Ready or Not (2019)
August 26, 2019 11:06 AM - Subscribe
A bride's wedding night takes a sinister turn when her eccentric new in-laws force her to take part in a terrifying game.
This is from the filmmaking team Radio Silence, who created the feature length film Devil's Due and contributed films to the anthologies V/H/S and Southbound.
Ready or Not currently has 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.
This is from the filmmaking team Radio Silence, who created the feature length film Devil's Due and contributed films to the anthologies V/H/S and Southbound.
Ready or Not currently has 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ooo, Henry Czerny & Des from Republic of Doyle.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 1:57 PM on August 26, 2019
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 1:57 PM on August 26, 2019
Less slapstick than I was expecting, which is probably for the best, as there were only so many servants they could kill before it became less a class war metaphor and more a film about how accidentally killing employees is funny.
Terrific lead, and good job making about 90 percent of her survival due to her own actions. Best use of a menacing goat barn I have ever seen in a film.
posted by maxsparber at 10:26 AM on August 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
Terrific lead, and good job making about 90 percent of her survival due to her own actions. Best use of a menacing goat barn I have ever seen in a film.
posted by maxsparber at 10:26 AM on August 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
I don't know why, but lately it's been bothering me when a character in a movie gets a bad injury that affects them only briefly and then 10 minutes later they're able to just shrug it off, when in reality -- even under the stress of fighting for your life -- you would never stop at least wincing until you got some serious painkillers. The hand injury in this one reminded me of my feelings about this in a minor way, but Crawl earlier this summer was really bad about it. I think because Ready or Not is so knowingly goofy it's easier to look the other way...Crawl took itself very seriously, and the "Ouch! Okay Whatever" injuries there were much, much more severe.
(And also, this has been a trope of movies since the beginning of time and I do need stop being a humbug about it.)
posted by doctornecessiter at 8:44 AM on August 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
(And also, this has been a trope of movies since the beginning of time and I do need stop being a humbug about it.)
posted by doctornecessiter at 8:44 AM on August 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
This is the movie for 2019, occultism, dynastic wealth, fucking rich people, the best.
posted by The Whelk at 8:52 PM on August 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:52 PM on August 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
I thought this was really fun - tightly plotted, good characters with excellent performances, great sense of space. I also now want to play all of the games that they show in the opening and closing shots.
I do wonder if she (a foster kid who recently married into a fortune and is sitting on the steps covered in blood) will be blamed for the murder. Or, rather, if she's now a favorite of Le Bail, and perhaps even stands to inherit the fortune.
posted by codacorolla at 8:02 AM on August 29, 2019 [5 favorites]
I do wonder if she (a foster kid who recently married into a fortune and is sitting on the steps covered in blood) will be blamed for the murder. Or, rather, if she's now a favorite of Le Bail, and perhaps even stands to inherit the fortune.
posted by codacorolla at 8:02 AM on August 29, 2019 [5 favorites]
It sounds like these sorts of deaths are always blamed on house fires, so I think not only is she fine, but is actually now a billionaire, as the only heir to the entire family fortune as well as whatever life insurance is coming her way.
posted by maxsparber at 5:50 PM on August 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by maxsparber at 5:50 PM on August 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
Nice detail, the father using coin tosses for decision making being very literal “heads or tails?”
posted by The Whelk at 5:51 PM on August 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 5:51 PM on August 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
I wondered whether our protagonist would get the blame for the whole deal as well, but I think the pit on the property chock full of decades-old corpses would probably implicate the family.
What a thrilling film! While I certainly appreciate the campyness of the depicted ending, I can't help but feel it sort of undercuts the family's villainy that they actually *did* need to kill the bride in order to save their own and their family's lives. Having them all die by the bride's hand, their own ineptitude, or bad luck would have left open the question of whether the curse were real or not, so the audience wonders if the act of attempting the ritual and failing led to their deaths via natural or supernatural reasons.
posted by subocoyne at 1:20 PM on September 3, 2019 [5 favorites]
What a thrilling film! While I certainly appreciate the campyness of the depicted ending, I can't help but feel it sort of undercuts the family's villainy that they actually *did* need to kill the bride in order to save their own and their family's lives. Having them all die by the bride's hand, their own ineptitude, or bad luck would have left open the question of whether the curse were real or not, so the audience wonders if the act of attempting the ritual and failing led to their deaths via natural or supernatural reasons.
posted by subocoyne at 1:20 PM on September 3, 2019 [5 favorites]
I saw this the other night, and even though I don't generally like slasher pics, it had enough other qualities to recommend it that I didn't mind watching it. I might even watch it again sometime. It was pretty funny, for one things. I particularly enjoyed Emilie's character. The coke! The pep talks she gives herself! The little hissy fit she throws when she messes up and kills yet another person who is not Grace by mistake, and the way her parents soothe her! Grace is also a protaganist one can really root for.
I have a theory as to how the game works. It's said by the Le Domas family that it's rare for a new member of the family to draw the "Hide and Seek" card. Aunt Helene's groom drew it 30 years before, and Grace drew it; Becky, Fitch, and Charity all drew other games. Do you notice a pattern here? Becky, Fitch, and Charity are all awful people who were willing to go along with the Le Domas family rituals, whereas Grace wasn't. I believe this is Le Bail's way of making sure the Le Domas family continues to serve him -- he weeds out anyone who marries into the family who will refuse to carry out their monstrous traditions. Grace would not have done so, therefore she had to be killed. You'd think the Le Domas family would have seen the pattern by now, and made sure to pick terrible people to marry.
I do believe that, as other have suggested, Grace will beat the rap (I mean, there is that pit of corpses, some of which have been there longer than she has been alive, and most are sure to be unsolved/cold case murders), and yes, she would then inherit the Le Domas money. It's fun to think of her winding up filthy rich and enjoying life. Also, I see possibility of a sequel, when Le Bail tries to get her to comply with his wishes or some such.
"Inlaws."
posted by orange swan at 9:40 PM on December 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
I have a theory as to how the game works. It's said by the Le Domas family that it's rare for a new member of the family to draw the "Hide and Seek" card. Aunt Helene's groom drew it 30 years before, and Grace drew it; Becky, Fitch, and Charity all drew other games. Do you notice a pattern here? Becky, Fitch, and Charity are all awful people who were willing to go along with the Le Domas family rituals, whereas Grace wasn't. I believe this is Le Bail's way of making sure the Le Domas family continues to serve him -- he weeds out anyone who marries into the family who will refuse to carry out their monstrous traditions. Grace would not have done so, therefore she had to be killed. You'd think the Le Domas family would have seen the pattern by now, and made sure to pick terrible people to marry.
I do believe that, as other have suggested, Grace will beat the rap (I mean, there is that pit of corpses, some of which have been there longer than she has been alive, and most are sure to be unsolved/cold case murders), and yes, she would then inherit the Le Domas money. It's fun to think of her winding up filthy rich and enjoying life. Also, I see possibility of a sequel, when Le Bail tries to get her to comply with his wishes or some such.
"Inlaws."
posted by orange swan at 9:40 PM on December 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
This was fun. I liked the car being shut down remotely by "Justin", that was some good surprise rich people bullshit.
Mainly though the story stayed fairly in-bounds. It was good but it felt like it was missing something and my attention wandered a bit. The secret hallways never really amounted to anything. The action/violence was kinda rote, like when Grace is being choked by Andie MacDowell and she reaches to pull on the runner and it drops the box, more reaching, etc. The exception was when Grace put her hand around the nail when climbing out of the sacrifice pit, which was sphincter tightening. Nothing was *bad*, except maybe the killing the servants who all looked like supermodels for some reason.
I do like all the awful family characters though. I do like how they delayed the final explosions just the right amount of time to suggest a reality, that rich people are horrible murderers for insane reasons of tradition that mean nothing.
posted by fleacircus at 12:00 AM on January 2, 2020
Mainly though the story stayed fairly in-bounds. It was good but it felt like it was missing something and my attention wandered a bit. The secret hallways never really amounted to anything. The action/violence was kinda rote, like when Grace is being choked by Andie MacDowell and she reaches to pull on the runner and it drops the box, more reaching, etc. The exception was when Grace put her hand around the nail when climbing out of the sacrifice pit, which was sphincter tightening. Nothing was *bad*, except maybe the killing the servants who all looked like supermodels for some reason.
I do like all the awful family characters though. I do like how they delayed the final explosions just the right amount of time to suggest a reality, that rich people are horrible murderers for insane reasons of tradition that mean nothing.
posted by fleacircus at 12:00 AM on January 2, 2020
Adam Brody playing a semi-decent character (for a given value of decent, considering most characters are openly murderous fools) is the biggest shock here.
posted by grandiloquiet at 9:37 PM on May 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by grandiloquiet at 9:37 PM on May 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
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I was probably going to see this anyway because it looked cool, but I've been watching Letterkenny on Hulu non-stop lately and when I saw that Mrs. McMurray (aka Melanie Scrofano, aka Wynonna Earp) was in this and had some funny parts in the trailer I was sold. And I wasn't disappointed! Also, in this movie she's married to Donnie from Orphan Black!
posted by doctornecessiter at 11:18 AM on August 26, 2019 [2 favorites]