‘You’re Next’ Home Invasion Horror Set For SXSW ‘Midnighters’
You’re Next, the home invasion horror film that is part of Sunday’s “Midnighters” strand at SXSW in Austin, has found favor with critics and fans alike.
The film boasts an 80 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes — 95 percent from the fan community — and female lead Sharni Vinson has won acclaim for her role as “the best final girl in years,” according to Fangoria reviewer Samuel Zimmerman.
Even Amy Curtis of We Got This Covered, the film’s lone critical detractor thus far, credited Vinson as “a kick-ass heroine.”
Vinson is no stranger to horror films. In 2012, she starred in Bait, a monster movie involving a group of tsunami survivors trapped inside a washed-out department store with a killer shark.
Should You’re Next earn a wider release, it will join Vinson’s starring turn in the remake of 1970s horror classic Patrick and the recent remake of Evil Dead as three of the most anticipated horror films in 2013.
You’re Next centers on a dysfunctional family reunion that is violently interrupted by a group of home invaders wearing animal masks. Scott Weinberg of FEARnet describes it as “pretty splatter-tastic” and “enjoyably simple.”
“Just when we thought we’d seen the last new sprinkle of originality employed for such a plainly basic movie premise, bang, up pops a big-time crowd-pleaser that horror fans will love,” Weinberg wrote in his 2011 review.
The film turned heads at Fantastic Fest 2011, but has since stayed hidden in the shadows for most moviegoers. Sunday’s appearance at the high-profile SXSW is likely to change that for filmmakers Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way to Die).
It already has for Cheap Thrills, a twisted comedy starring Pat Healy and David Koechner that earned the first film deal of the festival on Sunday.
Barrett tweeted Sunday that Cheap Thrills was “a masterpiece” and called it the “Best movie of #sxsw and 2013 thus far.” (No word on if Barrett included his own film in that comparison.)
Will you see You’re Next? Which horror films in 2013 are you most looking forward to?
