by Michael Welles Schock

You’re Next baffled me. It wasn’t because I could not follow the plot. It wasn’t because its story did not make sense. I was baffled because, even as the end credits rolled, I was still completely unsure whether I was supposed to find the film terrifying or hilarious. If it is supposed to be scary, someone forgot to tell the cast and writer Simon Barrett. If it is supposed to be a dark farce, someone forgot to tell director/editor Adam Wingard. This is a film with identity crisis, and it makes things a bit hard on the audience. Because we are never sure if we are supposed to be scream or laugh, we can never fully commit ourselves to one or the other. Thus the film’s potential for enjoyment is undercut by confusion.

The family before the mayhem in You’re Next

You’re Next begins quite promisingly. As the story of a family reunion set upon by a relentless gang of masked psychopaths, You’re Next occupies a constantly re-treaded genre often hampered by the expectations the audience brings with them from the many horror flicks they have seen in the past. One way to combat this is to recognize these expectations and then use them against the audience. You’re Next pulls this off quite well on more than one occasion in its opening minutes, setting up what the audience believes to be a predictable outcome, and then subverting it at the last moment. The film’s approach to character is also quite refreshing. In terms of interaction, You’re Next is far more like mumblecore than anything in traditional horror. The characters are likeable, human and witty. We enjoy watching them interact, really buying into the idea that this is an actual family struggling with the fact that they have begun to grow apart. Imagine that. It is a horror film that we enjoy watching even before the killing begins, with an ensemble cast that is more than a bunch of corpses waiting to be slaughtered.

Unfortunately, when the killing begins the audience is thrown into confusion. The attacks upon the family are shocking and graphic. The camera, editing and musical score fully commit to this shock. However, the characters’ reactions can only be called comical. With their clownish acts of panic and their often bitingly-funny bickering in supposed moments of terror, story events and character behavior stand in complete tonal incongruity. As the early chuckles heard in the theater slowly grew into raucous laughter, I was stuck wondering, was this meant to be funny? Or is it just poor writing? Are we laughing with the film or at it?

The antagonists in You’re Next

You’re Next has some great scares in its beginning, but as things progress, the action grows sillier and the killers less intimidating, turning things farcical. A horror-farce would be a fine way to go, but the film never fully commits to path. Even long after the audience abandons any intentions of taking the film seriously, You’re Next continues to run them over with its shock-out violence, oppressive musical score and shaky terror-camera. With such contradictory cues, no one can blame the audience if they do not know how they should react. It is basically a comedy wearing a horror movie’s clothes. And those clothes do not fit.

If You’re Next is supposed to be truly terrifying, it made a major mistake with its protagonist. Sharni Vinson plays Erin, a plucky Aussie brought to the reunion by her boyfriend Crispian (the affable AJ Bowen). However to everyone’s surprise, Erin turns out to be (with implausible convenience) a total ass-kicker! I do not just mean she is tough. In her first toe-to-toe encounter with one of the supposedly unstoppable killers, Erin beats the holy snot out of him as if she had been trained by Navy SEALS. My point is this is NOT a horror movie heroine. This is an action movie heroine. You’re Next has designed a protagonist that does not fit with their generic premise. In a horror movie, you want the audience to be scared for the hero. To achieve this, the hero cannot be as strong as the villain. Even more so, the hero cannot be stronger. The hero must be at such a disadvantage that he or she seems completely powerless against the oncoming forces. The audience is frightened for the hero because they are certain the hero is doomed. Erin is too strong for this genre. She is also too smart. The audience does not fear for her because we are sure she has the situation well in hand. As the film rolls on, Erin becomes more and more powerful and the killers more clownish and incompetent, turning You’re Next from a horror movie into a gruesome version of Home Alone—complete with the wacky booby traps.

Sharni Vinson as Erin in You’re Next

I am supposed to use these reviews as a way to give lessons on screencraft. Unfortunately, this review has to be a little light in that regard. I simply do not know which lessons to give. I could discuss how this could have been a better scary movie. Or how it could have been a better comedy. But I have no idea which route to take. All I can say is if you watch this film at home alone looking to be scared, you are going to be disappointed. If you watch it in a packed theater looking for fun, it is a goofball riot. So if you like gore and goofball riots, You’re Next is actually not a bad way to spend and hour and a half. Just don’t overthink anything.