Summary:
A bride’s wedding night takes a horrific turn after her in-laws force her to participate in a game.
My Thoughts:
If this movie would’ve come out ten years ago, it probably would’ve received a 4/5 Star rating from me, but as it is now I feel as if “Ready or Not” is a amalgamation of two or three better (and recent) horror-comedy films (primarily “Get out” and “Cabin in the Woods”). That’s not to say it’s bad, in fact, there are a few moments that had me cackling, and a few other moments that sated my perpetual horror-fan bloodlust. As a whole, this movie is fine; just fine. The film sort of teetered on a 2.5 and 3 star rating for me throughout the whole of my viewing, but I was never bored, and Samara Weaving really gave it her all, so I honestly wouldn’t say its a waste of your time. If you’re a huge horror fan like me, sometimes a ridiculous and bloody ‘just fine’ movie is all you really need.
“Don’t Take It Personally, They’re Just Trying to Figure Out if You’re a Gold Digging Whore. You Know, Like My Wife.”
Grace (Samara Weaving, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”) gets married to Alex Le Domas (Mark O’Brien, “Arrival”), and on their wedding night, she is forced to play a game with Alex and his family. The game starts simply enough, but soon Grace realizes that the family intends to murder her as a part of some kind of ritual, and she must fight to survive until dawn.
As I mentioned above, this film would’ve been far more impactful had it come out ten years ago, because many of twists in this film were twists that I’d already seen played out in other, slightly similar films like “Get Out” or “You’re Next” (or, I’ve been told by fellow TMM reviewer Karl, “Would You Rather”). These films share a similar sort of storyline revolving around a person stuck in an awkward situation with strangers (or people they think they know, but don’t) that quickly devolves into a murderous situation. As far as a basic story goes, that premise is rather thin, but as Jordan Peele showed us with his Oscar winning screenplay (“Get Out”), that premise can still provide a lot of depth if handled correctly. Unfortunately, the writing in this film is a bit pedestrian. It doesn’t really have anything to say beyond what’s apparent on the surface, instead, the film just tries to have fun with the situation that it’s created, and the result is a middling, but sometimes fun, film.
The best part about the film is the balance of comedy and horror. Though I will say that the writing in this film tends to lean more towards comedy, the violence is wonderfully graphic, and the nonchalant way the characters handled that violence was funny enough to bump my rating of this film from a 2.5 to a 3. For example, I loved the offhanded way that the Le Domas handled the death of one of their servants, by all saying: “Oh, she was my favorite,” and then casually chucking bits of her body into a fire. There are plenty of other moments of black comedy, and most of them work pretty well.
I thought Samara Weaving, who I’d only ever seen in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” before, gave a really great performance as Grace. Most of the film is from her perspective, and a lot of it is just her running through hallways, hoping that she wont attract the attention of those hunting her, but somehow, Samara manages to infuse a fair amount of emotion into even the most mundane of scenes, and she does so in a way that never feels out of place in the film. Honestly, she was easily the best part in terms of acting, though Adam Brody gave a pretty memorable performance as Grace’s drunken brother-in-law.
MAJOR SPOILERS ABOUT THE ENDING
Throughout the film, it’s hinted that the reason the family is playing this murderous game is because long ago one of their relatives made a pact with something, and that pact was what brought the Le Domas family wealth and fame. Some of the Le Domas family members seem a bit skeptical about the validity of this claim, but they all go ahead with the game anyways (what’s a little murder between relatives, right?). Towards the end of the film, it’s revealed that there is indeed a dark entity pulling strings behind their game of hide and seek, and the Le Domas, having failed in their attempt to kill Grace, all start to explode into bloody piles of goo, and Grace’s immediate reaction is to start laughing like a maniac. It’s ridiculous and hilarious, and though that ending really echoed the ending of “Cabin in the Woods”, I also thought it worked pretty well. Any movie that’s willing to just say “F*ck it!” and just go completely off the rails usually gets a few points from me; while this doesn’t completely plunge into an abyss of madness, it does have enough craziness to prompt a smile or two.
Verdict:
As I said above, this film sort of teetered on a passing and failing grade for me, but I ended up giving it a 3/5 star; a D-, for those of you whom, like me, think of ratings as grade letter scores. I chuckled, I wasn’t bored, but I wasn’t ever scared, nor was I ever invested in any of the characters beyond Grace. Middling movies get middling praise, so see this film if you want to, but avoid it if you don’t; either way, your life will be fine.
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