Ready or Not (2019)

The wedding night of hell for the bride (Samara Weaving) as her newly married husband’s (Mark O’Brien) family—in league with the devil it seems—tries to hunt her down and kill her when she draws the Hide and Seek card from an old box passed down generations of the patriarch (Henry Czerny). This did remind me a little bit of “You’re Next” except in “Ready or Not” the family together are in pursuit of the lead actress who isn’t a badass but still very resilient even as this whole escalating and very diabolical situation she faces often becomes a bit too difficult to avoid without escaping unscathed. That her worse injury would be when a little boy shoots her in the hand says a lot about how insane the film can be. Of course the bodies of a very wealthy family that owes its privilege and luxurious digs to Satan exploding as the sun rises because the bride has the right allies at the right time until it is too late tops a kid firing a gun that puts a hole through Weaving’s hand…her climbing out of a “goat pit” that houses the rotted corpse of a victim we saw arrowed repeatedly 30 years earlier by using her injured hand to hook a protruding nail might win the most cringeworthy moment. There are cleverly staged setpieces like Weaving getting even with the butler she had previously smashed a glass jar over the head in the kitchen by kicking him into the steering wheel causing the car to careen into a severe rollover while the family watched from their phone, in unison wincing as the wreck takes place before their eyes. O’Brien proving his true colors by the end where his older brother (Adam Brody) does the right thing by poisoning his family before they can sacrifice Weaving reveals how fucked up this family can be. Earlier O’Brien had helped to keep Weaving safe but while handcuffed with some dialogue with mommy (Andie MacDowell, a funny bit of inspired casting) he later chooses the family over her…these revealing moments shows this family truly is quite warped. All the siblings of Czerny and MacDowell eventually get invested in winning this game at all costs while the staff seems to suffer for their daughter’s ineptitude (too much nose candy) with weapons or son’s inability to use a crossbow (he tries to learn from a tutorial on YouTube!). My laugh-out-loud death comes when a servant won’t give up a dumbwaiter to Weaving and the shut-on switch crushes her head. The symbolic box that offers the game card is even put to good use when mother-in-law pushes her son’s bride too far. A face smashed all to pieces is quite a gnarly bit of visceral splatter. An uneasy escape through a gate leaves a gash on Weaving, her hand has a hole in it, she narrowly survives a rollover in a car, is almost sacrificed to Satan not once but twice, and evades arrows and bullets aimed at her. It is purposely absurd and over the top so taking it seriously for the most part is probably not recommended. Weaving watching her family explode like popped balloons might decide just how much you will forgive the film’s departure from the norm of plots reminiscent to The Most Dangerous Game. 2.5/5

*The residence proves to be quite an expanse for plenty of movement and space, so that Weaving can remain elusive, including a mansion that spreads to many rooms and a grounds that is vast. The family, funnily enough, rarely leave the mansion and still nearly sacrifice Weaving by film's end. Kudos to Brody getting to ultimately serve as Weaving's one true ally...paying a price for his wife's unwillingness to give up her life of luxury.

**Aunt Helene (Nicky Guadagni) is one of the most memorable characters, not dicking around in terms of finding the bride and executing her, axing the dead of a member of the staff because she couldn't quite gurgling from an arrow to the mouth!