It’s been a while since audiences have seen a decent horror comedy, with modern horror opting for a more serious tone recently to deliver their spooks. The industry seems to have noticed this trend, delivering two in the space of two weeks with Zombieland: Double Tap and now the excellent Ready or Not. Directed by the relatively unknown duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, this small budget thriller arrived seemingly out of nowhere and has made waves in the horror community. Combining an inventive story with visceral gore, dark humour and a career-defining performance from Samara Weaving, Ready or Not is one of the most tense, edge of your seat films of the year – and also one of the funniest.
We follow Grace (Samara Weaving) on the eve of her wedding to Alex (Mark O’Brien), the eldest son and heir to the fortune of the Le Domas gaming family. It’s everything Grace ever dreamed of, joining a large, close-knit family after spending her childhood moving between foster families and orphanages, but something about the Le Domas’ doesn’t feel right and there is an underlying air of hostility. Once the wedding is over however, the family’s patriarch Tony (Henry Czerny) reveals that there is one more hoop to jump through before Grace can join the family: she must play a game of hide and seek at midnight. Grace dismisses this as some stupid family tradition until she realises the game is all too real and the entire Le Domas clan is out to kill her before sunrise, fearing their own demise if she is not caught and sacrificed before dawn.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first; this is an absolutely bonkers plot that doesn’t exactly ground itself in reality, and that’s what makes Ready or Not so great. The tone is unashamedly light hearted and joke-heavy, with the family constantly cracking wise and generally bumbling around as they attempt to take out Grace. The scenes featuring the family are a light, easygoing watch because of this dynamic, but at the same time there is something so sinister and jarring about the family’s casual approach to murdering this girl. You laugh at their mishaps but are well and truly on the side of Grace, who has wandered into this as an unsuspecting victim. The tone shifts when we’re with her as she fights to outwit her in-laws and escape their eerie Victorian-era mansion that has become a hunting ground. Rather than falling back on horror tropes and depicting Grace as a damsel in distress or a killing machine, the film takes its time setting up the character as this innocent girl from a hard life who simply wants a family, and then proceeds to show us this dream being torn apart over one night. When she finally decides to fight back, it’s immensely satisfying and understandable given what she’s been through and the audience is right there with her. Much like the tone, the violence on display alternates between the gritty and hard to watch, as nails are driven through hands and faces are smashed in, and at other times darkly comedic – a recurring joke about all the maids slowly being picked off and murdered in accidental ways is a particular highlight. Whilst this setup works to ultimately make Grace a relatable character and for audiences to forge a connection with her, it does sometimes feel a bit clunky and slow, with Grace delivering several exposition dumps that feel unnatural. The film works by toeing the line between darkly funny and sadistic, but may be too much either way for certain audiences.
As you could probably guess, the characters in Ready or Not are just as zany and over-the-top as the tone suggests. Samara Weaving gives an amazing performance as Grace, showcasing the transformation from helpless bride to capable survivor – taking matters into her own hands in an engaging, mostly believable way. The gradual breakdown in her psyche is riveting to watch and when things go completely crazy it’s both fun and a little unsettling to see Grace completely unhinged and out for revenge. Adam Brody, of The OC fame, gets the most to work with from the family. His character, Daniel, is conflicted about his role in the hunt and is the most understanding towards Grace – leading to his loyalty constantly being called into question. Brody handles the complexities of the character wonderfully, portraying Daniel as someone with a deep seated moral dilemma caught between doing the right thing and staying loyal to his family. Playing the parents of Daniel and Adam are Andie MacDowell as Becky and Henry Czerny as Tony who play off each other so well you would think they were a real married couple, albeit a particularly dysfunctional one. Czerny is wonderfully over-the-top as the increasingly exasperated Tony, who makes increasingly desperate decisions in order to capture Grace as his patience grows thin. Balancing him out is MacDowell who brings a quiet fury to the role. What begins as a distaste for the task at hand quickly changes once the reality of the situation sets in and MacDowell always exerts a commanding presence on the screen as she confidently hunts down her new daughter-in-law. It really is a stacked cast and Nicky Guadagni as Aunt Helene and Kristian Bruun as son-in-law Fitch in particular deserve praise for their chilling and hilarious performances respectively.
At a time when the horror genre is seemingly split between mainstream or independent arthouse horror, Ready or Not is a refreshing mix between the two: combining a strange, off-beat story with hilarious dark humour, harsh violence and a stellar cast clearly having the time of their lives. While the story may take a few unnecessary twists and turns and starts out a little slow, what the film lacks in jump scares or evil clowns it makes up for in inventive kills and a strong lead performance from Samara Weaving. If interesting, exciting new horror like this is going to get made it requires people to see it in the cinema, and with Ready or Not you’re almost certain to get your money’s worth and leave with a smile on your face.
Ready or Not stars Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Andie MacDowell, Henry Czerny, Mark O’Brien, Nicky Guadagni & Kristian Bruun – In cinemas now.