Ready Or Not

This review may contain spoilers!

This film feels like a fresh bit of flavour in the horror/thriller camp even if it does struggle to find the line between horror grounded in reality and supernatural horror. I would give Ready Or Not a 6.5/10.

Ready Or Not follows Grace, a young woman marrying into the very wealthy Le Domas family; the Le Domas family having earned most of their wealth via their gaming endeavours. Grace has to embark on a game of hide and seek as part of a family marital tradition, yet things take a dark turn when the game turns to a kill or be killed hunt. The entire premise for this feature feels really original in it's execution, there are certainly some great homages to classic horror cinema but I never stopped being impressed by the creativity that was so evident in the writing and direction of this film. I believe what elevated this sensation was the genuine cast of characters assembled, this wasn't like other 'secret killer cult' films but rather took care to make you feel like every role had depth and was interesting. The characters were intimidated by their own undertaking and squabbled amongst one another as you would expect in a twisted high stakes situation. I felt that Grace in particular was this noble figure who really endured yet never operated beyond the boundaries of what would be considered reasonable character development.The cinematography was really carefully framed, utilising gripping close ups and a lot of effective camera movement to enhance the tone and make the audience feel as if they were on the run too. The editing tied it all together nicely and set a strong pace, scenes knew how to drag a shot before a cut or when quick frantic cutting was needed. The score for the film was really impressive, a number of horror scores can fall into the realm of the generic or piggyback off classics but this was music that left you tense from beginning to end.

Samara Weaving, who played Grace, is an incredible protagonist who leads this feature very well; Weaving has some sharp biting retorts and portrays real terror in such a consistent, impressive way. Henry Czerny, who played Tony Le Domas, makes for an intimidating and erratic patriarch of this twisted family; Czerny's aggression and manic desperation to see the hunt come to a close is fascinating to watch. Andie MacDowell, who played Becky Le Domas, is such a welcoming compassionate mother figure at the start of the film; I appreciated MacDowell's dedication to finding the line between good mother and proficient hunter throughout as it really showed a complex duality to her role and the situation. Melanie Scrofano, who played Emilie, is an almost psychotic personality from the minute the hunt begins; Scrofano has this malevolent way of depicting survival for the sake of her young children which is an interesting trope to see turned on its head. Kristian Bruun, who played Fitch Bradley, is a strong source of comedic gold throughout the feature; Bruun is a nice perspective into a family member who is completely outside of what is going on and disbelieving at every turn. Elyse Levesque, who played Charity Le Domas, is this cold merciless role that makes for one of the more memorable antagonists; Levesque is so fiercely bound to her life as a rich woman of power that she begins to set anything aside in pursuit of keeping her way of being.

However, the best performance came from Adam Brody, who played Daniel Le Domas. I think what I liked about the character of Daniel was that he really played against your expectations throughout the feature. When first Brody presents Daniel to us he is this drunken member of the family, on the fringes of their unified image and with nothing but copious amounts of hilarious dry wit. As the film descends into the hunt for Grace you begin to see how worn down Daniel is, the resentment he holds for the game and his inability to reconcile participating at all. Brody and Weaving have an interesting dynamic in which she manages to bring forth the more honourable and good side of his role as the film wears on, ultimately resulting in his rescue attempt and heroic sacrifice for her sake. I also really enjoyed the power struggle Brody had with Czerny, the family patriarch.

Cinema these days really blurs the line between genre on an almost frequent basis, this has resulted in some great films and some confused messes. Where Ready Or Not struggles is finding the middle ground between a slasher/horror thriller and a supernatural horror. The film succeeds when you become invested in these very complex and dynamic characters and the hunt they embark upon, yet there's another side to that coin that holds all the baggage. Any time the film attempts to explore the family's motivations for killing Grace we get caught in a web of exposition around dark pacts and ancient deals with devils. Right near the end of the film there's a moment where the film commits strongly to the supernatural element and it feels really jarring after seeing a split between the two for so long, ultimately it cheapens the film because it feels like it was added for shock value as opposed to enhancing the narrative. Ready Or Not often pushes the boundaries when it comes to showing intense displays of gore as well, which has its moments where it really works but at other moments just feels included to set you on edge and make you feel shocked and uncomfortable. This is a film with a strong concept but more often than not is let down by a shocking, jarring moment that was thrown in as an attempt to curveball the narrative.

Mark O'Brien, who played Alex Le Domas, is the role who is dumped with delivering a weighty amount of the exposition and he really doesn't handle it well; beyond that O'Brien just plain doesn't have all that much chemistry with Weaving and so the scenes where he grapples between loyalties aren't very convincing. Nicky Guadagni, who played Aunt Helene, goes to quite an over the top place with the family member who seems most dedicated to the ritualistic sacrifice; Guadagni never takes a moment to explore what is real for her character and just transports her away to a place that is impossible to connect with from the start. John Ralston, who played Stevens, is pushed really strongly as the main henchman for the antagonists but his motivation always comes across as murky; Ralston never pauses to provide character but instead just launches into full blind physical brutality.