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. 

REVIEW: Indie director Adam Wingard somehow fails to attract the usual suspects amongst Hollywood’s elite talent and in the end ends up with a lot of relatively unknowns (Indie types) here. Nevertheless, writer Simon Barrett did do a very good job moving the storyline along, hence, the action and the acting turned out to be well choreographed; A bit of a surprise for me considering the caliber of casting. 

There is nothing new or spectacular here to rant and rave about, with the exception of the fact that You're Next seems to take the typical slasher-survivor-girl scenario and does a 180 degree turn with it. It turns that usually helpless struggling female survivor in to a ‘badass’. And basically If you merged Liv Tyler’s “The strangers” (2008) with any of the Friday The 13th movie installments and added a touch of 2005’s The Decent you're in the right neighborhood, of badass survivor fem-fetal. 

Though, the casting is very meager in a sense, I have to say that they did cast the perfect lead actress in this case. Sharni Vinson (Step Up 3D, 2010), whom most have never heard of before, is awesome here and practically carries the entire movie from start to finish. As a matter of fact, if this flick doesn’t place her on the top of every Hollywood casting agent's list of young talent then the only possible conclusion will be that every casting agent in Hollywood is absolutely blind. 

Overall, the movie does suffer from the symptoms of having to follow storylines that include the typical home-invasion and the murdered family mixed in with financial motives, (which in a sense could be a recipe for failure, if not done cleverly). However, I think with this one, our up and coming rising star, does sorta’ save the film from being a complete d failure. 

Nonetheless, You’re Next is a quirky blood-bath of an otherwise tired genre, and isn’t really worth the theater visit, but could be worth checking out with an unsuspecting date, as a date-night DVD rental. It deserves three stars for good acting and delivery of a decent set of action sequences.

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