You're Next was a 2011 American horror/thriller film written by Simon Barrett, directed by Adam Wingard and starring Sharni Vinson, AJ Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Barbara Crampton and Wendy Glenn.
It was first released at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2011. It was later released worldwide on August 23, 2013.
Plot
The film opened with a couple having sex. Afterwards, the man showered while the woman went to get herself a drink. After his shower, he discovered "You're Next" written in blood on the living room's sliding glass doors, beyond which lied the woman's dead body. He was then killed by an assailant wearing a lamb mask. In the next scene, a wealthy family was seen going to their remote Missouri vacation house which happened to be next door to the house in which the couple from the opening scene are brutally murdered. The mother, Aubrey claimed that she heard something upstairs and wanted to leave. Ignoring her warning, her husband, Paul went to investigate, but was startled by one of his sons, Crispian who just arrived with his Australian girlfriend, Erin.
The next day, Crispian's other siblings arrived. While cooking, Aubrey sent Erin to go to a nearby house to ask for milk, but there was no response as the two people inside are previously murdered. At dinner that night, family tensions are revealed as Drake, Crispian's older brother who previously made fun of Crispian for being weak and fat and criticized him for dating Erin who was his former student and teaching assistant. Crispian's younger brother, Felix and his girlfriend, Zee showed disinterest in the argument as the other family members attempted to calm the brothers. In the midst of the chaos, the gathering suddenly turned deadly when Tariq, Crispian's younger sister and Aimee's boyfriend was shot in the head with a bolt through a window. In the process of saving his mother, Drake was shot in the back with a bolt and later passed out from the pain, but survived. The family realized that their phones had no signal, leading Felix to suggest that perhaps the attackers are using a jammer. Aimee attempted to escape the house to get help, but was killed after running into a thin wire strung outside the front door at neck level, cutting her throat.
Erin began to organize the family's defense, shutting all entries, gathering weapons and sending a text message to the police, hoping that if her phone found any small signals at some point, the text would be sent. In the process of gathering weapons, she was attacked through a window by a second assailant wearing a tiger mask, but stabbed him in the arm, causing him to retreat. Aubrey lied down in her bedroom to grieve and rest, but was murdered by a third assailant wearing a fox mask who was hiding under her bed. Hearing her scream, the surviving family members ran upstairs to find her dead body. On the wall written in blood are the words "You're Next". Lingering, Drake's wife, Kelly discovered that Fox Mask was still under the bed. She escaped and ran to the neighbors' house where she discovered the dead man's body. She was butchered with an axe by Lamb Mask.
They discovered that their cars are disabled. Crispian fled the property to seek help. Erin was attacked in the house shortly afterward, but killed the Tiger Mask assailant with a meat tenderizer to the head. Upstairs, Paul discovered that the killers are hiding in the house before the family arrived, but he was murdered by Fox Mask in front of his youngest son, Felix and his girlfriend, Zee. Their restrained reaction to Paul's murder led to the revelation that Felix hired the masked assailants and planned the murders, hoping to inherit the family's fortune. They went downstairs and told Erin that Paul was fine and resting upstairs.
Erin and Zee set up nails in wooden board traps near the window, hoping to catch the killers. Erin confided to Zee that she was raised by her paranoid father in a survivalist camp in the Australian outback which she did not tell Crispian about. Zee attempted to murder Erin from behind, but stopped when Erin almost saw her. Lamb Mask entered the house which he found Tiger Mask who turned out to be his brother, dead on the floor, angering him. Erin and Drake who awoke are almost killed by Lamb Mask, but Erin saved him by stabbing Lamb Mask in the back, causing the assailant to flee the house. Felix and Drake went to the basement to collect potential weapons. Once alone, Felix killed his brother by impaling him with screwdrivers. Erin went upstairs to try to find Paul, but found him dead and was attacked by Fox Mask. She escaped by jumping out of the window, impaling her leg with a shard of glass in the process. She fled into the woods and Lamb Mask attacked and pursued her, but made it back to the house.
Lamb Mask tracked her down to the house and saw a wooden nail board trap hastily placed in view under the window and assumed that it was safe. He stepped down and directly stepped on a nail through his boot and into his foot. Once inside, hiding behind a curtain and bandaging herself, Erin overheard a conversation between Felix, Zee, Lamb Mask and Fox Mask and discovered their involvement in the massacre. Her phone rang (Felix turned off the jammer just before), giving away her hiding spot, but also alerting her that her text to the police was received. The Fox Mask assailant found her hiding behind the curtains, but she throat punched him and made her escape. Fox Mask, Zee and Felix followed her, but Lamb Mask assumed that she went into a different part of the house.
When Lamb Mask attempted to enter through the window instead, Erin stabbed him in the head with a screwdriver by hiding by one side of the window, killing him. Erin used Tiger Mask's axe and a brick to make a booby trap for anyone entering the front door, but Fox Mask did not fall for it and came in through a window instead. Erin drew Fox Mask into the basement and distracted him with her camera, set to take photos automatically and she killed him from behind with a wooden log and smashed his head.
With their hired assassins dead, Felix and Zee, armed with a crossbow entered the house and tried to kill Erin themselves in the kitchen. After incapacitating Zee, she forced a glass broken blender on top of Felix's head and turned it on, killing him and then drove a knife through the top of Zee's skull, killing her. Felix's phone rang and Erin answered without revealing her identity. Crispian was on the other end and thinking that he was speaking to a quiet Felix, he apologized for fleeing, revealing that he was part of the conspiracy as well. When he returned to the house, he was confronted by Erin who revealed to him that she was aware of him being part of the conspiracy. He then used everything that he could think about to apologize and explain his actions to get Erin not to kill him. He promised to use the money to pay off her student loans and let her study full-time and tempted her with millions. He assured her that the killers are not supposed to harm her and leave her as a sole witness with no criminal record. Regardless of his efforts to reason with her, Erin killed him out of anger by stabbing him in the neck and the eye.
At that moment,a policeman arrived who upon seeing Erin stabbing Crispian shot her in the shoulder. He called for medics and backup and attempted to enter the house through the front door. However, he went through the booby-trapped front door despite Erin's attempt to warn him. As the axe hurled toward his face and killed him, the film smash cut to the end credits with the words "YOU'RE NEXT" written in blood.
Deaths
| Name | Cause of Death | Killer | On Screen | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talia | Butchered | Wolf Mask, Tiger Mask, Lamb Mask | No | |
| Erik | Butchered with machete | Lamb Mask | No | |
| Tariq | Shot in the head with arrow | Lamb Mask, Wolf Mask, Tiger Mask | Yes | |
| Aimee | Throat slit by thin wire | Tiger Mask, Lamb Mask, Wolf Mask | Yes | |
| Aubrey | Stabbed in face with machete | Wolf Mask | No | |
| Kelly | Punched through glass, stabbed in head with axe, thrown through window | Lamb Mask | Yes | |
| Tiger Mask | Kicked in groin, leg bashed, back of head bashed with meat tenderizer | Erin | Yes | |
| Paul | Throat slit | Wolf Mask | Yes | |
| Drake | Impaled with screwdrivers | Felix | Yes | |
| Lamb Mask | Foot nailed, stabbed in face with knife | Erin, Zee | Yes | Zee's part was unintentional |
| Wolf Mask | Back of head and face bashed with wooden log | Erin | Yes | |
| Felix | Beaten, head blended with broken glass blender | Erin | Yes | |
| Zee | Choked, stabbed in head with knife | Erin | Yes | |
| Crispian | Stabbed in neck and eye | Erin | Yes | |
| Cop | Butchered with axe | Erin | No | Accidental |
Cast
- Sharni Vinson as Erin Harson
- Nicholas Tucci as Felix Davison
- Wendy Glenn as Zee
- A. J. Bowen as Crispian Davison
- Joe Swanberg as Drake Davison
- Barbara Crampton as Aubrey Davison
- Rob Moran as Paul Davison
- Margaret Laney as Kelly Davison
- Amy Seimetz as Aimee Davison
- Ti West as Tariq
- Lane Hughes as Fox Masked Assailant
- L.C. Holt as Lamb Masked Assailant
- Simon Barrett as Tiger Masked Assailant
- Larry Fessenden as Erik Harson
- Kate Lyn Sheil as Talia
- Calvin Reeder as Officer Trubiano
