Before Fantastic Fest even began, word was starting to spread about Adam Wingardâs Youâre Next: early word out of the Toronto International Film Festival had the film pegged as a âmust-seeâ, andâjust hours into Fantastic Fest 2011âthe film became even more buzzworthy when Lionsgate announced that theyâd purchased the film for distribution in 2012. All this added up to what might have been the most sought-after, talked-about screening at Fantastic Fest thus far (yes, even moreso than The Human Centipede 2), andâmiracle of miraclesâI managed to score a ticket to tonightâs midnight screening of the film. Was it worth all that buzz? Prepare yourself for a glowing descent into hyperbole, after the jump.
All day long, people have been asking each other, âYou get into Youâre Next tonight?â Adam Wingardâs filmâa home-invasion horror flick that some were comparing to the vastly-inferior The Strangers prior to seeing it for themselvesâwas the hot ticket at Fantastic Fest 2011 tonight, mainly because Lionsgate decided to cut the filmâs two screenings down to one: apparently, purchasing a film for distribution means limiting the number of people who might see (and rave about) your film. That logic doesnât sit well with me, but whatta I know? Iâm but a simple film critic/yutz with a keyboard. I leave the big decisions to the marketing geniuses in Hollywood.
Itâs a real shame, though. Before tonightâs screening (which I had to fight tooth and nail to get into, but it turned out to be worth every email, called-in favor, and handski), they told us that we were very likely the âonly American audience whoâd see the film before its 2012 releaseâ. If I were Lionsgate, and if I heard the reaction of the crowd inside the Alamo Drafthouse tonight, Iâd add another two screenings for the Fantastic Fest crowd: if they wanna promote their movie, these are the people thatâre gonna do it.
Like my Human Centipede 2 writeup, this reviewâs gonna be lengthy. I took a little guff for rambling on for a couple thousand words during that review, so allow me to offer a Cliffâs Notes version for those in the audience that might not have the attention span (or interest) in combing through another epic: Youâre Next is just as good as youâve heard it is, and offers up some truly amazing performances, genuine scares, a shocking number of laughs, and a few good plot twists. The audience I saw the film with sat on the edge of their seats throughout, and the filmâs two standout performancesâfrom A.J. Bowen and Sharni Vinsonâearned the most applause when the credits rolled. It wonât hit theaters for a long while, but you should see Youâre Next as soon as humanly possible once it does.
There. Thatâs the short version.
Hereâs the long one: Youâre Next isnât just the best film that Iâve seen at Fantastic Fest this year, but itâs also one of the best films Iâve seen this year. Yes, itâs a genre flick, and yeah, itâs another take on the âhome-invasionâ subgenre of horror films. Yeah, itâs true that Ti West and Joe Swanberg (two directors-slash-actors whoâve alienated a certain segment of the film geek population with their films) both appear onscreen here, and itâs also true that the film bears a passing resemblance to the Liv Tyler vehicle The Strangers. But Youâre Next manages to do so much right, all these quibblesâwhich you may or may not have with the filmâwonât even cross your mind once the flick kicks into high gear.
Hereâs the setup: a dysfunctional family is meeting at a big-ass country house somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. We meet Crispin (Bowen) and Erin (Vinson) as they drive to the house, and we meet Crispinâs mother (Barbara Crampton), father (Rob Moran), brothers Drake (Swanberg) and Felix (Nicolas Tucci), and sister (Margaret Laney). Each of the siblings arrives with a boyfriend or girlfriend, and each seems to have a grudge to bear against the other: Crispin and Drake are rivals, Felix seems bitter about his familyâs station in life, and so on. On their first night in the house, Crispin tells Erin that the family hasnât gathered together in awhile, and that the results âshould be interestingâ.
What Crispin, Erin, and everyone else donât know is thatâright up the roadâthe familyâs only neighbors have just been brutally murdered by a group of masked killers. A young lady is murdered, and when her lover exits the shower, he discovers her body, the words âYouâre nextâ scrawled on a window in blood, and an axe that suddenly appears in his forehead.
Once the entire family has sat down to dinner, it only takes moments before the same group of masked killers we met in the filmâs opening descend upon them: crossbow bolts fly through windows, arms wielding knives come crashing through doorways, booby traps are set all around the house. The family is under attackâ¦but by whom? And why? And why does one of the house guests seem to be so damn good at fighting these attackers?
Finding out the answers to these questions is an absolute delight. About half an hour into the film, I turned to my lady-friend and risked being booted for violating the Drafthouseâs strict âNo Talkingâ policy by whispering, âThis is so f-cking awesomeâ. I know the rules at the Drafthouse, of course, but Youâre Next is so damn good, I couldnât help but flaunt them. Director Adam Wingard ratchets up the suspense from the very first frame, but what really sold me on the film was the clever, oft-hilarious dialogue that unfolds between the family members in the filmâs opening scenes: the interplay between Bowen and Swanberg, in particular, is laugh-out-loud funny.
Speaking of Bowen, allow me to stop here for a second to single this dude out. Iâve been a fan of Bowenâs since seeing him wreck shop in the little-seen The Signal (which you can catch on Netflix Instant), and just a few days ago I picked up a copy of A Horrible Way To Die, where Bowen plays the filmâs lead villain. After watching Bowenâs performance in Horrible, I remarked to the person watching the film with me, âItâs kinda hard to believe that this guy isnât a bigger starâ. Heâs got charisma by the bucketload, has the movie-star good looks (by the way, I ran into Bowen while smoking a cigarette outside the Drafthouse today, and heâs just as charming, handsome, and friendly as a dude with a man-crush could ever want him to be), and can pull off the high-wire act of balancing âmenacingâ and âcharmingâ without breaking a sweat, sometimes in the space of a single line of dialogue. If thereâs any justice in the world, Youâre Next will make AJ Bowen the star he deserves to be.
Anyway, Bowenâs not the only great actor at work here. Sharni Vinsonâs Erin is a compelling character, and Vinson herself is very easy on the eyes, but she also proves herself a more than capable actress, pulling off intense physical stunts and complex emotional material throughout the film. Swanberg seems to have developed a reputation amongst film geeks as a bit of a toolbag (Iâm still not clear on why that is, but Iâve heard it repeated enough times to mention the sentiment here), but I thought he was one of the funniest people in the film. Also worth singling out: Rob Moran, who also makes a strong impression in his scenes here.
If Iâve got a complaint about the film (and please be aware thatâagainâYouâre Next is one of my favorite films of the year, so remember that this is a small complaint), itâs that the big reveals sometimes feel a littleâ¦obvious. I wanted some of the mysteries to have more unique resolutions, to be a little less âseen that beat beforeâ. But even when Youâre Next is delivering plot points weâve seen in other films (and films that are very similar to Youâre Next), it makes those reveals compelling. Itâs a testament to the writing, the direction, and the ability of the actors onscreen that these somewhat-stale reveals donât feel somewhat-stale in the moment.
Iâm going to wrap this up before Iâm compelled to run my mouth any further. Youâre Next has a great number of surprises in store for viewers, and you should walk into the film knowing as little as possible to fully appreciate it. If someone from Lionsgate happens to be reading this, allow me to add the following: youâre not doing Wingard or his film any favors by restricting Youâre Next to one screening at Fantastic Fest. If this crowd really is the only group thatâll see the film before its release next year, Iâd humbly recommend that you add at least one more screening for this weekâs âGathering of The Geeksâ in Austinâitâll only add to the tremendous word-of-mouth that this filmâs sure to continue building.
My grade? A-
And if you missed it, here's Matt's review from TIFF