Review: Ready or Not

Taps into it’s potential just enough for the comedic thrills, but a little more probing could have gone a long way.

From Radio Silence, the production company under the now absorbed Fox Searchlight pictures that has created small, independent films for 25 years, comes the horror-comedy, Ready or Not. Starring Samara Weaving in the exciting role of newly wed Grace Le Domas in a violent game of hide and seek. 

This is one of those movies that I instantly recognized as one that is integral to the industry as a whole. I don’t mean that this is a staple of the medium, but rather one that is important to the variety that Hollywood needs to maintain. With more and more production companies putting these small thrillers to the wayside to pave the way for your next childhood favorite to be remade, it says a lot to see a film like this in the midst of this impending transition. 

Ready or Not isn’t perfect, far from it, but it’s refreshing, constantly interesting, and something of a breath of fresh air after a month long hiatus of not reviewing movies. For being 90 minutes long, it never once misses a beat or overstuffs it’s simple premise. It isn’t gut-wrenchingly intense, or very funny, but it does those things well enough to keep the enjoyment at a steady level. A part of myself feels as if this movie should have committed more to being more violent, and should have gotten a little more creative with the in-house thrills, but for the most part, it gets the job done. Although, a little more of a concise geographical landscape would have been a very warm welcome. 

To keep it brief, as the movie did, Ready or Not is a movie where you get exactly what you sign up for. It’s darkly comedic just as much as the corners of dimly lit house. It understands how to be funny, and does so with clever strokes of irony, coincidence, and self-awareness. It’s one of those movies that balances these two tones that usually clash often in a way that makes the 90 minutes full of individual moments that make you chuckle at some of the absurdity. I feel as if they should have probed into the film’s lore deeper after the ending we got. No spoilers of course, but it came at a direct shock value that I feel as if they were more concerned with that, rather than hammering home that commentary on a class of people that are plaguing the youth of this generation and the on-going traditions they abide by. All-in-all, Ready or Not is a movie with plenty of value in it for it’s low budget, and you get to witness a great performance from Samara Weaving in it. One of those flicks you can watch and enjoy with a couple of friends, a few drinks, and maybe a board game or two. 

Ready or Not gets a 63/100