You're Next

A few indie horror filmmakers lent their hands to the bloody, silly, fun B-movie flick 'You’re Next'. Director Adam Wingard doesn't shy away from chopping faces or slitting throats, and has cast horror-mates Joe Swanberg (V/H/S) and Ti West (The House of the Devil) in this blood-soaked romp. While it’s chaotic and stupid, the film has a high splatter level and is entertaining enough to keep horror fans talking. This is the perfect over-the-top scary movie to jumpstart your nerves at midnight.

Wingard seems to have taken a little bit from ‘Them’ and ‘Fortress’ to make ‘You’re Next’. The film takes place in a giant mansion away from city life. When four siblings and their significant others get together to see their parents, little do they know that several psychos in animal masks are watching them and will eventually start killing them one by one.

Since there are ten people to kill, Wingard disposes of a few fairly early on. It feels like everyone in this house can only cower, hide in a corner, or scream for long periods of time – that is, everyone except the Australian, Erin (Sharni Vinson), who seems to know how to survive any type of attack. About halfway through the movie, we find out why these people are murdering this family, and that’s where the pace picks up and the blood really starts flying. By the end, you’ll yell at the characters to do this or do that, and the movie ends with a fun-as-hell moment that will garner a big smile as the credits roll.

This is the type of movie where the characters do asinine things that make you think they must want to die. But that’s what makes it so fun. The acting, script, and bloodletting are all done to ridiculous levels, and that’s the whole point. It’s a fast, crude, and a highly entertaining horror flick. I mean, who doesn’t want to see a guy’s head chopped up by a smoothie blender?

'You're Next' comes with a solid 1080p HD transfer presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio. This gory horror film looks great with very sharp detail that shows some well-defined textures in closeups. We see the scars, gashes, wrinkles, and makeup blemishes very well. The costumes and animal masks show very fine textures as well.

The colors are very well saturated and seems to be on the warmer side of the spectrum. Since the film mostly takes place indoors, there are tons of browns, yellows, and neutral tones. But when the blood starts flying, it pops right of the screen and is very vibrant. The blacks are very deep and inky with the skin tones running very natural. There was a tiny bit of motion blur, but no other compression issues to speak of.

This release comes with a lossless DTS-HD 5.1 audio mix and it sounds great. Horror films need to full immerse you in its sound so you can feel even more scared as you hear things creeping up behind and around you. And this audio mix does exactly that. The dialogue is crystal clear and very easy to understand with no evidence of any pops, cracks, or hissing. The directionality of the voices and people running around in chaos sound great here too.

The sound effects of bullets, arrows, and general body parts being chopped and slashed all pour nicely out of the surrounds. It's loud and well balanced here. The score adds a great sense of suspense and builds the tension well. The LFE is well defined and the dynamic range is very wide. The bass rumbles from time to time as well. This is a great horror audio mix.

• Audio Commentary with Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett -The first commentary is a great discussion with the director and writer who clearly enjoy one another's company. They talk about how some of the stunts and shots were made, as well as working with some of the actors. The go into some technical details on the production, but keep it light-hearted and funny. Great listen.
  
• Audio Commentary with Director Adam Wingarad, writer Simon Barrett and actor’s Sharni Vinson and Barbara Crampton - Another commentary track here with the director and writer, but this time two of the actors join them. This tends to go into mroe of some of the on-set stories, which are quite funny, as well as some of the character motivations and stunt work. Another good listen.
  

• No Ordinary Home Invasion: The Making of 'You’re Next' (HD, 11 mins) - This is a short and standard making of with cast and crew interviews and on-set footage. Nothing of real value is here. Wish this was meatier and longer.
  

• Trailers (HD, 12 mins) - Trailer for the film and other movies from Lionsgate.
  

'You're Next' is tons of fun and as a horror slasher film, it works on almost every level. The blood is unrelenting and the stupidity of the characters will make you laugh out loud. The video and audio portions are great with a couple of fun commentaries. If you're into horror films and gore, definitely pick this up. Highly recommended.