8 Utterly Boring Openings That Spoiled Great Movies
5. Youre Next
With a seen-it-before style home invasion trailer and a reliance on cool-looking but generic animal masks (from the posters this and The Purge feel interchangeable), Youre Next marketed itself as a regular horror with aspirations above its station. Boy, was it not. For Youre Next was 2013s The Evil Dead (take that definite article lacking Evil Dead). Relentlessly creative with relatable characters and never failing to find humour in its ridiculousness (I stuck a blender on his head and killed him is as immortal a line as anything said by Jordan Belfort), it was one of the years unexpected gems. Sadly, after years on the horror festival circuit, it never really connected with audiences. I could easily claim its our tell-to-laugh society (even the biggest comedies get their major laughs from moments in the trailer, where audiences know they can laugh) not being able to decipher the humour following that bland marketing campaign, but I think the issue is actually with the film itself. The first half an hour is the generic horror we all thought we were getting. Nicely shot and atmospheric it may be, but its a well worn set up that only reaffirms the films modest aims. The humour comes as a surprise and you need to be really open to it to not come out po-faced.
