You Might Be the Killer
I love a good horror meta movie, emphasis on the good. I cannot think of a better way to pay homage to the delightful ridiculousness that makes horror so wonderful than to cleverly spin it into commemorative comedy. Yet even horror comedy meta movies have become common enough to become their own trope.
Enter You Might Be the Killer with a fresh little twist.
It is a well documented fact that the script is based on a viral Twitter conversation between Sam Sykes and Chuck Wendig. That fact is interesting enough, but the movie itself starts deep in media res, practically at the final climax. Then, through the frantic phone conversation between Sam (Fran Kranz) and Chuck (Allison Hannigan), the plot leap frogs through the body count of dead counselors to reveal the true events.
In a Q&A session following the screening, director Brett Simmons described the flow as a horror version of Memento. That is exactly what it is: Memento meets Friday the 13th.
The relationship between Sam and Chuck provides a dynamic foundation that supports the temporal meanderings. Learning the timeline with the characters proved to be an effective (and very humorous) mechanism.
The movie is clever, endearing, and entertaining as hell. It reminded me of Cabin in the Woods, the gold standard of recent horror meta (hey, Fran Kranz is in that too!) and The Final Girls. As I watched You Might Be the Killer, I could tell it was made by people who genuinely love horror. Their affection for the genre shines through and makes the film a hilarious little ride.
Fiery Pen 