I’m not a fan of horror movies, but Mr. Amy happens to love them. He’s seen just about every horror film ever made anywhere in the world. He loves scary things. That’s why he married me. So when I was offered a chance to preview the horror film “You’re Next” (which opens August 23), I decided to take Mr. Amy on a date to see it. Mr. Amy was skeptical, of course, as he has pretty much seen it all in this genre. I, on the other hand, wasn’t sure I would be able to sleep for the next week. However, we were both pleasantly surprised by this film.
The movie is about a home invasion and has been billed as the next generation in horror films. The trailer makes it look creepy. However, it’s not a new way to terrorize horror fans - it’s a new way to entertain them and fans of movies like Evil Dead will probably really enjoy this film.
The movie started out in the predictable horror formula, but very soon I was engaged with dialog so calculatingly bad that there was no way it was an accident. These writers knew the rules of screen dialog and broke them with gusto. The results were hilarious and I have not laughed that hard in a movie in a long time. For example, when no one can get cell phone service one of the family members states, “He’s probably using a cell phone blocker. They’re illegal, but you can get one on the internet for about $30.” Another of my favorite conversations is early in the film when the family members are at dinner talking about how they only watch TV for the commercials and they think that documentary style commercials are a good idea.
If you can stomach the bloody scenes, this movie is an excellent study in what not to do when writing dialog. Yes, this is a gory film and there’s plenty of fake blood splattered. However, there are several creative kills that were so ridiculous that I laughed and cringed at the same time. Between the entertaining dialog and the creative take on an old genre, this movie was worth seeing.
Oh dear. Nothing worse than absurd dialogue. Even in books. I'm not really a fan of horror... I'm in fact, a scaredy cat. When I watched The Sixth Sense I couldn't sleep well for a month... well, I was 12. But still. :P So did Mr. Amy enjoy the comedy/horror film?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, as I was writing this, I ended up squealing really loud because there was a loud bang against my door. It was my (huge) cat. *sigh*
I'm not a big fan of horror, either. This one just made me laugh.
DeleteMr. Amy loved it because it was so different.
Was the Director's intention to make the dialogue bad to ease the shock of gore or was this just a movie made for Mystery 3000 Theatre? If you want to see a well done horror movie watch Cabin in the Woods. It came out a few years ago, but Mr. Amy and you will both like it.
ReplyDeleteCabin in the Woods was excellent! I really think that the bad dialog was written on purpose to poke fun at the genre. The director seemed to know what horror fans expected and the movie started out in a traditional way but then took a turn. That's what made it different.
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