You're Next DVD Review

Genre:
Horror, thriller
Rating:
18
Distributor:
Lionsgate Films UK
DVD/BD Release Date:
13th January 2014 (UK)
Director:
Adam Wingard
Cast:
Sharni Vinson, Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Ti West
Buy You're Next: DVD or Blu-ray [Amazon]
Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett are making quite a name for themselves as contenders in modern horror. If you check out 2010’s A Horrible Way to Die, then the two VHS films that have appeared since then, you will see a curve of improvement that should garner some keen interest. The pair’s latest offering is their best to date; a home invasion thriller married with horror imagery, family drama, and a sharp black humour.

You’re Next’s premise is simple: a family celebration interrupted by brutal masked mercenaries, who are surprised to find one of their victims has a knack for violence and survival. After a seductive yet brutal prologue, the heat turns down to allow us entry to its characters proving Wingard and Barrett are wise to the pitfalls of the modern horror film: lack of character = lack of shits given when they get dispatched. And make no mistake they get brutally dispatched. Giving us at least half the film to understand the politics of the Davison family could seem a bit overboard in a film of this ilk, but it’s exactly why You’re Next stands out amidst last year’s slashers and terror trips. That, and a blender.

Sharni Vinson’s turn as Erin is one of the strongest points in the feature, remoulding the classic slasher girl into a merciless home-defence guru come brutal combatant. Vinson’s sharp delivery and no-bullshit attitude will have you cheering in an era still too reliant on the utter stupidity of not just its murder-fodder (steroid huffing jocks and fraternity bitches) but its lead roles too. Gushing about the cast doesn’t stop there, Joe Swanberg flaunts perfect comic timing as Crispian’s asshole brother, House of the Devil director Ti West pops up in a minor role, whilst Stuart Gordon regular Barbara Crampton makes a most welcome return to the screen as the Davison children’s mother.

You’re Next flaunts an appreciation for classic horror but doesn’t actively engage, its not taking up the postmodern element but it does feel like a retrospective of late-70’s slasher tropes. Rather than being a rip-off, Wingard and Barrett have recycled some images and tones that bolster their feature as an impressively constructed thriller with moments of horror that actually have the power to intimidate. On a bum note, as the tension winds and the blood splashes, the soundtrack switches to a weird hark-back synth sound, which dangerously compromises the intensity of the film at points. The almost playful scoring highlights why You’re Next works so well: because it doesn’t desperately try to emulate everything that’s gone before.

Genre hybridity does not equal “Game-Changer” however, as many reviews seem to think , and anyone going into the film expecting The Cabin in the Woods will be sorely disappointed. Instead of changing the face of the genre, You’re Next stands its ground as an enjoyable venture by surprising the audience with well executed plot, scares, practical effects, fleshed out characters, and a keen sense of humour. You probably won’t laugh out loud, but there are plenty of moments to remind the audience that Barrett and Wingard are in complete control of their project.

You’re Next is a concise, rip-roaring sort of ride the likes of which only come around every once in a blue moon.  Expertly put together, at points chilling, at points hilarious, always entertaining, here is horror cinema at its most enjoyable from bloody beginning to outrageous ending without forsaking any intensity what so ever.

★★★★☆

Scott Clark

TIFF 2013 Review - The Sacrament

Rating:
15
Directed By:
Ti West
Cast:
Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz, AJ Bowen
Release Date:
8th, 10th & 13th September (TIFF)

New Splat Pack maestro Ti West wowed us back in 2009 with House of the Devil then again last year with Innkeepers. Whilst House of the Devil was a slow burning kind of 70’s hark-back, Innkeepers was very much a modern horror.  His latest feature, The Sacrament, played at Toronto’s International Film Festival, but is it any good?

Unfortunately West goes for the slow burning thing again and it doesn’t pull off. Any slower and you’d be catatonic. The Sacrament is a film in the spirit of The Wicker Man but way less spooky. Two reporters ( AJ Bowen and Joe Swanberg) venture into South America after a friend receives a summons from his estranged sister. The trio arrive to discover the sister is living in an idyllic but secluded religious convent lorded over by the mysterious ‘Father’ (Gene Jones). About half way through you’re going to start wondering what the point of the film is, because it certainly isn’t to scare or entertain. Sure there’s an interesting concept here, but when the final act kicks off you realise that this has been a one trick pony: a script formulated around its ending, and no film should merely be a means to its own end.

Step away from the lack of substance and look at it from a different angle, then you can see that there are plenty of great components at work. The set for one is fantastic, no arguments there. But where Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno managed to successfully convey hell in a South American paradise, West squanders a set on an uneventful plotline and flopped mounting tension. By this I mean that West orchestrates his characters into position, presents us with the stage, but then it doesn’t really go anywhere bar its predictable finale. Actually, there’s one sequence of particular merit that ignites interest in the long shadowy boredom of the feature.

The performance of Gene Jones (the only man to win a coin toss in No Country for Old Men) is a carrot on a stick, enticing us through the film. Like Michael parks in Red State, there’s something utterly watchable about religious zealots, and they have the followers to prove it. Jones’s interview sequence with AJ Bowen, is one of the few really great moments in the film, its more intense than most of the film, and shows how much shit the three guys are in. Jones is masterful in his execution of dangerous hospitality and manipulation, as is Amy Seimetz as religious nut Caroline.

Bar a few great performances, West disappoints here with a predictable escapade into religious mania, perhaps faulted by its positioning as a post-Red State feature. Even then it’s still dull as dishwater, void of previously flaunted visual flare, and lacking any real drive to develop its characters. When the inevitable set piece kicks off, you really won’t care who survives.


★½☆☆☆

Scott Clark

FF2013 Review - You're Next

Rating:
18
Distributor:
Lionsgate Films UK
Release Date:
22nd August 2013 (Frightfest) 27th August (UK Cinema)
Director:
Adam Wingard
Cast:
Sharni Vinson, Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen
Having had a fairly hectic day at work, I was very much looking forward to attending the screening of You’re Next recently. Few things can loosen the brain up like a good old fashioned slasher movie and I was relishing the thought of ninety-six minutes of thrills and kills. Directed by Adam Wingard (VHS, A Horrible Way to Die) and set during a family reunion in a remote part of the countryside in the US, You’re Next sees the moneyed Davison family besieged by lunatic killers in creepy animal masks. Fortunately, it turns out that Erin, the girlfriend of one of the eldest brother is something of a total badass herself and is soon rallying the family around to fight back with makeshift weaponry and traps. Thus begins a small scale war with their attackers. Who will survive and what will be left of them?

Despite my initial excitement, I was actually fairly nonplussed by You’re Next at first. It seemed fairly stolid, with broadly drawn characters and an uninventive set up. If I had to pin point where my attitude towards it changed, it would probably be where at the height of a ludicrously petty argument around the dinner table (listen out for some of the exchanges here), one member of the extended Davison clan (played by horror director Ti West) is suddenly shot through the head by a crossbow bolt. At first, this goes unnoticed, heightening the ridiculousness of the situation, but before long the Davisons are shrieking and being punctured and the film retains this level of excitement throughout. I realised that what I was watching was in fact a comedy so black, it was bordering on farce.

Instead of the stodgy, unremarkable horror I thought I had been watching, You’re Next displayed genre smarts and a level of self-awareness that is all too lacking in most horror films. The film plays delightfully with the concept of Chekhov’s gun and leaves the audience on tenterhooks for much of its running time, embracing and ridiculing conventions equally. The cast, which includes cult heroes Joe Swanberg and Barbara Crampton, seemed to be having riotously good fun and played their roles with relish.

Much of the goodwill I have for the film should also be accredited to its heroine, as played by Sharni Vinson, previously best known for her work on gritty horrors Home and Away and Step Up 3D. Her portrayal of Erin as the plucky and likable though simultaneously borderline psychotic protagonist is measured and deft; by the time the film reaches its climax and Erin is striking iconic, axe-wielding final girl poses, the audience and I were pretty much cheering her every move and you got the feeling a potential cult-horror hero had been born. The deaths she deals are by turns imaginative, amusing and thoroughly gruesome.

It should also be said that whilst the film completely embraces its trashy fittings, the cinematography is a class above what you might typically expect (credit due to Andrew Palmero). Mads Heldtberg’s doomy and inventive music is also very commendable.

To nit-pick, you could argue that the film’s twist is utterly predictable and if you’re watching it without acknowledging the tongue it has placed in its cheek, you may find it a bit run of the mill. However, everyone loves a good home invasion movie (heck, even James Bond got in on the act in his last outing) and it would be very difficult to harbour any ill-will towards one as fun and shrewd as this one would be particularly rude. Seek it out and get ready to cheer on the kick-arse Vinson as she delivers sublimely violent justice.

You’re Next is released in the UK on August 30th.

★★★★☆

Review by Jack Kirby from Nerdly.co.uk

The Animals Will Hunt You, Watch You're Next Traier

It's a long time coming but now You're Next is finally getting a cinematic release giving a new twist on the Home invasion and the first trailer has arrived!

After a long run on the festival circuit a span that goes back to Toronto Film Festival 2011 when the film premièred 2 years later Lionsgate Films have finally let the film mature slightly as they know they have struck gold with this beauty.The film promises to take Home Invasion films to another level and on evidence of this trailer as well as reading about the films festival appearances (most recent been SXSW) the film looks to deliver the goods. This isn't really a spoiler but the trailer highlight the energy, brutality the terrifying  presence these masked men have over the family reunion they rudely interrupted. At no point do we find who they are, why this family keeping the mystery to the actually film but the thing is are you ready for the animals that will haunt your dreams?

Directed by a face very familiar to UK horror fans especially if your a Frightfester Adam Wingard (V/H/S, ABCs Of Death) who has got onboard a few other familiar faces from indie horror Ti West, Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen who are joined by Rob Moran, Barbara Crampton, Wendy Glenn,Sharni Vinson, Amy Seimetz and Nicholas Tucci star. You're Next  thankfully has a UK&Irish release date which happens to be same date as USA which is 23rd August.

Synopsis 

One of the smartest and most terrifying films in years, YOU'RE NEXT reinvents the genre by putting a fresh twist on home-invasion horror. When a gang of masked, ax-wielding murderers descend upon the Davison family reunion, the hapless victims seem trapped...until an unlikely guest of the family proves to be the most talented killer of all.

V/H/S DVD Review

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times; found footage horror is a dry well. Once a potent concept that had us all quaking in our boots with genre highlights like The Blair Witch Project and even things like Paranormal Activity, the shaky cam low-res high-tension thing has inevitably worn thin thanks to a myriad of badly sculpted films out to make big bucks on small money. Of late there’s been an outcry from the horror audience, the word is out and it’s getting pasted here there and everywhere, V/H/S has arrived to save the day and pull the handheld cam back into respectability and give us all a good reason to take up insomnia. The general opinion ain’t that far off the truth. When a film pops up written and directed by such an eclectic mix: Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way To Die), Ti West (House of the Devil), David Bruckner(The Signal), Glenn McQuaid (I Sell the Dead), Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the Stairs), and the directing quartet known as Radio Silence, you can’t help but get interested.

Following the format of an old-school anthology horror, V/H/S reveals the dire doings of a group of social misfits hired by a shadowy employer to break into a house and steal a video tape, a tape they are told they will know on sight. Arriving at the deserted household the group find a dead body slumped in an armchair facing a few TV’s and a stack of video cassettes. As the group split up to search for the tape, watching them one by one, it becomes evident that something isn’t right. The tapes document bizarre, brutal, and terrifying events but that’s not the only thing the hapless group have to fear.

The great thing about V/H/S is that there’s something for everyone. The short segments are all weird and wonderfully horrific, but as with anything some ideas don’t quite take off. Through all the segments there winds the careful writing of obvious horror fans combined with the sometimes gentle and creepy/sometimes visceral direction of guys who know their stuff. For horror aficionados there’s enough role reversal and unanswered questions to fill a hundred film theory essays. Female roles seem to be toyed with with glee, male roles get dragged through the muck, every segment is balanced with reality and heart against fantasy and gore. Problems show up in some of the films when there’s no one to relate to, no real hero or heroine to guide us, just a large group of very weird/silly/stupid/horrific human beings and “other”. In fact V/H/S could probably be renamed something like “How Boisterous Jocks in Motels Cause Hell”, or “She’s Not What You Think”. It’s that clever reliance on horror tropes  that puts the film above others since it then pulls the other way just to teach you for thinking you were smart.

Amateur Night is horror 101: jocks try to take advantage of girls, everything goes horribly wrong. Tuesday 17^th is essentially a slasher with a pretty fantastic idea for a villain that genuinely scares. The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger is polarising since it features possibly the best scare out the lot, but has some wobbly moments of overexposure and an ending that could leave you disappointed. 10/31/98 is a real gem; essentially a haunted house story with an initially clueless group of guys stumbling into what they think is a well-set-up house of Halloween horror. The imagery here is stupendous, macabre in a Clive Barker’s Lord of Illusions kind of way, flaunting some really intense sequences and a killer finale. The frame structure of the break-in denies us answers no matter how hard you think then gives us shit-in-pants scares for our troubles.

A key strong-point of the piece is the relentless curiosity it inspires. A failure to Ta-da a reveal in all sequences results in a more engaging experience overall, though some viewers will no-doubt find it infuriating/ disappointing before rewarding. Too often, explanations cock-up an otherwise riveting affair so here the guys have reserved outlandish reasoning just to screw with our heads. I don’t doubt there’s a possible and awesome plot behind each piece; I just don’t think we need it.

Though, the found footage thing does at points get tiresome and the stories at times flit between fantastic and meh, there’s still fun to be had in this mixed bag. It’s still well written, at times genius, and definitely worth a watch, this is a must-see for horror fans and a welcome surprise to the found footage sub-genre.

— Scott Clark

★★★★☆

Rating: 18
UK DVD/BD Release: 28th January 2013
Stars: Calvin Reeder, Joe Swanberg ,Jas Sams
Directors: Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg

Buy V/H/S: DVD / Blu-ray

Frightfest 2012: V/H/S Review

★★★★1/2

Found footage horror, V/H/S has completely revitalised a played-out, repetitive style of filmmaking with six chilling anthology tales. Ti West (House of The Devil), Glenn McQuaid ((I Sell The Dead) and Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way To Die) are just three of the directors to contribute to this chilling anthology.

V/H/S opens with a group of criminals assaulting young women and vandalising property. They are hired by an anonymous client to break into an abandoned house and obtain a mysterious video tape. The group begin to work their way through a series of terrifying tapes, each revealing a different short film.

V/H/S manages to fuse so many horror sub-genres together in an innovative and chilling manner, capturing all that fans love in the genre. However, this is not clear from the shaky onset, where teenagers victimise young women, whilst filmed on a handheld camera - it was a struggle to engage with this. As these young men break into the abandoned house and the horror starts, director, Adam Wingard completely pulls it together. This over-arching story is just as tense and disturbing as any of the segments that it flawlessly seems together.

The first segment from David Bruckner (The Signal) entitled Amateur Night follows three college freshmen with video recording spy glasses, hoping to pick up some easy girls and make a sex tape. However, one of the girls who has been brought back's behaviour is a little troubling. This chilling short film is thoroughly well developed, with some completely unexpected and unsettling gory twists.

This is followed by Ti West's Second Honeymoon, a tale of a loving couple staying at an isolated Texas motel whilst on vacation. However, when a creepy young woman starts banging on the door things take a shocking turn. West's short tackles the idea of home invasion, with the intruder filming the sleeping victims on their own handheld camera, showcasing a disturbing twist on handheld camera norms.

The third short, Glenn McQuaid's Tuesday The 17th follows four teens venturing into the woods, where gruesome murders previously took place. This may read like the traditional Friday The 13th teens in the wood style slasher, but McQuaid's killer is created with a completely innovative twist.

Joe Swanberg's The Strange Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger proves to well-crafted, suspenseful ride. Swanberg's tale follows the Skype conversations of a couple, terrorised by ghosts. As a viewer we are thrust into dark, grainy rooms left to scan for the source of terror.

My personal favourite segment, 10/31/98 by collaborative group called Radio Silence proves to be a spectacularly crafted and completely unsettling piece of filmmaking. It follows four men looking for a Halloween party - they end up at a creaky old house with some macabre practices going on in the attic. Radio Silence allow the house to completely come alive, with walls moving and doors disappearing - it is a true visual feast of terror, fusing elements of The Amityville Horror with Rosemary's Baby.

V/H/S is a sure fire treat for horror fans, bringing a much needed spark of energy to the handheld camera style of filmmaking. Each segment is flawlessly crafted and diverse enough to maintain your interest for the near two hour run time. I would go as far to say that it is the strongest horror film of 2012.

Andrew McArthur

Stars: Calvin Reeder, Joe Swanberg ,Jas Sams  
Directors: Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg , Radio Silence Release: 25th August 2012 (Frightfest)

EIFF 2012: V/H/S Review

★★★★1/2

Found footage horror, V/H/S has completely revitalised a played-out, repetitive style of filmmaking with six chilling anthology tales. Ti West (House of The Devil), Glenn McQuaid ((I Sell The Dead) and Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way To Die) are just three of the directors to contribute to this chilling anthology.

V/H/S opens with a group of criminals assaulting young women and vandalising property. They are hired by an anonymous client to break into an abandoned house and obtain a mysterious video tape. The group begin to work their way through a series of terrifying tapes, each revealing a different short film.

V/H/S manages to fuse so many horror sub-genres together in an innovative and chilling manner, capturing all that fans love in the genre. However, this is not clear from the shaky onset, where teenagers victimise young women, whilst filmed on a handheld camera - it was a struggle to engage with this. As these young men break into the abandoned house and the horror starts, director, Adam Wingard completely pulls it together. This over-arching story is just as tense and disturbing as any of the segments that it flawlessly seems together.

The first segment from David Bruckner (The Signal) entitled Amateur Night follows three college freshmen with video recording spy glasses, hoping to pick up some easy girls and make a sex tape. However, one of the girls who has been brought back's behaviour is a little troubling. This chilling short film is thoroughly well developed, with some completely unexpected and unsettling gory twists.

This is followed by Ti West's Second Honeymoon, a tale of a loving couple staying at an isolated Texas motel whilst on vacation. However, when a creepy young woman starts banging on the door things take a shocking turn. West's short tackles the idea of home invasion, with the intruder filming the sleeping victims on their own handheld camera, showcasing a disturbing twist on handheld camera norms.

The third short, Glenn McQuaid's Tuesday The 17th follows four teens venturing into the woods, where gruesome murders previously took place. This may read like the traditional Friday The 13th teens in the wood style slasher, but McQuaid's killer is created with a completely innovative twist.

Joe Swanberg's The Strange Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger proves to well-crafted, suspenseful ride. Swanberg's tale follows the Skype conversations of a couple, terrorised by ghosts. As a viewer we are thrust into dark, grainy rooms left to scan for the source of terror.

My personal favourite segment, 10/31/98 by collaborative group called Radio Silence proves to be a spectacularly crafted and completely unsettling piece of filmmaking. It follows four men looking for a Halloween party - they end up at a creaky old house with some macabre practices going on in the attic. Radio Silence allow the house to completely come alive, with walls moving and doors disappearing - it is a true visual feast of terror, fusing elements of The Amityville Horror with Rosemary's Baby.

V/H/S is a sure fire treat for horror fans, bringing a much needed spark of energy to the handheld camera style of filmmaking. Each segment is flawlessly crafted and diverse enough to maintain your interest for the near two hour run time. I would go as far to say that it is the strongest horror film of 2012.

Andrew McArthur

Stars: Calvin Reeder, Joe Swanberg ,Jas Sams
Directors: Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg , Radio Silence
Release: 28th June (EIFF)