You're Next

Last updated

You're Next
YoureNext2011Film.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Adam Wingard
Written by Simon Barrett
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Andrew Droz Palermo
Edited byAdam Wingard
Music by
  • Jasper Justice Lee
  • Kyle McKinnon
  • Mads Heldtberg
  • Adam Wingard
Production
companies
Distributed by Lionsgate
Release dates
  • September 10, 2011 (2011-09-10)(TIFF)
  • August 23, 2013 (2013-08-23)(United States)
Running time
94 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1 million [2]
Box office$26.9 million [3]

You're Next is a 2011 American slasher film directed and edited by Adam Wingard, written by Simon Barrett and starring Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, A. J. Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Barbara Crampton and Rob Moran. The plot concerns an estranged family under attack by a group of masked assailants during a family reunion.

Contents

Produced on a low budget, You're Next had its world premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival Midnight Madness program [4] [5] and was theatrically released on August 23, 2013, in the United States. The film grossed over $26 million from a $1 million production budget and has since gained a cult following. [6]

Plot

The film opens with a couple, Talia and Erik Harson, having sex. After a shower, Erik finds "you're next" written on the window in Talia's blood; her body is lying dead on the ground. An attacker wearing a lamb mask kills Erik with a machete.

Erin accompanies her boyfriend, Crispian Davison, to his family reunion at their vacation home in rural Missouri. Present are Crispian's parents Aubrey and Paul, Crispian's older brother Drake and his wife Kelly, Crispian's younger siblings Felix and Aimee, and their partners, Zee and Tariq, respectively.

During dinner, someone shoots crossbow bolts through the window, one of which hits Tariq and kills him. The survivors discover that their cell phone reception has been jammed. Aimee runs outside for help but runs into a garrote wire which slices her throat, killing her. Another intruder in a fox mask murders Aubrey with a machete after she departs to sleep, leaving the words "you're next" in blood on the wall.

Kelly flees the house, going to Erik's house nearby, where she finds Erik's corpse. Lamb Mask kills her by driving an ax into her head. Crispian leaves the house to look for help. Tiger Mask attacks Erin but she stabs his arm then crushes his skull with a meat tenderizer.

Paul finds sleeping bags, food wrappers, and bottles of urine in the closet, indicating the killers have been staying in the house for some time. Fox Mask slits his throat, killing him. It is revealed that Felix and Zee hired the assassins to murder the family so they could collect their inheritance. Lamb Mask finds Tiger Mask's corpse and goes into a rage. He discovers a wounded Drake but retreats after Erin stabs him with a screwdriver. Erin sets up nail traps, explaining to Zee that she grew up in a survivalist compound where she learned combat and survival skills. Felix kills Drake out of pity by stabbing him with screwdrivers.

Erin jumps through a window to escape Fox Mask, injuring her leg. Lamb Mask is injured by one of her nail traps. Erin overhears an argument between Felix, Zee, Fox Mask, and Lamb Mask, revealing that Lamb Mask and Tiger Mask were brothers. She is able to ambush and kill Lamb Mask by stabbing him.

Realizing she cannot outrun Fox Mask with a wounded leg, she sets a trap at the front door where an axe would fall and kill anyone who opens the door. Fox Mask is undeterred by this trap, but is lured into the basement and killed with a log. Zee and Felix attempt to kill Erin, but she kills Felix by shredding his head with a blender before stabbing Zee. Felix's cell phone rings and Erin answers without speaking. Believing he is speaking to Felix, Crispian reveals his involvement in the scheme. Erin confronts him when he returns. Crispian explains that she was never meant to be targeted and attempts to bribe her into staying quiet. Horrified that he would sacrifice his family for money, she kills him by stabbing him in the neck and eye.

A police officer arrives and shoots Erin in the shoulder, having seen her kill Crispian. He attempts to enter the house and falls victim to Erin's axe trap, with the axe swinging at his head just as the movie cuts to a blood-splattered "You're next".

Cast

Production

Development

Barrett wrote the film after Wingard told him that he wanted to do a home invasion movie, noting that they were the only films that still truly frightened him. [7]

From there, Barrett wrote a script inspired by Agatha Christie mysteries as well as a combination of screwball comedies and chamber mysteries. [7] Barrett would later note that Bay of Blood was probably in the back of his mind when writing the film, although he only realized this after the fact. [7]

Wingard credited the film's humor to Barrett's sense of humor and cynicism. Some of the dinner conversations were improvised and based on real-life experiences the filmmakers had with family members. [8]

Filming

The film was shot in 2011 at a mansion in Columbia, Missouri. Filming took place over four weeks, and shooting consisted mostly of night shoots filmed from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. [9]

Release

Sharni Vinson (center) alongside some fans. Sharni Vinson with guardians.jpg
Sharni Vinson (center) alongside some fans.

You're Next premiered on September 17, 2011 at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival [10] [4] and opened at other film festivals later.

RegionRelease dateFestival
CanadaSeptember 10, 2011 Toronto International Film Festival [4]
United StatesSeptember 24, 2011 Fantastic Fest [11] [12]
FranceSeptember 4, 2013World-wide release

Four days after its premiere, Lionsgate acquired American, British, and Canadian distribution rights to the film for $2 million. [13] [14] The film was part of the competition during the 20th edition of the international festival of fantastic movies at Gerardmer (France) in February 2013, and it won the Syfy prize of the event.

Box office

The film opened in the United States on August 9, 2013 and earned $7,020,196 in its opening weekend. The film closed on October 17, having grossed $18,494,006 in the domestic box office and $8,401,475 overseas for a worldwide total of $26,895,481. [15]

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 80% based on 161 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus states, "You're Next's energetic and effective mix of brutal gore and pitch black humor will please horror buffs and beyond." [16] Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [17] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. [18]

Vanity Fair 's Jordan Hoffman called You're Next "one of the more entertaining horror pictures of the last 10 years". [19] Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+, praising "Wingard's canny knack for leavening his characters' gory demises with sick laughs and clever Rube Goldberg twists (razor-sharp piano wire hasn't been used this well since 1999's Audition ). It's like Ordinary People meets Scream " and describing the final shot as "deliciously twisted". [20] R. Kurt Osenlund of Slant Magazine gave the film 4 stars, stating that it "brazenly merges the home-invasion thriller with the dysfunctional family dramedy". [21] Joshua Rothkopf ( Time Out New York ) called the film "solidly satisfying" and a "minor triumph", though adding that it was, in general, unoriginal. [22] Matt Glasby of Total Film called the film "funny and tense, rather than hilarious and terrifying", and complimented it for being a "good" horror-comedy. [23] Barbara VanDenburgh ( Arizona Republic ) gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, stating that it was not "very scary" and that its "budget for red food coloring was no doubt higher than the one for script doctoring"; although she complimented the score and "gruesome" conclusion. [24] Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post said the movie "is at times bloodily entertaining. And if the central plot twist isn't all that clever, at least the movie offers some motivation for its mayhem", [25] while Jane Horwitz wrote for the same newspaper: "For slasher/horror fans 17 and older, You're Next may provide sufficient homicidal entertainment". [26] Liam Lacey ( The Globe and Mail ) gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, describing it as "well-executed" but "rudimentary". [27]

A review from St. Louis Post-Dispatch called the film unoriginal, [28] while Rene Rodriguez ( The Miami Herald ) panned the film, calling it "practically insulting", and dubbed the premise "idiotic". [29] John DeFore ( The Hollywood Reporter ) wrote that the film's characters were mostly unsympathetic and that more humor would have improved the film. [30] Stephen Whitty of The Newark Star-Ledger , in a review for The Portland Oregonian , gave the film a C+ rating, agreeing it was unoriginal and uninventive, comparing it to The Purge and The Last House on the Left . [31] Scott Bowles of USA Today gave You're Next a negative review, describing it as repetitive and stating that it did not have a purpose. [32]

Total Film placed Erin (Sharni Vinson) at number one on their list of "50 Most Bad-Ass Female Horror Leads". [33] Entertainment Weekly placed Erin at number thirteen on its list of "The Best Horror Heroines in Film." [34]

Home media

The film was released via video on demand on December 27, 2013, and via DVD and Blu-ray on January 14, 2014.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>The Silence of the Lambs</i> (film) 1991 horror film by Jonathan Demme

The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Ted Tally, adapted from Thomas Harris's 1988 novel of the same name. It stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee who is hunting a serial killer named "Buffalo Bill", who skins his female victims. To catch him, she seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. The film also features performances from Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald, and Kasi Lemmons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eli Roth</span> American filmmaker and actor

Eli Raphael Roth is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. As a director and producer, he is most closely associated with the horror genre, namely splatter films, having directed the films Cabin Fever (2002) and Hostel (2005).

<i>Saw II</i> 2005 film by Darren Lynn Bousman

Saw II is a 2005 horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and written by Leigh Whannell and Bousman. It is the sequel to 2004's Saw and the second installment in the Saw film series. The film stars Donnie Wahlberg, Franky G, Glenn Plummer, Beverley Mitchell, Dina Meyer, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Erik Knudsen, Shawnee Smith, and Tobin Bell. In the film, a group of ex-convicts are trapped by the Jigsaw Killer inside a house and must pass a series of deadly tests to retrieve the antidote for a nerve agent that will kill them in two hours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharni Vinson</span> Australian-American actress, dancer (born 1983)

Sharni Vinson is an Australian and American actress and dancer. She is known for her roles in the television soap opera Home and Away, and in the films Step Up 3D (2010), You're Next (2011) and Bait 3D (2012).

<i>The Blair Witch Project</i> 1999 horror film by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez

The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers—Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard—who hike into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland, in 1994 to film a documentary about a local myth known as the Blair Witch. The three disappear, but their equipment and footage are discovered a year later. The purportedly "found footage" is the movie the viewer sees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Wingard</span> American director, screenwriter, editor, and composer

Adam Wingard is an American filmmaker. He has served as a film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, actor, and composer on numerous American films.

<i>Artifacts</i> (film) 2007 Belgian film

Artifacts is a 2007 horror film directed by Giles Daoust and Emmanuel Jespers and starring Mary Stockley and Felix Scott. It was released in the United States by Lionsgate films.

<i>A Horrible Way to Die</i> 2010 American horror film

A Horrible Way to Die is a 2010 American horror film directed and edited by Adam Wingard, written by co-producer Simon Barrett, and starring A. J. Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Joe Swanberg, Brandon Carroll, and Lane Hughes. The story follows an escaped serial killer as he chases down his recovering alcoholic ex-girlfriend who is responsible for his incarceration. The film had its world premiere at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival Vanguard program where it was picked up for distribution by Anchor Bay Entertainment. It also played at Fantastic Fest where it received three major awards: Best Screenplay for Simon Barrett, Best Actor for A. J. Bowen and Best Actress for Amy Seimetz.

Radio Silence Productions is an American film and television production company, founded in 2011 by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez and Chad Villella. The group is known for the horror films Ready or Not, Scream and Scream VI, as well as their previous work together as Chad, Matt & Rob.

Founded in 2010 by Travis Stevens, Snowfort Pictures is a boutique film production company specializing in the development, financing and production of commercial genre films.

<i>V/H/S</i> 2012 American found footage horror anthology film

V/H/S is a 2012 American found footage horror anthology film and the first installment in the V/H/S franchise created by Brad Miska and Bloody Disgusting and produced by Miska and Roxanne Benjamin. It features a series of found footage shorts written and directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and the filmmaking collective Radio Silence.

<i>The ABCs of Death</i> 2012 American film

The ABCs of Death is a 2012 American comedy horror anthology film produced by international producers and directed by filmmakers from around the world. The film contains 26 shorts, each by different directors spanning fifteen countries, including Nacho Vigalondo, Kaare Andrews, Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett, Banjong Pisanthanakun, Ben Wheatley, Lee Hardcastle, Noboru Iguchi, Ti West, and Angela Bettis.

<i>V/H/S/2</i> 2013 found footage horror anthology film

V/H/S/2 is a 2013 found footage horror anthology film produced by Bloody Disgusting and Roxanne Benjamin. The second installment in the V/H/S franchise, it comprises four found footage segments linked together by a fifth frame narrative. V/H/S/2 features a largely different group of directors: Jason Eisener, Gareth Evans, Timo Tjahjanto, Eduardo Sánchez, and Gregg Hale, and franchise returnees Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard.

<i>The Guest</i> (2014 American film) 2014 thriller film by Adam Wingard

The Guest is a 2014 American thriller film directed by Adam Wingard and written by Simon Barrett. The film stars Dan Stevens and Maika Monroe, with a supporting cast that includes Leland Orser, Sheila Kelley, Brendan Meyer, and Lance Reddick. It tells the story of a U.S. soldier (Stevens) called David who unexpectedly visits the Peterson family, introducing himself as a friend of their son who died in combat in Afghanistan. After he has been staying in their home for a couple of days, a series of deaths occur, and the daughter Anna (Monroe) suspects David is connected to them.

<i>Mischief Night</i> (2014 film) Film by Travis Baker

Mischief Night is a 2014 American slasher film written and directed by Travis Baker. It stars Brooke Anne Smith, Marc Valera, Nikki Limo, Matt Angel, Erik Palladino, and Malcolm McDowell. The film was produced by Richard Tanne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Barrett (filmmaker)</span> American filmmaker

Simon Barrett is an American actor, producer, and screenwriter known for his collaborations with Adam Wingard, including A Horrible Way to Die, V/H/S, V/H/S/2, You're Next, and The Guest. He is associated with the mumblecore movement and has worked with director Joe Swanberg several times.

<i>Death Note</i> (2017 film) 2017 film by Adam Wingard

Death Note is a 2017 American supernatural crime thriller film directed by Adam Wingard from a screenplay by Charles Parlapanides, Vlas Parlapanides, and Jeremy Slater, loosely based on the manga of the same name by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. The film stars Nat Wolff, LaKeith Stanfield, Margaret Qualley, Shea Whigham, Paul Nakauchi, Jason Liles, and Willem Dafoe. The plot follows an American high school student named Light Turner who finds a mysterious supernatural notebook known as the Death Note, which can kill anyone whose name is written on its pages, using it to murder criminals under the alias of Kira, while a secretive detective only known as L seeks to find him.

<i>Blair Witch</i> (film) 2016 film by Adam Wingard

Blair Witch is a 2016 found footage supernatural horror film directed by Adam Wingard and written by Simon Barrett. It is the third film in the Blair Witch series and a direct sequel to the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project, while ignoring the events of its 2000 follow-up film Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, given the events of that film being a film within a film. It stars James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Corbin Reid, Valorie Curry and Wes Robinson. The film follows a group of college students and their local guides who venture into the Black Hills Forest in Maryland to uncover the mysteries surrounding the prior disappearance of Heather Donahue, the sister of one of the characters.

<i>The Strangers: Prey at Night</i> 2018 film by Johannes Roberts

The Strangers: Prey at Night is a 2018 slasher film directed by Johannes Roberts and written by Bryan Bertino and Ben Ketai. It is the sequel to The Strangers (2008) and the second installment of The Strangers film series. The film stars Bailee Madison, Lewis Pullman, Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson, and Damian Maffei. The plot follows a family vacationing to a secluded mobile home park, where they are attacked by three masked strangers.

<i>The Blackening</i> (film) 2023 film by Tim Story

The Blackening is a 2022 American black horror comedy slasher film directed by Tim Story and written by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins, based on the 2018 short film of the same name by the comedy troupe 3Peat. It stars Perkins, Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, Jay Pharoah, and Yvonne Orji. The film, set on Juneteenth, follows a group of Black friends targeted by a masked killer while staying at a cabin in the woods.

References

  1. ↑ "YOU'RE NEXT (18)". British Board of Film Classification . June 17, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 16, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ↑ "You're Next (2013)". The Numbers. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Geddes, Colin. "2011 Films – You're Next". Toronto International Film Festival Inc. Archived from the original on September 24, 2011. Retrieved September 19, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Midnight Madness – Home". Toronto International Film Festival Inc. Retrieved September 19, 2011.
  6. ↑ "'You're Next' Writer Spills Sequel Secrets". Moviepilot . Alex Aronson. Archived from the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 Taylor, Drew (August 26, 2013). "Interview: 'You're Next' Writer Simon Barrett & Director Adam Wingard On Sequel Ideas, Inspiration & The 'V/H/S' Franchise". Indiewire. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  8. ↑ Collis, Clark (August 17, 2013). "'You're Next': Mumblegore goes mainstream". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Columbia Mansion Featured in Horror Film 'You're Next'". midmotoday.com. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
  10. ↑ Harvey, Dennis (September 14, 2011). "You're Next – Toronto Film Fest Review". Variety. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  11. ↑ "Fantastic Fest 2011". Festival Genius. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Fantastic Fest 2011 : Films". Festival Genius. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  13. ↑ "LIONSGATE FINDS ITS 'NEXT' GREAT HORROR FILM – Company Acquires Adam Wingard's YOU'RE NEXT". LIONSGATE. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  14. ↑ "TIFF 2011: Lionsgate Shoots and Scores! You're Next!". Dread Central Media. September 21, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  15. ↑ "You're Next (2013) - International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo . Internet Movie Database . Retrieved January 10, 2015.
  16. ↑ "You're Next (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  17. ↑ "You're Next Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  18. ↑ "You're Next – CinemaScore". CinemaScore . Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  19. ↑ Hoffman, Jordan (September 12, 2016). "Blair Witch Has Scares, but It Never Quite Gets Out of the Woods". Vanity Fair . Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  20. ↑ Nashawaty, Chris (August 29, 2013). "You're Next". Entertainment Weekly . p. 48. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  21. ↑ "You're Next review at". Slant Magazine. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
  22. ↑ Joshua Rothkopf. "You're Next: movie review at". Timeout.com. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
  23. ↑ Glasby, Matt (August 19, 2013). "You're Next Review". TotalFilm.com. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
  24. ↑ "'You're Next', 3.5 stars". azcentral.com. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
  25. ↑ Jenkins, Mark (August 22, 2013). "You're Next movie review". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on August 29, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  26. ↑ Horwitz, Jane (August 29, 2013). "Family Filmgoer reviews One Direction, Getaway, Closed Circuit, The World's End and You're Next". The Washington Post . Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  27. ↑ Liam Lacey (August 23, 2013). "You're Next: Murder and mayhem at the family reunion". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
  28. ↑ Johnson, Kevin C. "'You're Next' is gory, funny, but not as clever as it thinks: Entertainment". Stltoday.com. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
  29. ↑ Rodriguez, Rene. "'You're Next' (R)". miami.com. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
  30. ↑ DeFore, John. "You're Next: Toronto Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
  31. ↑ Whitty, Stephen (August 22, 2013). "You're Next review: Weekend visit turns gory". The Oregonian . Portland, Oregon. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  32. ↑ Bowles, Scott (August 22, 2013). "'Next' question: What's the point of this horror film?". Usatoday.com. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
  33. ↑ "Total Film - GamesRadar+".
  34. ↑ "The best horror heroines in film". EW.com. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.