Despite all the atypical slasher cliches, You’re Next does have some appeal. Even if it is a long slew of endless murder.

When wealthy parents invite their children and partners to their countryside house, they are suddenly surrounded by masked murderers who are intent to hunt down and kill every one of them. However, one of the hunters’ victims may not be all they appear to be, and someone may have ulterior motives.

You’re Next is very predictable. I could tell you what happens and you probably wouldn’t be greatly phased when watching it. Like all horror films these days they feel the need to have a twist (a simplified boast of wit or intelligence maybe?) but here it is almost clear from the start.
It has all of the classic jump scares, even some of the more embarrassing ones: someone alone in the house, early on, gets a fright when a friend gets their attention by… putting their hand on their shoulder from behind. WHO WOULD DO THAT??

The characters are quite interesting however, and the film’s attempt at building a family unit initially was quite convincing to me; I felt like I could relate to some of them. Some of them, anyway. There’s a LOT of family members, in fact the film’s gradual introduction of them all felt a little cartoonish, like the dwarves arriving at Biblo’s house. “How many disposable characters are we going to have??” I wondered. I think there were ten in total.

I think what was interesting for me was the hunters… who turn out to be pretty bad at their work! They incompetently fall into traps and are actually dispatched as readily as the victims. This was very amusing to me, besides the usual slasher cliches that made me chuckle. It is probably due to them wearing impractical masks that probably remove ALL peripheral vision; I was surprised they didn’t lop their own legs off with those axes!
The soundtrack too was very distinct, it almost had a 1980s, or even sci-fi tone to it and as such became quite surreal to hear in such a grudgy environment. Still, I found it interesting.

I feel as though I’m giving credit only to take it away again immediately. If you know your slasher movies, you won’t find anything out of the ordinary here. It is literally a long procession of murders strung together by an overhanging ambiguity as to why it is happening and who’s behind it.
If you want a cheap scare, there are certainly worse choices than this! Kudos for being an 18, even if that was mostly just for excessive gore.

Additional Marshmallows: In a bid to resist spoiling everything… I can’t not complain a little about all the “super-powered women” in films now (especially horrors). I mean, I get it, but after so many they are going to get repetitive and not at all surprising. We need another Evil Dead “Ash” type hero!