The couple moves into the mammoth
fixer-upper on their 35th anniversary with plans to celebrate by hosting
a family reunion that very same weekend. Their arriving guests include son
Crispian (AJ Bowen) and his girlfriend Erin (Sharni Vinson); son Drake (Joe
Swanberg) and his wife Kelly (Margaret Laney); son Felix (Nicholas Tucci) and his
girlfriend Zee (Wendy Glenn); and daughter Aimee (Amy Seimetz) and boyfriend
Tariq (Ti West).
But
the revelers at the rural retreat are initially blissfully unaware that their only
neighbors (Kate Lyn Sheil and Larry Fessenden) for miles around have just been
murdered in a brutal home invasion by an ax-wielding maniac. This means Erin is in for the shock of her life when Mrs. Davison
innocently asks her to run next-door to borrow some milk. What she finds is the
aftermath of the slaughter, and the words “You’re Next” written in blood on a
sliding glass door.
Then, as night falls, the Davisons, find
their phones inoperable as they come under attack by a masked madman armed with
a crossbow. They immediately begin to barricade the premises and to take
precautionary measures while trying to figure out who would want them dead and
why.
Thus unfolds You’re Next, a high
attrition-rate horror flick directed by wunderkind Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way to
Die). The Mumblecore maven tapped a talented cast featuring several actors
associated with the genre, including Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz and Lane Hughes.
This tautly-edited, harrowing
adventure that kept this critic on the edge of my seat and constantly reminding
myself that “It’s only a movie.” It even had me shrieking at the top of my
lungs in reaction to a number of shocking developments, precisely as the best
in fright fare ought to do.
Rather than risk spoiling a cleverly-concealed
mindbender one iota, suffice to say that the summer of 2013 has been a great
season for horror fare, from The Purge to The Conjuring to this spine-tingling scare
fest not for the squeamish.
Excellent
(4 stars)
Rated R
for profanity, sexuality, nudity and graphic violence
Running time: 96 minutes
Distributor: Lionsgate
Films
To see a trailer for You're
Next, visit: http://lionsgatepublicity.com/theatrical/yourenext/
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