Before director Adam Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett were making movies about giant apes and lizards smashing stuff, they made a couple of very cool, under-the-radar, action horror films. Second Sight released their shiny 4K box set of The Guest (2014) a few years back, and after the success of that, they have reached further back into Wingard and Barrett's catalogue to bring us You're Next. Both The Guest and You're Next are the very definition of cult movies, gaining popularity gradually through word-of-mouth recommendations and becoming more well-known now than they ever were upon release.
You're Next has the definite feel of a horror film made by people who really love horror films. Cherry-picked samples from The Wicker Man (1973), Scream (1996), and the stories of Edgar Allen Poe underpin the ultimately B-movie feel. We have a cold open with a sex scene followed by some pretty gnarly violence giving us a taste of the future for the characters we haven't met yet. A clue at the remoteness of wealthy homes with enormous windows that look out into dark empty wilderness and the vulnerability that presents.
And wealth is at the centre of this story. What is more popular now than an “eat the rich” morality tale where those of us who have a fair bit of money left at the end of the month get to see people in cashmere scarves get their arses handed to them? Those at the top of the food chain suddenly find themselves as lambs for slaughter, with each death—from razor wire to the throat, to an arrow in the back—giving clues to the midpoint twist.
Erin (Sharni Vinson), a fish-out-of-water Aussie in America, goes with her boyfriend to visit his family at their remote country home. Give or take an obnoxious brother and some snide comments on her accents from boyfriend Crispian's (AJ Bowen) mother, the initial meeting feels fairly uneventful. Awkward conversations between siblings point to rivalries and resentments that have been simmering since their mutually spoilt childhoods, whilst parents Aubrey (Barbara Crampton) and Paul (Rob Moran) continue to affectionately enable them. This changes when a crossbow bolt comes crashing through the dining room window, and from then on the balance of power shifts back and forth between Erin and an unknown number of assailants in animal masks.
There is a risk for You're Next to become bogged down in subtext. There are layers upon layers to be found there, but thankfully the writing from Barrett is so strong with such perfectly balanced humour that it evolves into a charming albeit bloody romp.
It's easy to forget that You're Next predates films like Get Out and Ready or Not, and series like The Fall of the House of Usher. Wingard and Barrett were killing rich people before it was cool, and that's admirable really, isn't it?
Special Features
- New 4K restoration and HDR Dolby Vision grade approved by Director Adam Wingard
- Dual format edition including both UHD and Blu-ray with main feature and bonus features on both discs
- New audio commentary with Director Adam Wingard and Writer Simon Barrett
- Audio commentary with Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett, Sharni Vinson and Barbara Crampton
- Children of the 80s: A new interview with Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett
- The Most of Us: A new interview with Producers Keith Calder and Jess Wu Calder
- Script as a Blueprint: A new interview with Actor AJ Bowen
- Down in the Basement: A new interview with Actor Joe Swanberg
- Be Funny and Die: A new interview with Actor Amy Seimetz
- Falling into Place: A new interview with Production Designer Tom Hammock
- Slashers Don't Die: Tim Coleman on You're Next
- Who's Next? The Making of You're Next
- Animated Storyboards
Limited Edition Contents
- Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Nick Charge
- 120-page book with new essays by Martyn Conterio, Andrew Graves, Kurt Halfyard, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Shelagh Rowan-Legg and Heather Wixson
- 6 collectors' art cards
You're Next is available on Limited Edition Dual UHD/Blu-ray on 19th August courtesy of Second Sight Films.