For years now indie horror movies have been destroying the studio-funded garbage in both content and quality. You’re Next is 2011′s mighty indie contender. Directed by Adam Wingard and written by Simon Barrett (whose previous collaboration A Horrible Way to Die is excellent), You’re Next is a relentlessly entertaining tale of a family reunion gone to bloody hell. Ma and Pa Davison invite their two sons and daughter over to celebrate their anniversary. They live on a secluded estate – the kind of place that’s just begging for a home invasion. Oh wait…

The invasion begins over dinner and the terror doesn’t stop until the last blood-dripping frame. Men wearing terrifyingly sterile animal masks make their way into the house, armed with all kinds of fun stuff like crossbows and hatchets. The family seems completely helpless under the axe of the intruders and it seems like the entire Davison clan will be butchered before the sun comes up. But the masked menaces didn’t count on son Crispian’s (AJ Bowen) girlfriend, Erin (Sharni Vinson), a girl destined for slasher survival girl stardom. Unlike her celluloid predecessors, Erin survives by tooth and claw, not dumb luck and cleanliness of vagina.

Erin fight back against the intruders with a vengeance. Think Home Alone if Macaulay Culkin was Rambo (and was hot). All we know about Erin is that she spent a lot of time in the Australian outback on her parent’s survival camp. But you won’t need further explanation on her commando origins because you’ll be enjoying pitch-perfect suspense accompanied with some of the year’s most shocking and creative kills put to film. Each death is a brutal and bloody one, and the majority of them are funny as hell. While a lot of slasher films sacrifice atmosphere for shock (and end up just being unintentionally silly), You’re Next never looses its thickly tense mood as the blood gets deeper. Even after witnessing a hilarious kill you’re still going to jump out of your seat in the next scene. The fight to survive never loses its urgency no matter how over-the-top Wingard and Barrett make the violence.

Aussie Sharni Vinson isn’t the only actor who delivers – You’re Next has a great ensemble. AJ Bowen (A Horrible Way to Die) plays the son scratching at his father for approval. Horror starlet Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond) plays Ma Davison. All around weird guy Joe Swanberg plays sarcastic asshole son Drake, Crispian’s sibling rival. The film also features Ti West (director of House of the Devil & The Innkeepers) and Horrible Way alumni Amy Seimetz.

With You’re Next, Wingard and Barrett have hung on to their mumblecore sensibilities while making an aggressively entertaining balls to the wall invasion slasher that’s going to appeal to mainstream and indie audiences alike. That takes fucking talent, my friends. I think it’s a no-brainer to predict that this is going to be a crossover mainstream horror hit when it’s finally released – along the lines of Saw, Hostel, and House of the Devil. And it’s just as easy to bet on Wingard and Barrett having long and successful careers and Sharni Vinson becoming a huge star.

The day before it screened at Fantastic Fest, You’re Next was bought by Lionsgate, who are giving it a very well-deserved wide release in 2012. The same day, this amazing ominous art appeared on the wall of the Alamo Drafthouse…

- Oh Mars