Available on Netflix? Yes
I’m gonna do a quick couple of reviews before the release of one of my most anticipated films of the year – Adam Wingard’s Blair Witch. I’m super excited for this movie, because I’ve loved every other film that the director and writer duo have concocted in their past. So my goal is to give you guys a review of You’re Next(2011), The Guest(2014) which are both his films, and I will also give a review of the original Blair Witch Project (1999). I will be omitting V/H/S(2012) and V/H/S 2(2013) not because they’re bad movies, but he only directed a short segment of it as those films are both horror anthologies, I do recommend both those films though as Adam Wingards segments are definitely my favourite out of those series, they’re quite creepy and messed up! so keep an eye out for these reviews, especially if you’ve never heard of him and if you’re looking for some very smart and well done horror/thriller flicks, AND DON’T FORGET! Blair Witch seqboot comes out on the 16th of September.
**Meaning of Seqboot** – this is a term I use for a sequel to a movie that comes out after many years of the original or the last one in the franchise came out. People always confuse these sequels being reboots, so I morphed the two words together, and its the best of both worlds. for another example, Mad Max Fury Road is a seqboot.
Now that I’ve got the logistics out of the way! Lets get on with the Wingard show.
I was first introduced to Adam Wingard in ABCs of Death(2012) where he directed a letter of the alphabet and did a short film around that. For example, A is for Apple. So whoever directed that letter, would do a small short film no longer than 10-ish minutes long dealing with the letter and the subject, it was a really cool idea for a film. But after that I branched out and watched the V/H/S films(2012) and (2013) and after that is where I realized knew who Adam Wingard was and I’ve been following his films ever since.
You’re Next(2011) was his first feature length film I saw, and I have to say. In a time of a lot of remakes and unoriginality, You’re Next definitely shines.
You’re Next follows the Davidson family who come under attack during their wedding anniversary getaway, the gang of mysterious killers soon learns that one of the victims harbors a secret talent for fighting back. When I first started watching this movie, I expected it to be your typical home invasion horror movie…boy was I wrong.
Let me just get my praise out of the way for the Writer and Director combo of Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard respectively. I think that their collaboration on films are some of the best and most original horror movies i’ve ever had the pleasure of watching. They’re smartly filmed and very very smartly written, it was in this film that both of their talents really shine.
Adam Wingard works the camera very well and does some interesting cuts to keep you on the edge of your seat, its not your typical horror affair with long cuts to create tension, but he will cut the camera and keep you in the action, and keep your eyes pealed. It almost makes you feel like you’re in the movie. You’re a part of the cast, and who knows maybe You’re Next… get it? see what I did there? – I’ll see myself out. But I really enjoyed Adam Wingard before, but it was after You’re Next, that he has been steadily on my radar as a very strong and capable director.
Simon Barrett’s script is extremely well written. He adds in some really good one liners, and he plays with the disfunction of the family very well. Also just how the movie progresses and the dialogue that is used, and the incredibly strong female character is just very well done.
**Spoilers Ahead**
Theres a scene in the movie where two brothers are arguing about who is going to run for help, and the dialogue consists of who can run faster, and one brother said “i’ll go, I’m faster” and the other brother responds “What? are you fucking kidding me? you’re fat, you can’t outrun me, I’ll go.” I thought it was a really clever and smart way of playing with different characteristics of people, it plays on the dysfunction of the family and it gives a little chuckle to the audience when all this hell is breaking loose.
**Spoilers End**
I haven’t heard of any of the actors in this movie, but I will give high praise to Sharni Vinson who played Erin, (********SPOILER*******the victim who has the secret to fighting back). She was just an incredibly strong character, and in many horror movies where people make really stupid mistakes and end up getting killed, it is her will and her ways that keep people fighting and keep them alive. She is the smart victim who gets everyone to stay calm and ready to attack if the time comes. She’s definitely my favourite part of the movie, she commands every scene she’s in with such force, and its just a breath of fresh air to actually have someone smart in a horror movie. Its always fun to play with horror tropes, and try to determine who will die first, but its always nice to see a film take out the tropes and just have a strong character.
The soundtrack in this film is also outstanding. Each of Adam Wingard’s films has a very excellent soundtrack, well rounded and catchy. His use of 80s sounding synths and electric music is just perfect. It blends very very well with his films.
My only negative in the movie is that I only really cared about some of the characters, when some of them died, I was always like “well they weren’t all that special” and continued on, but I was always stoked that there was the one person to bring them back to real time and keep them focused.
I would give You’re Next a 4/5, definitely check it out if you want some smart horror and something a little original and different.
Until next time when I’ll be reviewing Adam Wingard’s The Guest!
-Andrew