Grace couldn’t be happier after she marries the man of her dreams at his family’s luxurious estate. There’s just one catch — she must now hide from midnight until dawn while her new in-laws hunt her down with guns, crossbows and other weapons. As Grace desperately tries to survive the night, she soon finds a way to turn the tables on her not-so-lovable relatives.
Plot: A young bride (Samara Weaving) joins her new husband’s (Mark O’Brien) rich, eccentric family (Adam Brody, Henry Czerny, Andie MacDowell) in a time-honored tradition that turns into a lethal game with everyone fighting for their survival.
Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Aspect Ratio: 2.39.1
Runtime: 95 min
Rotten Tomatoes Consensus: Smart, subversive, and darkly funny, Ready or Not is a crowd-pleasing horror film with giddily entertaining bite.
Online Ratings:
- Rotten Tomatoes 88% (Audience: 78%)
- IMDB 7.0
- Metacritic 64
- Cinemascore B+
“A fun new concept to put in the horror genre’s vault.”
Review:
Young brothers Alex and Daniel Le Domas witness the killing of their uncle Charles on his wedding night to their aunt Helene. Thirty years later, Alex—who has been estranged from his wealthy family for years—has returned home at the behest of his fiancée Grace, a former foster child eager to be part of Alex’s family. Alex offers Grace a chance to abandon their wedding plans, but Grace refuses, and the pair are wed.
After the wedding, Alex tries to tell Grace about their family tradition while Grace tries to get him in bed. Both of them are cut short by Helene, the aunt. Helene tells them to gather to play the game; Alex finally reveals to Grace about the initiation custom in which the family plays a game together whenever someone new is wed into the house. Alex, however, leaves out all the details. Alex’s father questions Alex if he is willing to sacrifice everything if Grace picks “the card.”
Participating in the tradition are Alex, his alcoholic brother Daniel, their father Tony, their mother Becky, Daniel’s snobbish wife Charity, Alex’s drug-addicted sister Emilie, Emilie’s whiny husband Fitch Bradley, and the sombre Helene. It is explained that Tony’s great-grandfather Victor agreed to a deal with a man named Mr. Le Bail. Le Bail would help create the Le Domas fortune in exchange for the Le Domas following this tradition. Grace must draw a card from Le Bail’s ornate wooden box and play the game written on the card.
She draws “hide and seek.” Grace leaves to hide in the estate while the Le Domas family, apart from Alex, arm themselves with antique weapons to hunt her down.
What happens next? You will need to watch the movie to watch it unfold.
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Ready or Not really came out of nowhere from Fox Searchlight with a new concept that put all the cards on the table, literally. If you’ve read any of my reviews before you know that the horror genre is one of my favorites because there is no ceiling to what you can do or explore — the sky’s the limit. You can take risks and not have to bet your entire studio on a movie that needs to make $500 million at the box office to get your investment back.
This movie hits all the right notes, while never diving too deep into any specific category. The movie falls in the horror genre with a decent amount of gore, worthy of a slasher, but it’s never too disturbing at any moment to make you look away. Ready or Not also includes enough humor categorizing itself as a horror-comedy, but it’s not to funny to pull you out of the story — and lastly, the movie could even be a strange take on a romcom hidden in plain sight, but theres never too much lovey-dovey to pull the horror out of it’s bones.
Taking all that into account (if it even made sense) Ready or Not delivers to the viewer, a fun filled time inside of horror filled house — all the while, it’s not taking itself too seriously and it’s not too disturbing either. On the back end, without spoiling the movie, there is also something to be said about the 1% in this country — but you’ll figure that out if you take the time to watch it. You can guarantee that it’s a perfect and quick 90 minute horror-film that holds your attention the entire time.
I’d like to explore this world more in other homes that were mentioned (which may have a similar situation), but I doubt it will even come to light. At the very least, the concept is here to play with in the future if need be. Furthermore, this has me more excited for Fox Searchlight’s next horror film Antlers which set to release in the coming months — mark your calendars.
Black Friday just ended a few days ago, so it might not be on your mind to pick up a new movie at full price, but Ready or Not is worth your time and it comes as an easy recommendation, especially if you enjoy the horror genre. Make sure you grab it at your local retailer when it releases on Blu-ray and DVD tomorrow, December 3rd.
Finally, you have to love the fact that Ready or Not came out with a $6 million dollar budget and grossed over $57 million at the worldwide box office. This means we can keep creating new content and ideas for the genre because butts will always be put in the seats when it comes to the horror genre. We show up!
Did you catch Ready or Not in the theater? Were you a fan of this movie? Will you be picking it up to own? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Cheers,
Matt.
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