A smart, branded group of filmmakers that goes by Radio Silence, consisting of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Guy Busick, and R. Christopher Murphy gained notoriety in 2014 after producing their feature debut titled Devil’s Due. They wrote and directed the fifth installment of the Scream franchise this year (which is actually titled Scream and also goes by Scream 5 and 5cream), after writing Southbound in 2015, branching out further into the horror genre. The group, however, gained most of their attention for the first time after directing the comedy horror film Ready or Not in 2019. Before shifting gears to Sidney Prescott, Woodsboro, and Ghostface, they focused on the Scream universe.
Cinemas witnessed a weird-looking 2019. It was the last “normal” year before COVID-19 turned the world upside down, but for some reason, it looked like Hollywood finally decided to pay attention to the raging inequality divide in the US. Along with Ready or Not, the year also brought us Rian Johnson’s brilliant murder-mystery Knives Out, as well as the South Korean comedy thriller Parasite, which made history as the first foreign language Best Picture winner at the Oscars. All three movies address classism and inequality to some extent, and weirdly enough none of them have a sympathetic view towards the wealthy elites. However, it is Ready or Not that perhaps most loathes these upper-class toffs and boy, does this movie enjoy displaying that in a gory fashion.
As Samara Weaving’s Grace perfectly put it, “fucking rich people!”
I watched Ready or Not when it came out in cinemas, and I feel like saying that I was already somewhat knowledgeable about the film before watching it for the second time and writing this review. I have already watched it a couple of times and I do know that I enjoy the film. This time, of course, I had to watch it scrutinizing every detail, so I was ready to find issues with the movie and things I would end up disliking. Well, that did not really happen. The movie manages to keep me engaged throughout the entire duration, which is a tough task for most films. In my opinion, the film almost hits all its silly and absurdist marks. It’s a brilliantly satirical, gory, and original little film that knows precisely what it wants to be and is more than content to simply be that.
The movie follows Grace, a former foster kid, capably portrayed by the always watchable and brilliant Samara Weaving, who has clawed and scratched her way to horror royalty with Mayhem and The Babysitter, who is set to marry into the Le Domas family. Le Domas family is infamous for their wealth stemming from the Le Domas Games company. But, like all families, they have some peculiar traditions the clan had an unusual fatalistic one for weddings as well. Their multi-generational curse traditions state that to build and sustain their wealth, every family addition must draw a card from Le Bail’s puzzle box and play the game inscribed on it. In Grace’s case, it’s ‘hide-and-seek’ which means the family will try to mercilessly kill her before she turns 21.
If all of that sounds completely crazy, it is. But don’t worry! Ready or Not knows exactly how ridiculous its premise is and, instead of even trying to keep a straight face, doubles down on the absurdity and has fun with it. And fun it is. The movie revels in the tension and the chase that its premise creates, and pounces on every chance to mock its pretentious antagonists.
The first thing that struck me upon my first viewing in the cinema, and what continues to strike me on rewatches, is the outright anger the film evokes. It savors exterminating the rich members of the Le Domas family and has no hesitation in killing them off in increasingly elaborate and brutal ways. There is, in a way, an essence of John Carpenter’s 1988 satirical action/horror film They Live to Ready or Not. Like Carpenter before them, Radio Silence does not even attempt to give their antagonists a coherent rationale, let alone a sympathetic one. Rather, they serve them up as a band of narcissistic, dislikable jerks right off the bat. The Le Domas family are villains from start to finish, even before we get to the whole ‘murdering people on their wedding night’ business.
What it’s worth, I actually admire the film for this. It is oddly refreshing, in this day and age, that bad guys do not have some sort of sympathetic motive behind their intentions. Here the answer is as simple as it gets, and utterly lacking in complexity it is all about wealth. It would be hard to make a compelling argument for a Marxist reading of the film, since in this case, any subtext regarding that is pretty much in-your-face text.
The Le Domas family, with their total apathy, makes the movie a lot more enjoyable. Even family matriarch Becky, portrayed by Andie MacDowell in a spectacular fashion, who spends the movie reminding us why she was so famous back in the day, Appears as though she might be able to find some similarity with our heroine, only for her to turn out like everyone else another gigantic piece of shit.
Still, this is Weaving’s picture. Just as she did in McG’s bonkers horror/comedy The Babysitter from 2017, she once again steals the picture by simply existing. She has such a likable and captivating persona that she doesn’t need to try at all to win the audience over from the start. That’s not to say her performance should be downplayed, however, as she captures the nervous awkwardness of the social elite meeting their daughter’s fiancé’s family perfectly during the opening, and expertly underscores the social gap that exists in the family dynamics among people at different levels on the caste system. But she really gets to flex her acting muscles once the film changes gears into the more murderous and violent second and third acts, where she begins to unravel in the absurdity and horror of the circumstances she finds herself in. Weaving, much like Sarah Connor, captures Grace’s essence as a passive victim, only to later embrace the character’s survival instincts and turn her into a Rambo-style final girl determined to confront her intended murderers and set them straight about who truly runs the show.
We have the most fun during this section of the film. Radio Silence plays around with our expectations to a certain extent (who’s with Grace, who isn’t, etc.), but for the most part, the film just goes full throttle with its high-concept premise. We get intense set piece after set piece, each one more bustingly exciting than the last as the movie builds toward a conclusion that I don’t really want to go into here because it would spoil, in perhaps the best joke of the entire film!
The Gothic romance elements become more pronounced as the Le Domases hunt Grace through the house, simultaneously building tension as well as humor.
Here we have yet another film that serves self-referential humor while blending with violence and gore as well as suspense-filled moments with some memorable quotes (“Inlaws,” is what Grace says in response when an officer asks what happened to her). In a single viewing, there is enough content to enjoy and for one’s primal instincts to engage with, that even a person uninterested in filmmaking messages will find enjoyment which is rather hard to believe with the movie’s shameless focus on societal critiques and evident hatred for the top ‘one percent’ of society. The movie accumulates and with each event that unfolds, the stakes and scope increase until we reach the final act where all restraint has been achieved, dramatically shifting from the taut, understated chase narrative the film opened with.
Not everything works out, of course. Several of the supporting cast members are a little one-dimensional because they don’t get enough attention or time for them to truly emerge from the pack. Because of this, most of the Le Domas clan feel somewhat interchangeable. That said, as I pointed out earlier, the film doesn’t seem keen on using them as characters, and the emphasis is clearly on Weaving, who does a lot of the heavy lifting for the film, and does it well. Grace truly deserves recognition as one of the most memorable final girls in cinema history. To be honest, she’s outstanding I’m in love.
‘Ready or Not‘ continues to sit at the top of the list of my favorite movies from the year 2019 and I’m glad to say that hasn’t changed. This is a great movie that is fun and well worth your time. It gives a brilliant satire on society, great direction, beautiful set designs, bothersome villains set against solid performances, and a final girl character worthy of her iconic status among the franchise’s greatest. Even on my third watch, which I thoroughly enjoyed, my expectations were met. The film does not burden itself with its obvious themes. Instead, it remembers to be fun and keeps the action lively while feeding us on every expectation set. A perfect balance of tension, gore, and dark humor gives this horror movie engaging yet wonderfully disgusting things to watch.
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