While I expected to love Midsommar (2019) after Ari Aster’s film last year, I never thought Crawl (2019) would win me over like it did. I was especially not thinking Ready or Not (2019) would win me over as much as it did, despite a trailer that had looked very interesting. Horror comedies are a pleasure of mine, and I was delighted to find out that this film leaned heavily on the comedy.
Ready or Not knows what it is and delights in its own campiness.
Grace (Samara Weaving) is marrying into a wealthy family that made their fortune selling games. Alex (Mark O’Brien) had essentially separated from his family, but brings Grace home for the wedding following a long line of traditions. One she didn’t know about was that she’d have to play a game with the family in order to be truly accepted. Hide and seek didn’t seem so bad, but she finds out quickly that if they find her, she’ll not see the sunrise again.
This film goes big very early, and definitely turns the crazy up to 11. The first kill comes suddenly and in a bit of a darkly comedic fashion, as Emilie (Melanie Scrofano) accidently shoots a maid. Freaking out, she does a crazy amount of cocaine off her fist and psychs herself up. It’s a great example of the mayhem that will befall Grace if she fails to hide well. Luckily for us, she’s not particularly great at it, or this movie would end up being kind of boring.
I quite enjoyed Adam Brody as the new brother-in-law, Daniel. He’s an alcoholic, and after the opening of the film and what the young Daniel witnesses, it’s no surprise. He gets to be the sardonic one, and brings humor to many of the more intense moments. However, Brody isn’t the only actor doing great work, as the two leads also crush it – but so does the strong supporting cast including Henry Czerny, Andie MacDowell, Kristian Bruun, and others. In fact, Bruun has a scene where he’s hiding out in the bathroom using modern technology to learn how to use an old school weapon. It’s pretty funny.
Final thoughts…
Ready or Not isn’t revolutionary by any means, but it’s a fun time at the movies. The end will certainly leave some people feeling not as happy as they may have been during the rest of the film, but fans of gory horror movies should get a kick out of it. There had to be quite a bit of fake blood in the production of this film, for sure. Ready or Not earns the Not Quite Golden, Ponyboy rating.
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