Ready or Not (2019) Review

"You'll have to hide better than that."
-Helene Le Domas



Grace (Samara Weaving) marries into the wealthy Le Domas family.  On the night of her wedding, Grace is informed she has to join the rest of the family for a game, as is tradition.  The randomly selected game is hide and seek.  Grace goes to hide while the rest of the family gets ready to seek her out, but Grace quickly learns that if they find her, they will kill her.

There will be some spoilers ahead, so don't read any further unless you have seen the movie.  I highly recommend it.


What Works:

Ready or Not has a pretty bonkers concept and has a lot of fun with it.  It's an exciting film with surprising and tense moments and some gruesome deaths.  It's exactly the kind of film the trailer promised and I couldn't be happier.

This is a comedy/horror film and it balances both genres well.  The comedy is excellent and there are some really great laugh-out-loud moments.  We get coked-out Emilie (Melanie Scrofano) continually killing the help by accident and her husband Fitch (Kristian Bruun) being generally incompetent.  It's some really funny stuff considering the dark subject matter.

The horror elements are also pretty great.  There's a scene where Grace gets shot through the hand and later has a nail go through the bullet wound.  It's awesome gore, brutal to watch, and a great character moment.  This is a funny film, but I appreciate that it takes the truly serious moments seriously.

The best members of the cast are Adam Brody and Mark O'Brien, who play brothers.  Both of them have excellent character arcs.  Brody's character is conflicted about whether or not to continue along with his family's traditions and O'Brien, who plays Grace's new husband, has to choose between his wife and his family.  They both give great performances and have interesting stories.

One moment I loved came at the end of the film, where, for a moment, the characters think there was never a curse on the Le Domas family.  It's hilarious and incredibly awkward and for a moment I thought the film was going to end right there and I would have totally okay with that.

Finally, I love that nobody is safe in this movie.  There are two kids involved in this bloodbath and we get to see Grace straight-up punch one in the face and later both of them explode in bloody fashion.  I always appreciate when horror movies have the guts to kill off kids and Ready or Not does not disappoint.


What Sucks:

The only note I have is that the 3rd act feels a bit rushed.  A lot happens in a short period of time and I think it could have been stretched out for longer to make things a bit more coherent. 


Verdict:

Ready or Not is an absolute blast.  It expertly balances the horror and the comedy, gives us some great performances, and some really fun moments.  The 3rd act could have been smoothed out, but this movie has absolutely got it going on.

 9/10: Great 

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