"Ready or Not": Nathan's Movie Review

Have you ever been in love with someone, then started having second thoughts after meeting their parents? I bet you've never been in a situation like Grace, the protagonist of the film up for review today: Ready or Not.

Grace has married into the Le Domas family, a rich and upscale family with some really strange traditions. Grace is being "accepted" by the family the night of the wedding. They tell her it's tradition that the entire family welcome the newest member by playing a game. Grace pulls a card from the game box which reads: Hide and Seek. Grace laughs, thinking this is childish, but she finds out quickly that this is no child's game. It's life or death. She has to survive until dawn, or else she'll die.

When I first heard the premise of Ready or Not, I assumed it'd be like Get Out meets The Wicker Man. I thought the family surely had to be cultists that needed a blood sacrifice or something. I was only partly right. When you get right down to it, these people are just keeping up with a tradition set down by the father's great-grandfather. Many of the family members aren't quite sold on the tradition, they're just scared that they'll all perish should the tradition not be upheld. This tradition, which I'm not going to spoil, is wildly realistic and probably does happen and we just don't know it.

Samara Weaving is slowly proving that she has the capabilities to be a great actress. She stole every scene she was in and was either hilarious or dramatic. Henry Czerny was the next best performer. Henry's usually in roles in which he's classy and soft-spoken. He was completely the opposite in this film, which was actually a bit refreshing. The man has some serious range. Andie MacDowell and Adam Brody proved just how creepy they could be when they want to.

The only thing I didn't like about the film was that its end "twist" wasn't a twist at all. It was easily predictable and, for a film that keeps so well to unpredictability, to end like that was a let down.

In conclusion, for the most part, I was impressed. Ready or Not wasn't afraid to break the barrier that modern horror has set and its unapologetic approach played to its advantage. The humor was spot-on and added to the film rather than taking from it. Horror could learn a thing or two from this film. I give it a 3.5 out of 4.