3. You're Next
We seem to be at a point in our cinematic development where people will only laugh at something if they've been told in advance its funny; head to your local multiplex and the mass audience will only chuckle at a movie if the jokes are in the trailer. Films like The Avengers, which was incredibly knockabout and unexpectedly funny, were taken with a straight face by many because people weren't sure if puny God was meant to be humorous. The only recent example I have of a film tickling the audience with jokes not in the marketing is Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, which is really an exception to the rule as we all know everything out of the radio presenters is meant to be funny. This is the main reason why Youre Next failed to connect with the audience. The trailer was incredibly well put together, using Lou Reeds Perfect Day in the most creative way since Trainspotting, but made the film look like any other constant terror home invasion flick. And boy was it nothing of the sort. After half an hour of purposely conventional set up, the film devolved into increasingly genre pastiche, becoming increasingly ridiculous and, in the spirit of the Evil Dead series, funny. But did any of the non-horror literate audiences get that? Of course not; it wasn't in the trailer. So they sat through a guy get his head mashed by a smashed blender with completely straight faces.