Samara Weaving gets married at her husband’s ancestral mansion. His family’s only request is that she play a game of Hide and Seek with them at the stroke of midnight. Although that’s not exactly how she expected her wedding night to go down, she plays along and goes hide. Much to her horror, her new in-laws begin to hunt her down with axes, crossbows, and guns.
This is all fairly standard stuff. The difference is the central performance by Weaving. As with The Babysitter, the bare bones concept is made tolerable thanks to her winning presence. She’s saved a lot of these borderline low budget movies. it’s time for Hollywood to take notice and put her in a big budget blockbuster. Well… once Hollywood starts making big budget blockbusters again… that people can see… in the theater… maybe…
Directed by the team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (who did the only good segment of V/H/S), Ready or Not is a not-bad, if a bit generic horror-comedy. It’s at its best in the early going as the vibe is akin to You’re Next by way of The Most Dangerous Game. The film begins to lose steam once the game strays from the grounds of the mansion, but the finale is appropriately bloody, although it feels a bit silly and pat.
The supporting cast is solid. Adam Brody steals many scenes as Weaving’s drunk brother in-law and Henry Czerny provides just the right amount of bland menace as the patriarch of her new family. It was also neat seeing the usually effervescent Andie MacDowell playing against type as Weaving’s slightly sinister mother in-law.
Overall, Ready or Not is an OK way to kill 95 minutes. Although it isn’t terrible or anything, I can’t imagine it working half as well if Weaving wasn’t front and center for most of the running time. Wearing a shredded wedding dress with a bandolier draped over her torso and brandishing a shotgun, she certainly strikes a memorable pose. She’s all dressed up, but the movie has nowhere to go.
AKA: Wedding Nightmare.
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