Film Review - Ready or Not (18)

I'm giving you an out. Right now.

There's an honesty in the above poster for Ready or Not. What you see is pretty much what you can expect to get - a fun, lurid slice of American Gothic. Following last week's Ad Astra, a film with pretentions of greatness that proved a crushing bore (at least to me), it's refreshing to watch a pacy little comedy-horror with a 90-minute running time and a raucous sense of fun. Not perfect by any means, but a nicely nasty slice of Friday night entertainment

Samara Weaving stars as the orphaned Grace, a girl on the verge of marrying into the old-money Le Domas family. Her new in-laws have made their money from games (of the Monopoly variety) and are steeped in arcane gaming mythology within their grand country pile. What new husband Alex (Mark O'Brien) has failed to explain to Grace is the reason for his long-term familial estrangement - a sinister ritual undergone by any new addition to the Le Domas clan. At midnight on the wedding night she must draw a card to select a game in which they will all take part. Most are innocent, one is not. 'Hide and seek' as played by this family has lethal consequences - and soon the bride is running, hiding and then running even faster for her life.

Made by an actor/cinematographer duo (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett) steeped in horror cinema, Ready or Not is made with a shlocky sense of glee. This film is much more committed to making its audience laugh than shiver, nor does it hang around long before diving into the action. There's the wedding - a sweet couple surrounded by caustic comment and some memorably unnerving glares - after which Grace is swiftly immersed in the arcane madness of life (plus a lot of death) with her new relatives. The Le Domas mansion has a convincingly creepy grandeur and the array of weapons selected by the game's 'seekers' will in itself raise smiles. This story gets very bloody very fast, but it's played successfully for laughs with one moment of ineptitude raising the biggest audience roar of the night (in my screening at any rate).

Weaving (niece of The Matrix's Hugo) puts in a 'where the hell did she come from?' performance as the beleaguered bride, taking Samara on a gritty and sometimes hilarious ride. Endearingly funny newlywed turns into bad-ass survivor via some truly gruelling twists. It's a comedy turn on a par with Jessica Rothe's in Happy Death Day and the single best reason to view the movie. The extended Le Domas household compliments her well, with Henry Czerny more unlikeable than ever as the austere paterfamilias and Andie McDowell embracing the crazy as mom. It's nice to see The O.C.'s Adam Brody in the thick of it too as Grace's drunkenly cynical brother-in-law Daniel.

Ready or Not is no classic. However many darkly winning moments are in there, the script simply isn't sharp enough and the motivations behind the Le Domas homicidal tradition will test the most well-sprung suspension of disbelief. Add to that a directorial inexperience that flubs a few of the crucial horror moments. Still it looks good, is played at all points with macabre enthusiasm and follows its grisly premise through to a deliriously daft climax. As blood-spattered brides go, Grace gives Uma Thurman's Kill Bill heroine some decent competition. You'll be rooting for her to make it through her eye-opening, deeply unromantic wedding night.

Gut Reaction: Not a hint of the scares, but a few moments of painful horror cringe and some serious guffaws of laughter. Yes - that's guffaws.

Memorable Moment: A lesson in crossbow safety.

Ed's Verdict: 6.5/10. If ever a film knew what it's trying to be, it's this one. A brief weekend blast of horror hysteria - memorably funny with a storming lead performance. There goes the bride.