Ready Or Not, here comes the latest horror-comedy! Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett take the well-known childhood favourite game and give it a horrifying (and hilarious) twist, injecting the autumn cinema slate with a blood-curdling scream bound to please genre aficionados and general audiences looking for some horror fun alike.
Grace's marriage to Alex makes her the latest addition to the Le Domas estate, a wealthy family with a long-held tradition: a game must be played as an initiation for anyone joining their ranks. Grace draws the 'Hide and Seek' card but it's a far deadlier wedding night than she ever dreamed. Continuing to affirm Samara Weaving as a scream queen of her generation, does Ready Or Not find the goods, or should it have stayed hidden forever?
As unsubtle as a sledgehammer to the skull but probably just as bloody, Ready Or Not is a brutal and thoroughly entertaining horror-comedy that delivers on the promise of both sub-genres impressively. Writers Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy have a lot they want to say and splattered throughout their smart, ambitious if stuffy screenplay is clever musings on true blue politics, upper-class ideologies and the dangerous way in which long-held traditions excuse our morally-deviant behaviour. Even with these thematic undercurrents though, the writers always ensure Ready or Not is, ultimately, brilliant fun, and despite its reach sometimes exceeding its grasp, it's a bold undertaking (packed with memorable one-liners) that yields mostly impressive results across the board.
Collaborating, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett balance the film's potentially-discordant tones exceedingly well, offering a stylish and characterful feature. Aided by the terrific production and costume design, which stretches the small $6 million production budget fantastically, the film's set pieces are wickedly exciting and enrich the Purge-esque film with personality, also allowing the 96-minute runtime to rush by. The pair lean into conventions playfully, evoking iconic genre pieces through its imagery but ensuring that it is, ultimately, its own thrilling, subversive entity. Brian Tyler's score is really rather exceptional too: it is foreboding and intense one minute, poignant and playful the next, working incredibly well in enhancing the atmosphere.
Samara Weaving gives a ferocious lead performance, once again (following a wonderful performance in The Babysitter) asserting herself as a scream queen of a new generation. Grace's character arc may be a somewhat familiar one but you are never any less compelled by her desperate fight for survival - one that empowers her to turn from someone suddenly out of their depth into someone far more active in securing her fate. By the time Weaving unleashes her spine-chilling wail in the film's climactic scene, there isn't any doubt that the horror world has found itself another cult horror icon. All the roles (horror or otherwise, as she proves herself more than capable of delivering the comedy too) for Miss Weaving!
Of the supporting ensemble, Adam Brody gives the most textured performance; a finely subtle portrayal of trauma less often seen in a male horror in the genre wheelhouse, Brody's turn is one of surprising complexity and his dynamic with Mark O'Brien adds another layer to the impressive character work. Others arguably overplay it, especially when it comes to the humour, pushing it into pantomime villain territory - but committing to the role any less runs the risk of diluting said villainy, and missing the comedic beats which make it so thoroughly enjoyable. Toning it down may make it more serious, but it would be almost certainly less enjoyable too.
Ready Or Not is a game worth playing: it is a thrillingly tense, consistently amusing and crowd-pleasing horror-comedy executed with both style and substance. Samara Weaving's leading performance continues the streak of brilliant roles for women in the genre, with her torn wedding dress, ammunition belt and orange converse look bound to be all the range this Halloween; beyond that though, it's such a gutsy, compelling performance that she grounds what could have been an overwhelming experience given the various tone and genres in the mix brilliantly. Get to your local cinema before I count to ten...
8/10
Summary: Ready Or Not is a bloody fun horror-comedy with brains and brawn that boasts a gutsy performance from Samara Weaving, a generation's new scream queen. This is a game absolutely worth playing.
Grace's marriage to Alex makes her the latest addition to the Le Domas estate, a wealthy family with a long-held tradition: a game must be played as an initiation for anyone joining their ranks. Grace draws the 'Hide and Seek' card but it's a far deadlier wedding night than she ever dreamed. Continuing to affirm Samara Weaving as a scream queen of her generation, does Ready Or Not find the goods, or should it have stayed hidden forever?
As unsubtle as a sledgehammer to the skull but probably just as bloody, Ready Or Not is a brutal and thoroughly entertaining horror-comedy that delivers on the promise of both sub-genres impressively. Writers Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy have a lot they want to say and splattered throughout their smart, ambitious if stuffy screenplay is clever musings on true blue politics, upper-class ideologies and the dangerous way in which long-held traditions excuse our morally-deviant behaviour. Even with these thematic undercurrents though, the writers always ensure Ready or Not is, ultimately, brilliant fun, and despite its reach sometimes exceeding its grasp, it's a bold undertaking (packed with memorable one-liners) that yields mostly impressive results across the board.
Collaborating, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett balance the film's potentially-discordant tones exceedingly well, offering a stylish and characterful feature. Aided by the terrific production and costume design, which stretches the small $6 million production budget fantastically, the film's set pieces are wickedly exciting and enrich the Purge-esque film with personality, also allowing the 96-minute runtime to rush by. The pair lean into conventions playfully, evoking iconic genre pieces through its imagery but ensuring that it is, ultimately, its own thrilling, subversive entity. Brian Tyler's score is really rather exceptional too: it is foreboding and intense one minute, poignant and playful the next, working incredibly well in enhancing the atmosphere.
Samara Weaving gives a ferocious lead performance, once again (following a wonderful performance in The Babysitter) asserting herself as a scream queen of a new generation. Grace's character arc may be a somewhat familiar one but you are never any less compelled by her desperate fight for survival - one that empowers her to turn from someone suddenly out of their depth into someone far more active in securing her fate. By the time Weaving unleashes her spine-chilling wail in the film's climactic scene, there isn't any doubt that the horror world has found itself another cult horror icon. All the roles (horror or otherwise, as she proves herself more than capable of delivering the comedy too) for Miss Weaving!
Of the supporting ensemble, Adam Brody gives the most textured performance; a finely subtle portrayal of trauma less often seen in a male horror in the genre wheelhouse, Brody's turn is one of surprising complexity and his dynamic with Mark O'Brien adds another layer to the impressive character work. Others arguably overplay it, especially when it comes to the humour, pushing it into pantomime villain territory - but committing to the role any less runs the risk of diluting said villainy, and missing the comedic beats which make it so thoroughly enjoyable. Toning it down may make it more serious, but it would be almost certainly less enjoyable too.
Ready Or Not is a game worth playing: it is a thrillingly tense, consistently amusing and crowd-pleasing horror-comedy executed with both style and substance. Samara Weaving's leading performance continues the streak of brilliant roles for women in the genre, with her torn wedding dress, ammunition belt and orange converse look bound to be all the range this Halloween; beyond that though, it's such a gutsy, compelling performance that she grounds what could have been an overwhelming experience given the various tone and genres in the mix brilliantly. Get to your local cinema before I count to ten...
8/10
Summary: Ready Or Not is a bloody fun horror-comedy with brains and brawn that boasts a gutsy performance from Samara Weaving, a generation's new scream queen. This is a game absolutely worth playing.