READY OR NOT by Urizen

  

When are we getting a duck-duck-goose movie!? I have to be honest, I was going to say a tag movie, but then I suddenly remembered there is a tag movie. So yeah…. Joining the ranks of Would You Rather?, Truth or Dare, and Tag, comes the latest film to have the theme of a children’s game, Ready or Not. Now, I have a soft spot for movies like this. Even when they are dumb, I usually find them incredibly entertaining. Tag is the one of the group I haven’t seen, but I love Would you Rather and Truth or Dare, so when I saw the trailer for this, I was hyped. I actually saw the trailer for it when I went and saw Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and by the end of that movie I was much more excited about this one.

   Ready or Not is a black comedy, horror film starring Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Mark O'Brien, Henry Czerny, Andy MacDowell, Nicky Guadagni, Melanie Scrofano, Elyse Levesque, Kristian Brunn, and John Ralston. Woo! That’s a cast. Normally I wouldn’t go through the process of listing off everyone in a movie, but considering minus maybe three more people, this is the whole cast, and they all stand out, I just figured why not.

   The movie tells the story of a new bride named Grace who marries into the Le Domas family via Alex Le Domas. The Le Domas' are a rich eccentric family that runs a board game making business. While at the family’s house after the wedding, Alex tells her that she must take part in a family tradition and play a game at midnight. The whole family gets together where the head of the family, Tony, explains how the tradition got started before letting a random game get chosen. Grace draws Hide and Seek, which visibly disturbs everyone. She is told that she must hide in the building and will win if she doesn’t get caught by sunrise. As Grace goes to hide though, we see that this isn’t a simple game of Hide and Seek. The Le Domas’ grab a bunch of weaponry and set out to find and kill her, while Alex decides to sneak and help his wife, going against the family. As Grace finds out the truth about the night and the deadly ritual that is occurring, it becomes a bloody free for all to see who will survive.

   I can’t emphasize enough how much I love this movie. It easily ranks as one of my favorites for this year…though I suppose that isn’t saying much. Ready or Not is a style of movie I love, but unfortunately never see enough of. To have that thriller and horror aspect, but still have that much comedy that is truly funny, is something I wish was done more often. While the story had its moments of predictability, it never mattered. The movie was so much fun from beginning to end. While Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark left me disappointed, Ready or Not exceeded my expectations.

   As I already said before, the comedy in this movie is really top notch. While writing and directing have a lot to do with that, the cast also deserves attention for the delivery and acting ability. Truthfully, I don’t think I knew of anyone in this movie, but by the end of it, I loved them all. Such a great cast that played off each other well and seemed to be having the time of their lives with this one. With how well they were written too, I truthfully enjoyed them all. Though standouts would probably have to be Adam Brody as Alex's brother Daniel, Samara Weaving as Grace, and Melanie Scrofano as Alex’s sister Emilie. Everyone was great, but they were probably my favorites.

   For a black comedy, a good job was also done on some of the gorier scenes. While comedy can play into the gore, one doesn’t take away from the other. In fact, it usually just adds to the character of the Le Domas family. You get a real sense of the kind of people they are as they react to this stuff happening around them while they are trying to kill Grace. The smaller moments like that do quite a bit to show how these characters truly are versus the persona of sorts that we get from them at the beginning of the movie.

   While a don’t see a sequel happening to this movie, I actually wouldn't mind if they could make it work. In fact, I can think of a few ways how. With so many movies coming out and toning things down to the point that they can't swear, can't show blood, and have to rely on jump scares, it is nice to show that an R rated movie can do good.  Everything doesn't need to be PG-13 or lower to succeed. Maybe now,  with Ready or Not's success, we can usher in more good R rated movies.  I can only hope.

   Between casting, writing, and even the visuals and way the movie is shot, Ready or Not has managed to take its place  in my list of favorite movies this year. I honestly can't think of anything I didn't like about it. It even did a good job using comedy’s rule of three with one of the gags, which was one of my favorite recurring jokes.  At first I was worried that with it’s run time only being around an hour and a half that things would feel rushed.  Instead it all worked out well, with probably the perfect run time.  I can't emphasize enough that if you are a fan of dark comedy,  you need to go watch this movie.  Stop hiding and go seek it out right now.  You will have the time of your life.