Source - 20th Century Studios
If you count yourself among those who interpret a matrimonial “I do” to mean “happily ever after,” maybe “Ready or Not” isn’t the late-summer date movie for you.
On the other hand, for “Crazy Rich Asians” haters and the romantically disinclined, this deranged and darkly comedic thriller which stuffs the wedding cake full of razor blades, then blows up the chapel packs subversive pleasures aplenty, exaggerating the anxieties of marrying into an unfamiliar family by confronting its unsuspecting bride with a worst-case set of in-laws.
Introduction
Movie’s Name - Ready or Not (2019)
Directors - Matt Bettinelli & Tyler Gillett
Genre - Horror, Thriller, Dark comedy, Action
Language - English
Synopsis - Spoiler Alert!
This tart satirical horror from directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, two thirds of the film-making collective Radio Silence who masterminded 2012’s cult horror anthology V/H/S, borrows its title from the children’s game hide and seek.
On her wedding night, Grace (Samara Weaving) should be climbing into bed with her blue-blooded groom Alex (Mark O’Brien), but his “moderately fucked-up family”, the Le Domases, have a different marital ritual in mind. New additions to the family must choose a game for the entire clan to play by picking a card.
Grace chooses hide and seek – or at least a version of it in which her pursuers must find and kill her before sunrise.Among them is brother Daniel (Adam Brody, debonair, laconic and sadly underused), coke-snorting sister Emilie (Melanie Scrofano) and creepy Aunt Helene (Nicky Guadagni), who has painted eyebrows and a permanent furrowed scowl.
Better still is a purring Andie MacDowell, deploying a snooty southern drawl as Alex’s mother. “Rich people really are different,” deadpans Grace.
Although Alex’s mother (Andie MacDowell) and black-sheep brother Daniel (Adam Brody) appear slightly less enthused about killing Grace, most are downright bloodthirsty for the opportunity, none more than Aunt Helene (Nicky Guadagni), a Halloween-ready character who seems to have escaped from Tim Burton’s “Dark Shadows.”
About the Movie
Opening with the same slick, story-serving showmanship that will drive the rest of their plot, co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (“Devil’s Due”) have already hinted at how lethal Hide and Seek can be in the movie’s unsettling prologue.
As Grace obliviously searches for some corner of the spooky house where a woman in full wedding dress can plausibly disappear, they start to reveal just how seriously the family takes its sport.
Fully committed patriarch Tony (a demented Henry Czerny) takes it upon himself to arm his four children — although Alex prefers to sit out the stalking of his new bride — bestowing upon each an old-timey weapon.
It takes Grace a bit of time to figure out the rules, but with the help of her husband — who jeopardizes his own fate by assisting her — and a couple of close calls, she realizes what she’s up against.
In someone else’s hands, Grace might have become a natural-born killer, although screenwriters Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy handicaps her somewhat by insisting that she’s nothing like the Le Domas tribe, which means she can fight back but isn’t allowed to sink to their level by actually killing anyone.
As dawn approaches, however, the movie gets progressively darker, and soon enough, all bets are off. By the end, everyone — servants, emergency services and even the two kids who’d been safely tucked away in bed — seem to be in on the hunt.
Personal Verdict
While it’s easy to enjoy this gripping, giallo-gruesome exercise as a kind of Gothic genre-movie pastiche, “What We Do in the Shadows” meets “Rosemary’s Baby,” with a generous helping of “Clue”, the subtext is rich enough to fuel reams of feminist- or film-studies essays.
After all, Grace isn’t just dealing with the Le Domases here; she’s up against the entire institution of marriage, and in order to survive her wedding night(mare), she’ll have to tear down the system that put her in this position.
As such, each act of self-defense becomes symbolic, chipping away at the foundation of a social construct. By the end, things have gotten so anarchically unhinged, it’s no coincidence that the directors have looked to “Heathers” for inspiration.
The Bottom Line
Weaving’s expressiveness lends Grace’s plight instant pathos and Brody, who’s been one of America’s best character actors for over a decade, slowly pulling back from the rest of the clan, plays nicely against the bug-eyed fervor of the rest of the Le Domas’ brood.
By the time the games come to an end, “Ready or Not” has ceased to be about the rich and the poor. It’s about a girl trying to survive a violent ordeal, which is potent enough for the moment you’re watching the film, but in a climate in which politics can pull a film from a release schedule, now is not the time to hide.
My ratings for the movie - 3.5 on 5
Written By - Resmita Barai
Edited By - Umme-Aiman
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