Who's Last? - Review of You're Next

You're Next (2013)
Dir: Adam Wingard
Scr: Simon Barrett
TRAILER 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1853739/

Mask-wearing, axe-wielding murderers and a cast progressively downsized in a creaky old mansion. Not the stuff of horror revitalisation, but Adam Wingard's You're Next does succeed in organising well-worn elements into an interesting shape. Mixing black comedy, minimalist brutality and self-awareness for infrequent rewards, a standard slasher formula is proven effective for what one hopes is the last time.

We open in black with the screams of a women in distress, screams revealed to be carnal rather than homicidal in nature. This is one of the smarter tricks the film plays, so, if it doesn't deliver, you have your early waterline. This cold-open couple is our introduction to the murderous villainy afoot. Intruders clad in plastic animal masks (fox, sheep, tiger, if it matters) write YOU'RE NEXT on the window in the woman's blood as a message to the man, which is promptly reaffirmed when he is macheted in the face. The fact that this message faces outside toward the camera rather than inside towards the intended reader is a stylised touch of titling that I found bothersome. Perhaps these psychos didn't practise backwards writing on their notebooks in school like I did.

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