"Ready or Not" Movie Review

By: James Southworth
Rating: 4/5 Stars

It's always great to see a smaller movie with not as many well-known cast members getting a lot of buzz at the theaters. I remember seeing the trailer for "Ready or Not", and it really interested me from the get-go. It really made me happy when critical and audience reception for the movie continued to increase, making my interest in the film go up in effect. The movie is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who both worked on the solid anthology horror film "V/H/S". Grace, a foster child who has always wanted a real family to attach to, finally gets her chance when she marries Daniel de Domas, who has quite a large family. Daniel's family isn't your typical type though: they are excessively rich as they are a huge gaming (specifically board and card games) enterprise. Grace finds that odd, but not anything too extreme. However, she starts discovering darker truths about the family when they have their ritualistic game night for the newest family member. The game that Grace gets? A murderous twist on hide-and-seek that reveals what the whole family is really like.

Something that immediately stuck out to me about this film is how it uses comedy, specifically dark comedy. Oftentimes, calling it dark comedy is an understatement, as some of the humor here is pitch black gallows humor. Because the film wholly embraces this vibe and goes all in for it, this movie is absolutely hysterical in a lot of places. I never thought I would laugh so much at people getting murdered, but this movie makes it work. The visual gags in this movie are over the top, and purposefully so. It plays like a B-Movie, but one with better production values and better performances. However, even though there is a significant amount of comedy coming from visuals, even more comes from the dialogue. The lines these characters have are just excellent, with every punch lines having superb timing to make for some delightfully effective laugh out loud moments. A lot of the dialogue here doubles as satiric digs on rich people and their privilege. Some of it also comes from the fact that a lot of the characters treat this twisted game of hide and seek as if it's just an inconvenience they have to grit their teeth through. There is moment after moment here that is just gut-wrenchingly funny. I knew from the trailer that this film would have a humorous aspect to it, but I honestly wasn't expecting it to be this hilarious. This really lifts the film up, in my opinion, and increases its undeniable fun factor.

For all the funny stuff in this film, it can also be incredibly tense. This movie did a great job at striking a balance between the horror and the comedy. In fact, it did it so well that I would put this movie on the level of something like "You're Next", which is high praise considering how much I adore that film. The gore in this film can be funny, but it also does make you flinch when the movie wants you to do so. There are times when the gore is b-movie levels over the top, but there are other moments when it makes you get shivers down your spine (such as a particular moment when Grace's hand goes right through a rusty nail). The film isn't entirely guts and gore. There are plenty of characters who are unsettling just because of their personalities. There is a funny aspect to the characters treating killing a person like having to take a trip to the grocery store, but it's also disturbing that pretty much all of them don't think it's a big deal. Because of that, we feel a lot more uncertain of whether Grace will get out alive, since almost all the members of the family are fine with offing her. This film is thankfully low on jump scares, instead relying on building its tension naturally to the climax. This makes the big moment of the movie really pay off. I felt myself on edge at points on the movie, and those moments were excellently counterbalanced by the times when I was enjoying myself and laughing. It's rare these days to see a horror movie able to do satire and scares effectively, and this movie is one of those rare cases.

What lifts this film more than anything else are its overall great performances. Samara Weaving is the obvious standout. This is her first bigger role, although I remember her being really good for the time she was in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri". Weaving has a lot of demanding stuff to go through in this film, and she nails every challenge the script throws at her. I appreciate how multi-faceted the writers of the script made her. She can be vulnerable and strong at the same time, and it doesn't feel like a weird contradiction. Also, I do appreciate that Weaving gets to have some comedic lines of her own; some of her lines are the funniest in the film because of her delivery. Even the last line of the film is a punchline from her, and it caps everything off quite nicely. Mark O'Brien is a nice counterpart to Grace as her new husband Alex. His role is a bit more subtle and subdued, which I think is appropriate. The arc he goes through is pretty interesting; it's cool how the movie lets you see it play out, and it makes perfect sense once you see where he's going. Adam Brody as Daniel Le Domas is easily the most unpredictable character of the film; you're not really sure what side he stands on, and that makes him engrossing to watch. Brody does effective work of bringing the duality of this character out, showing how he desires to be loved by his family, but also realizes what they are doing is completely messed up. Kristian Bruun's performance as Fitch comes a very close second to Weaving as far as top actors go. He is hilarious in this film. The guy has a real knack for delivering his punchlines with such a sense of self-seriousness that it's impossible not too laugh. He plays this character as if they are ignorant how funny they are, which only makes the character funnier to me. His character isn't particularly complex, but he doesn't need to be, as his humor makes the character stand out. Other highlights of the film include Henry Czerny as the demented Le Domas patriarch, and Nicky Guadagni as the sadistic Aunt Helene.

There isn't a whole lot to complain about in this movie, but there are some weaknesses. I think most of the weaker parts reside in the moments before the climax happens. It feels like the movie keeps on making reasons for Grace having to be in the house. There's a point when a car comes into the movie, and while I get that the writers needed to get themselves out of this easy escape for Grace, they way the go about it seems a little too easy. It's not the worst way to write oneself out of this situation, but it seems a little convenient to me. Also, some characters do seem to change motivation on a dime in the end of the film, which is odd to me. They're not necessarily doing things out of character, but maybe their reasoning for what they are doing is a little weak.

Those are really the only major weaknesses I can think of. I didn't have any huge qualms with this movie, as it is one of the most fun viewing experiences I've had all of 2019. The performances here are great, the jokes are consistently funny, and the horror elements are effective enough to keep you on edge. All of those factors make this an easy recommendation for me. This is a great movie, and I think it's deserving of your attention. Go see it!