| Title | The golden age of horror: You're Next (2013) |
| Author | Chris Hornbostel and Bill Cunningham |
| Posted in | Features |
| When | October 29, 2014 |
Bill: Adam Wingard, Ti West, and Eli Roth are just a few of the names that are often lumped together and pointed to as the new wave of horror directors on review sites, and quite often in tones that infer they're more savior than simple auteur..
Read the full articleI'm with you Chris, this does feel singular. And I'm with you too Bill, Wingard (with Barrett) is the best of this new crop of horror filmmakers. As with A Horrible Way to Die, Wingard/Barrett like to mess with genre conventions as a way to bring out interesting characters, not just for the sake of a twist. Too bad no one goes to see these films. You're Next did get a wide release, but it was horribly brief, and by all accounts Lionsgate had no idea what to do with it (sitting on it for a few years after acquiring it) and just dumped it for a short run. I'm still pissed that I can't see The Guest anywhere (Wingard/Barrett's latest), but of course Ouija is playing on 14 thousand screens...
So while I'm totally on board with calling Wingard one of the most exciting horror filmmakers working today, it's a shame he doesn't have the box office cache of someone like Roth or, for that matter, James Wan.
Anyway, I was fortunate to see You're Next in the theatre, and boy, I tell you the sound of this thing really blew me away. The horn blasts in particular. The filmmakers did the score themselves, even that awesome Carpenter inspired electronic number at the end, which was a great tone adjuster after Erin had finally taken control of the situation.
As for "Looking for the Magic," the day after my brother-in-law saw You're Next he bought that song on itunes and proceeded to play it for like a week straight, over and over and over again. Earlier this year at his best friend's wedding, the DJ played it as kind of a joke, and I tell you, it was the single coolest moment of any wedding I've been to. And the few of us that were in the know were beaming.
That sounds like a fun wedding!
I thought You're Next did a little better at the box office. It was number 6 when it opened and almost beat out the bigger budget Mortal Instruments and World's End. It was in release for about 8 weeks, but I think wide release was quite a few weeks shorter though.
I guess I'm lucky in one regards when it comes being a Chicagoan. The Guest has been playing here for a few weeks already. The problem is that I keep freakin' forgetting to go see it! I really do need to, considering the rave reviews I've come across.
Wow yeah I guess you're right. I looked it up, it made nearly 19 million domestic, over 7 on opening weekend. So not terrible. I still wish they would do Wan numbers though, these movies are so much better.
One of the reasons I'm so impressed with Wingard is that neither A Horrible Way to Die nor You're Next is at all the sort of horror I would normally care for. Serial killers and home invasion strike me as usually being excuses for wallowing in gore and sadism and while I know some people find them terrifying (for fully legitimate reasons), it's just not the sort of thing that trips that fear response for me. Fix them up with this calibre of writing and direction, though, and make them about the people involved, and you really have something to make me sit up and take notice.
I am so glad this was on your list. I had never heard of it before. At first I was so annoyed by the characters that I really didn't care what happened - by the end I had a huge grin on my face. :D
Really love this film. It takes time honored horror movie traditions and does it one better with solid casting, performances, shots, and pacing. Some of the dialogue is a bit silly but this movie is fantastic for viewers of all types... even those who normally aren't into slashers or home invasion/torture/murder films.
Yep, this is exactly how I feel. I am so NOT a home-invasion movie kind of guy, but I loved this. In fact, tonight I was told that I was picking the movie (from Netflix, at a friend's house) for our Halloween get-together. Everyone had seen Cabin in the Woods, so I suggested this instead as good, gory fun. I promised them if they could handle the blood in Cabin, they could handle this. Plus, selfishly, I was up for seeing it a third time in a week!
It went over great. Big hit with the masses. What's weird: my buddy's wife remembered when this was in theaters, and she likes horror movies well enough and she didn't want to see it because she thought it'd be too gory. She was like "If I knew it was this much fun, we'd have already seen it."
