In You’re Next, Adam Wingard’s clever, but not too clever home invasion horror flick, an older married couple heads to their fancy, schmancy vacation home in order to celebrate their 35^th wedding anniversary. Joining them is each of their four grown kids plus significant others. It should have been a pleasant weekend for all, but being a horror movie, things hardly go according to plan. As the family sits down to their first meal of the weekend, you almost want to murder them all yourself. But don’t worry kids, there’s a gang of masked intruders lurking outside who will handle the job for us!

The movie covers some pretty common tropes, to its detriment, yet also appeases horror fans’ needs: bodies drop quickly and often, the kills are bloody and sometimes quite creative, and suspense builds nicely throughout with some definite make-you-jump scares. For the first half though, I found it hard to nail down Wingard’s intentions. There are some funny moments, but they’re never laugh out loud ones. It wasn’t overly brutal or bone-chilling enough to be in Funny Games or The Strangers territory, yet, the film moved quickly enough and kept me guessing who would drop next.

Most of the film bubbles just below the surface, rather than reaching a boiling point when you wish it would. Most of the characters sucked hard so their deaths are entertaining and gratifying. The family certainly wasn’t characterized to make you care all that much when they do inevitably bite it (more background and likability would’ve made for a stronger chase once the shit really hit the fan). But when the movie finally does show its face, the music changes to an 80’s-reminiscent slasher score, the energy is jump-started, and finally, fun is had. Then there’s a nice twist and a solid ending to boot that delivers another surprise. Horror fans will be pleased.

Did this movie reinvent the genre Scream-style? Not a chance. (Perhaps early rave reviews jilted my expectations a bit.) But You’re Next did offer a fresh take on the Home Invasion sub-genre and for that alone, it’s worth it. The beauty being that it’s rarely predictable and doesn’t stop until the credits and blood both hit the screen. Originality is often forgotten in modern-day horror, so let’s celebrate it whenever we can.

And plus, the masks were pretty cool.

Grade: B