'Ready or Not' stars Samara Weaving, Adam Brody & Mark O' Brian and is about a woman named Grace, who has just married into a prestigious family who built their wealth on board and card games. On her wedding night, Grace is told that she is to play a random game picked from a deck of cards as an initiation, which is revealed to be hide & seek. She soon learns of the family's more sinister agenda and has to escape with her life.
The film is a mix of black comedy and splatter horror a la 'Cabin in the Woods' or 'You're Next'. Comedic or tongue in cheek elements can be both a strong beneficial element or poison to the horror film, but I'm happy to say that 'Ready or Not' leans much further toward beneficial. From the very start, the film has fun introducing us to each member of the family and their quirks that will play in the later half and this is where a lot of the film's more straightforward humor lies. Some jokes are hit or miss but for the most part are pretty sharp, my favorite being Adam Brody as the drunkard older brother. He gets most of the film's funniest lines but as the story unfolds, you do feel a sadness as you see he does show some resistance to the whole thing.
That's where I feel the film's strongest point lies: the character development and I know that's strange to hear when talking about a survival horror film in 2019. Sure some of these kooks are little more than fodder or for a cheap gag but the major players have their individual goals and motives for why they participate in this morbid ritual and it's commendable to find a horror movie these days where you can somewhat understand the villain's motivation. However, the majority lies on Samara Weaving and I do like her character here. She's the realistic hero, who shows every scrape, burn, and cut throughout. She's not Ellen Ripley like many films tend to do with their protagonists, but is just a normal person thrown into a horrible situation and steadily becomes more & more aggressive in order to defend herself. She can get a bit annoying at times with her scream acting (and break some glass too) but overall, I think this part suits her very well.
For the horror side of things, gore hounds will probably enjoy this one but don't expect any real over the top stuff (at least until that final act NO SPOILERS). The effects are pretty good here and looks very detailed and realistic, but nothing most horror movies don't already have. Still, genre fans will get a kick out of the movie. Where the movie goes wrong is mostly down to its message/theme if you want to call it that. I'm not really sure what the film is trying to say here if anything because it sends mixed messages. The clearest one I could recognize is the film showing how your family can warp your sense of right and wrong which is kind of a terrible message to tell people honestly. I guess you could also say it's the typical "Rich Eating The Poor" allegory and yeah it has that going too, but almost in a self aware fashion. I'm probably thinking about it too much to be honest as the ultimate goal was just to make a well made, funny, bloody good movie and 'Ready or Not' does succeed in that department. It's one of the better movies you'll find in theaters this weekend and one I'll want to check back on when it makes it home media debut. Really good and entertaining but don't look for any deeper meaning.
A
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