Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a horror comedy from 2019. That movie is "Ready or Not".
I'm gonna tell you, guys, when I first saw the trailers and ads for this thing back in 2019, I was genuinely excited to check it out. In fact, it was one of those very rare instances where I wanted to go and watch it in theaters. I haven't been to a theater since 2017, because there really wasn't anything that was worth watching in theaters. But when I saw the ads for it being played on, I believe, Adult Swim, I wanted to go to a theater and check it out. Unfortunately, due to various things that went on in my own time, I didn't have the chance to check it out then, and I had heard it was pulled out of theaters really quickly. But thanks to this series, I now have the chance to finally watch it.
Now for those of you who don't know what the plot is to this movie, it's about this woman who is marrying this guy into his family's estate. And she somehow gets roped into playing a deadly game of hide-and-seek. And she has to survive the night in order for her to marry the one she loves. It sounds like a really cool premise, and I'm really hoping that this movie is going to live up to that premise. However, I also have to remember that I have been let down by horror comedies in the past, mostly thanks to this series. So I am prepared for this movie to be a massive turd. I'm hoping that's not the case though. But I really won't know until I sit down and I actually watch this thing. So the only way I'm gonna find out if this movie is any good at all, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Ready or Not".
10 minutes later
OK, I have a bit of a stupid question here. This aunt that's a part of this family, is that, like, a permanent face she always has whenever someone is trying to marry into the family? I mean, I get that she doesn't want Grace to be just a "gold-digging whore", but I'm gonna tell you, if I saw her making that face at me, especially if I'm trying to marry into this family, I would probably be a little bit freaked out if she kept making that face at me. I'm just saying, it's beginning to get a little bit creepy.
14 minutes later
You guys can't hear this for obvious reasons, but this song here, this "Hide-and-Seek" song, is really fucking cool. I'm really digging this song, guys. And if this were played in any actual game of hide-and-seek, I actually think it would make it much more fun in a rather twisted and sick sort of way. It would definitely make it much more interesting. Just thought I'd share that with you guys.
5 minutes later
O...K. Well, that certainly took me by surprise! I was not expecting that kinda death. And the result of that gunshot looked fucking nasty and brutal. Holy shit...
8 minutes later
Guys, I totally understand that Grace is scared to death about being the main target of this game of hide-and-seek, but I wish she would cut back on that fucking breathing of hers. It's starting to get a little bit irritating right now, and it's not gonna make her situation any better if she continues breathing constantly. Just saying, she could cut back on it some.
3 minutes later
All right, well, that's the second time that this movie has taken me by surprise. And you know what? That was fucking funny as shit. I'm kinda surprised how good these shock moments are. I'm kinda hoping they continue with that.
14 minutes later
Holy shit, guys, that was fucking amazing! This kid just fucking shot Grace's hand, and what does she do in return? She punches this kid straight in the face, knocking his lights out. I understand that makes me sound like a terrible human being, but this kid absolutely deserved it. And I couldn't be fucking happier that it happened to an annoying little brat like him. That was awesome!
17 minutes later
So Grace is trying to convince Daniel to not kill her, and that nobody has to die if they don't kill her. Um...Grace, MANY people have died tonight already. About half of them were dead because of their own stupidity, and the other half were killed by you, whether it was intentional or not. I'm just saying, it's kinda pointless to say, at this point, "that nobody has to die". It just seems kinda stupid to say that, you know what I mean?
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Ready or Not". And that was a rather cool way to end the movie. I'm gonna shut this off now...OK. Well, what to start with? I guess I should say that, going into this movie, I was really hoping for this thing to be great. Because I really like horror comedies, and I kinda had high hopes for this one, being that it is a horror comedy. On the other hand, I was also ready to trash this thing, if it ended up sucking badly. Because I have been let down by horror comedies in the past in this series. So I was kinda treading lightly here with this film. So, what is the overall result? For the most part, it really is a solid film, and I really liked most of everything that was here. But I should probably get into the film itself so I can explain further.
I'm gonna start with writing, and I want to start with the movie's tone. Because, as I just stated, I really enjoy horror comedies. In fact, I prefer horror comedies over straight-up horror movies. And while this movie is certainly really funny, especially in certain scenes, I feel like, at times, the drama in this movie kinda takes away from the comedy a bit. Now, I wasn't really expecting a full blown horror comedy, where it's trying to make you laugh non-stop. Even though I do prefer those, I wasn't really expecting that from this movie. This movie tries to balance it's serious moments with the humor. And while I could see that this movie was trying it's best to do that, again, I feel like the serious moments sorta overshadow the comedy a bit. And it's not to say that all of the seriousness in this movie is bad or anything, but I really just couldn't invest myself in most of those moments. And when you focus more on that than the comedy, it just doesn't quite work. Now, when it comes to moments where our main character, Grace, is just trying to survive against these family members, it totally works. You really feel for Grace, because she was just pulled into this insane shit without knowing what might happen to her as she plays this game of hide-and-seek. And those moments with Grace are really strong, and they do help enhance her character immensely. But when it comes to most of the family members that are after her, most of that doesn't really quite work. Because, outside of Alex, Daniel, and the aunt, nobody else in this family has any real strong character to them. Now, when it comes to the two kids, that makes sense. Because since they are kids, you're not really expecting much from them. But everyone else is just kinda there to play along in this game of hide-and-seek. And that stuff works fine, even if their characters were a little bit shallow. Speaking of which, I want to talk about the jump scares. Normally, guys, jump scares are the most stereotypical things you see in a lot of horror movies. And most of them, the ones I've seen anyway, fail miserably at this, because they don't know how to do them right. This movie, however, showed me that they CAN do it right. And there's two moments, in particular, that really stand out to me. Now, I'm only gonna spoil one of them here. It happens shortly after the hide-and-seek game begins, and one of the maids ends up getting shot in the head. That moment came right out of nowhere, and it was incredibly satisfying to see this, because you really just don't see it coming. And they actually do this quite a few times in this movie. Now, of course, I'm not gonna spoil the rest of them, on the off chance that you want to see this movie for yourself. But those moments work really well, and I kinda wish more horror movies would take some notes from this one, because this movie doesn't telegraph it's jump scares. It'll just come right out of nowhere, and that makes it even better than it should.
As for the story itself, it's pretty much what I summarized at the beginning of all this. Grace tries to end up being a part of the family by marrying Alex. And in order for her to become a part of this rich family, she has to go through a tradition. And that tradition is playing a game. Now, how does this game of hide-and-seek come into play? Well, Grace is the one who ends up picking this game through a puzzle box. I want to touch upon that box, because the way it's handled kinda leaves me a little bit confused. So, the father explains the backstory behind this box. He says that one of his ancestors made a deal with this guy named Le Bail to help build his family's fortune, but in return they had to uphold a tradition of playing a game that his ancestor has been doing for centuries. And the father explains that his ancestor was trying to figure out the secrets to this puzzle box, which basically opens up a compartment from the box. Now, here's where I'm a little confused on. So, the father explains to Grace that in order for her to decide what game they should play for the possible new family member, he has to place a blank card in the compartment and the puzzle box just does it's own thing, and Grace has to pick the first card that comes out of the box. I don't know exactly what the box was suppose to do. My original thought was that it's probably just a card shuffler, but we don't really see any other cards, other than the blank card that the father put in. In fact, one of the family members, who I believe his name was Fitch, says that he hopes that she draws something like Croquet or Old Maid. But like I said, we don't get to see any of the cards in this box. And I know that the box is suppose to be a secret, but it really makes me question what the hell this box does for it to determine what game the family should play. My theory, and this is just a theory mind you, is that the box is a printer. And the box will print out the first card that it pops out. The reason why I'll call it a printer is because that it needs a blank card in order for it to work, and that it will print out what name of the game the person draws. But I also think that it only prints out "Hide-and-Seek". The reason why I think that is because it's the only game that ever gets played. My proof of that comes from the prologue at the beginning of the movie, where it shows the family from 30 years ago playing hide-and-seek in a similar situation to what Grace is currently in. I really don't think there's any other games that are printed out of that box, outside of the one I just mentioned. Now it might just be me, but I think it would help out a little bit if we got to see MORE of the box. Basically, have a flashback to where the cards print out different games and such. You know, something like that that could've explained more about the box. But that's just me, probably, thinking WAY too deep into this. However, it did kinda bug me a bit. So, you just have to take it for what it's worth.
Aside from that, though, the writing here is incredibly good. And the humor is absolutely hilarious. Guys, it's been a long time since I got a good laugh out of a horror comedy. The last time I can think of any horror comedy that got a laugh out of me was "Chopping Mall". This movie is almost as funny, if not funnier, than what "Chopping Mall" provided. However, that would also have to depend on your taste in horror comedies. But either way, the writing in this thing, especially when it comes to the comedy, is great. I loved, just about, everything about that here. So, what about the acting? Well, the acting is great. Everybody here turns in a really solid showing. I really can't think of anybody in particular that might've phoned it in. And I'm even going to include the child actors. Because what sets the child actors in this movie, unlike a scant few films involving child actors that I've seen, is that they have almost no dialogue. If I really had to round it up, I would say that the child actors in this movie have a grand total of around 5 sentences of dialogue. I couldn't remember if it was more or less, but that's just a minor thing. And I'm all for that. Because if these child actors were more of a focus in this movie, it would probably have brought the movie's acting down a bit. However, that's thankfully not the case here. And what few lines of dialogue here are not too bad from these child actors. So they did a pretty good job for what little they had to work with. Everybody else turns in a fantastic showing, and the script they were given definitely shows. Granted, there was a minor moment in the movie where I mentioned that Grace's breathing was a little bit annoying, however it was really only for that one scene, so I'm not gonna hold it against Samara Weaving, who plays our main character in this movie. I still think she could've toned her breathing down, but again, that's just me nitpicking on random bullshit. Anyways, guys, the acting in this thing is fantastic.
Special effects in this thing are fucking amazing. Just about everything here involving blood are practical effects, and the blood effects look great. However, I did notice one thing that kinda caught my eye. It's a bit of an oddity, but I want to bring it up anyways. So, at one point, the family gets together in what, I think, is suppose to be the billiards room. Now, one of the maids ended up getting shot at in one of the jump scares that I haven't spoiled. Now, the aunt is suppose to say something to the family, but the gurgling noises from the maid keep interrupting her. So the aunt decides to say "Fuck it!" and shuts the maid up permanently by swinging her ax down at her dying body. I'm just gonna take a guess here and say that she was aiming for her neck. Now, first off, I will say that moment with the aunt swinging the ax down was funny as hell. But the thing that caught my attention the most was when she brings up the ax. Because you can see that there was almost no blood on the ax. I say 'almost' because there's, like, a hint of red on the ax that you can faintly see. So, I'm going to assume either there was blood on it long before she swung that ax at the maid, or if it was just something involving special effects that they just forgot to add blood. Now again, it's something that almost NOBODY is going to notice or care about. However, it is one of those bits of details that I tend to notice, so you just have to take it for what it's worth. However, everything else involving blood is great. There's also only one bit of CG that comes into play towards the very end of the movie. I'm not gonna spoil that for obvious reasons, however, I will also say that one moment of CG looks really good. So, special effects in this movie are fantastic from top to bottom.
Camerawork here is really good. Lighting here is lit rather well. Sound-mix here is competent. The music, at least for the score, is rather decent. But the soundtrack is really good. There's 3 songs, well 2 technically, that I picked up from this movie. One of them is that "Hide-and-Seek" song that plays whenever the hide-and-seek game is about to start. It is such a creepy, yet foreboding, song, that it helps sets up the movie's atmosphere when Grace is trying to hide and the family members are gathering their weapons together. It is just that good. The second song that I heard from this movie was a very famous orchestral score known as the "1812 Overture". Though seeing as how I just said it was an orchestral score, it would really belong in the score area, rather than the soundtrack. But it's still a really good score that, damn near, everybody has heard at one point in their life. The other song, which came at the closing credits before I shut off the movie, sounded like a rock version of "Here Comes The Bride". Which, I don't think I've ever heard of a rock version of that song. But looking it up, I found out that the song is called "Love Me Tender" by Stereo Jane. And it sounded pretty good, and I may have to give that song a full listen to at some point. But overall, the music in this movie from both the score and soundtrack was great.
Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Ready or Not?" Oh, hell yes, guys, this thing was amazing. Like I said at the beginning, I had high hopes of this movie being great, what with it being a horror comedy and all, and it mostly lived up to being a horror comedy throughout it's 95 minute runtime. Again, the seriousness in some scenes kinda takes away from the comedy a bit, but it's still not enough to bring the movie down. It's great as a horror comedy. And if you, yourself, are a fan of horror comedies, I would totally say that you're gonna end up loving this thing. The only thing I kinda regret now is that I didn't have the chance to see this thing in theaters, because that would've been an amazing experience. But like I said earlier, life got in the way of that happening, and I missed out in watching it then. But thanks to me doing this series, and the fact I've kept it going up to this point, I finally got a chance to cover it for Reaction & Review. And it was definitely worth the wait. Now, on the off chance that anybody might ask this, where I would I rank this in terms of horror comedies that I've seen? Well, in a top 5, let's just say, I would probably put this as my third or fourth favorite. Because this thing would never top "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" or "Dead & Breakfast". I would say it ties with "Chopping Mall", because I still have a soft spot for that movie. As for fifth favorite favorite...um, honestly, I can't think of that right now. So I guess top 5 was a bit of a stretch. So...I guess top 4 is the better option right now. But anyway, I'm just rambling on at this point. This movie was great, and, again, if you're into horror comedies, you'll probably end up loving this thing. And it's certainly going to have a prominent spot on my DVD shelf. Now...as for me, I'm gonna go watch something else. And seeing as how I brought up the "1812 Overture" when talking about music, my mind instantly thought about "V For Vendetta". And I see my copy of it sitting on my DVD shelf, so I'm gonna go watch that. Because it's been quite a while since I last saw that movie, and I feel like giving it another watch.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.
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