Review #191: Ready or Not (2019)

This review was originally written in 2022.

Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #46: Ready or Not (2019)

So, can I post a review that's just "Trust me, this movie is great, go watch it and you'll have a great time"?

I mean, yeah. I can. But I guess I won't. It's not that I don't have much to say about Ready or Not- I mean, you SHOULD trust me, it IS great, you SHOULD go watch it and you WILL have a good time if you do- but this is one of those films where the ride is really what you're there for, and the best moments of the movie can't really be put into words in a way that'll do them justice. I'll start with a recap.

Ready or Not is about a bride, Grace, who has just married into an enormously rich family who got their generational wealth through the sale of card and board games. The family is very big on tradition (owing back to a family legend about a mysterious benefactor, M. Le Bail, who promised them success if they followed the rules he set forth), and one of those traditions involves a game of M. Le Bail's choosing on every wedding night. Unfortunately for Grace, the game chosen for her is Hide and Seek, which she learns all too well is a Most Dangerous Game indeed.

This movie is an absolute blast. It eases the viewer into the mythos of this dysfunctional family at a perfect pace- not too fast, not too slow- and the characters' personal issues with one another easily make up a secondary plot intertwining itself with Grace's struggle for survival. Ready or Not manages to thread the needle of its protagonist neither being an instant badass, nor a damsel in distress. Sometimes she gets out of scrapes through pure grit and determination, other times her safety comes at the expense of others' goodwill or incompetence. Leaning too hard on either side can really make a film's stakes plummet through the floor, but this one manages to do it perfectly.

I won't really say anything specific about it (as not to spoil too much, as I said, you really should go watch this movie right now), but the ending is fantastic. I did find myself wondering on this watch, though, whether it might have been worthwhile if the... explosive ending part didn't happen, and the family was instead forced to figure out what to do now that the ritual had been shown to be a sham? Just because, the director REALLY milks that couple minutes after the sun comes up, they clearly intended the viewer to settle into a headspace of, "Okay, I see they were all wrong, so now what". It felt a little bit cheap that it was clearly meant for a sudden jumpscare (jumptriumph?) instead. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the ending we got, but it just made me wonder what else the writers might have come up with instead.

Anyway, once again: Trust me, this movie is great, go watch it and you'll have a great time!

Overall Rating: 10/10 Yellow Chuck Taylors

Best/Worst Bit of IMDB Trivia: Lots of the trivia is terrible, but the best terrible one is, "The fact that Emilie has a drug problem is foreshadowed the very first time we meet her, as she's very hyper and rubbing something off her nose. During the hunt she is seen snorting cocaine." Not only is this not foreshadowing (she's literally shown with cocaine on her nose the first time we see her, and it has no bearing on the plot or characters in any way), but this was also listed under the "spoiler" section of trivia. Again, literally the first time we see her.