10/26-You're Next (2011)

There's some really interesting things that You're Next does including possibly the greatest death scene ever (will get more into this later).  First of all, there's a good amount of nostalgia in this film, starting with the opening scene, a classic horror trope.  Unknown characters are boning and then are promptly murdered by a masked assailant.

We then shift to a different story line.  A recently retired couple arrive at their new home and notice that their neighbor must be there (the unbeknownst to them, murdered neighbor).  The couple's adult-aged children begin arriving to celebrate the parents anniversary.  There's a funny moment where they here something upstairs and the mother insists on them leaving and calling the police, which is a huge overreaction for the situation, but she's obviously seen horror movies before.  She's not taking any chances.  What makes it funny is that there actually is an intruder, but they don't find him, so they assume it's safe.

Things are going seemingly fine, until...

We get to a dinner scene!

Classic dad sweater vest.

Fans of this blog will know that I've mentioned the importance of dinner scenes in horror movies, and this one is no different.  Now it's not uncomfortable because the people are cannibals or sadists, but rather because the family doesn't completely get along.  Ever go to your friend's house for dinner and they end up arguing?  This was like that on steroids.  So much so that no one seems to notice when the daughter's boyfriend gets murdered with an arrow.

Spoilers!

What follows is the family being taken down one by one.  Despite them holing up in the interior of the house, no one is safe because, surprise! someone was already in the house.  Remember that noise they heard earlier?  Well it was a murderer.  One of the sons' Australian girlfriend begins to take charge in how to survive, which is due to her being raised by her dad on a survivalist compound.  This becomes apparent when she gets the best of one of the intruders and just unrelentingly murders him with a meat hammer.  The youngest son watches her do this with little reaction.

It was around this time that I realized this movie is basically Home Alone for adults.  Traps are set by both the intruders and the family, several of which end in some very visceral activations.  Speaking of visceral, I know I'm a little weird in how I react to stuff, but in the dinner scene, I had little reaction to the arrow murder.  But during the struggle, one of the characters effs up his ankle and that made me seize up something fierce.  That being said, I did grasp my neck on the several throat slits.

Anyway, we find out that the youngest son is the orchestrator of the entire thing, having the whole family killed so he will be the sole benefactor of the family's enormous wealth.  But they've clearly not counted on Erin (the Aussie girlfriend) being a badass and fighting back.  At this point, we're well into the second act, nearly the final, and I'm starting to think that the movie is losing steam.

Well boy was a fucking moron.

Remember when I mentioned that best kill?  Well, I couldn't find a gif, and the only video I could find is this awful quality one.  To set the scene, Erin smashes a blender on Felix's (the douche son) head.  She then slams it, blade-side down into the top of his head.  AND THEN SHE TURNS IT ON!!!!  FUCK YES, SHE BLENDED HIS BRAINS OUT!!!

The ending has another turn or two that I won't cover so as to leave something to surprise. but it has a fun, bleak end that is very reminiscent of Night of the Living Dead.  Between the quality scares, killer deaths (hehe, deal with the terrible pun), and actually solid character development, I was very pleasantly surprised by this slasher flick.

Rating on the Spook-o-meter: 5 out of 10 boos