A One Mann’s Movies review of “Ready Or Not”. (2019, 4*, 18).
I missed seeing “Ready or Not” at the cinema on its release for some reason, but heard such strong word-of-mouth about it that I went and bought the DVD…. which, for reasons that are beyond me, has sat in its shrink-wrap in my disk collection ever since! But with a desire to see “Ready Or Not 2”, currently in UK cinemas, I dug it out and gave it a watch. And what a fun ride it really is!
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Grace (Samara Weaving) is getting married to Alex Le Domas (Mark O’Brien) at the family’s enormous mansion. For the Le Domas family ‘dominion’ have made their fortune on board games. But marrying into the nutty family requires Grace to play a game at midnight.
Certification:
UK: 18; US: R. (From the BBFC website: “Strong bloody violence, gory images”. This actually feels like quite a soft 18 to me, since the gore and violence is so cartoonish that it feels to me like it could have been a 15. For me, violence in an 18 certificate needs to be genuinely disturbing and malicious.)
Talent:
Starring: Samara Weaving, Mark O’Brien, Adam Brody, Henry Czerny, Andie MacDowell, Melanie Scrofano, Kristian Bruun, Elyse Levesque, Nicky Guadagni, John Ralston.
Directed by: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett.
Written by: Guy Busick & R. Christopher Murphy.
Running Time: 1h 35m.
Summary:
Positives:
- Fun, comedy violence. With a simple concept, well executed, this is a fun comedy/horror movie that has its tongue firmly in its cheek. It’s absurd, but in a good way! The gory moments are suitably gory but also delivered in a sufficiently cartoonish way to make funny: I imagine that this film would have been a real scream to watch in the cinema with a packed Saturday night audience. I found the finale hilarious!
- Samara Weaving delivers a knock-out performance as the girl in way too deep in the madhouse for her own good. I loved the moment where she looks at her kick-ass-self in the mirror, in sneakers, a torn wedding dress and toting a shotgun and just says “Wow!”. And her final line in the movie is delivered with aplomb.
- The supported cast includes the familiar faces of Henry Czerny (best known for the “Mission: Impossible” franchise) and Andie MacDowell. But the rest of the fairly unknown cast have fun too. I particularly enjoyed Melanie Scrofano as the dangerously coked-up Emilie, mindlessly doing away with innocents with her incompetence!
Negatives:
- No mansion would ever be so big that you could wander its corridors in a game of Hide and Seek and not be immediately found. But I just went with the madness!
- I found some of the fire effects in the closing scenes are a bit dodgy: they need lessons from “The Lost Bus” guys.
Summary Thoughts:
A really classy comedy/horror film that is thoroughly enjoyable. Well acted, enough icky moments to make you go “Ewww!” and a satisfying, if preposterous, pay-off.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtYTwUxhAoI. (Note that this is the red band trailer).
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