Ready or Not

Clearly this year's hit, which hit my taste exactly. A captivating Victorian mansion, a rich fanatical family, the gorgeous Samara Weaving, who is the most in demand and best actress on the horror scene at the moment, and a great idea that is perfect for the horror genre. From the start the film picks up a huge amount of momentum that doesn't let up until the end, the humour works too, which goes best with the eternally high Melanie Scrofano, and there is a fair amount of violence that literally erupts into a bloodbath in the finale. Suspenseful, intense, stylish and thanks to Samara's superb performance, this was an unforgettable experience for me. The bride in her Converse shoes, with her dress torn and covered in blood is already symbolic for me. I haven’t had such a good time at the horror cinema this year, so I’m gladly giving it a weaker five stars. 85%. (21/10/2019)

Ready or Not is an entertaining and easy-going mischievous comedy with a relatively interesting cast (Andie MacDowell playing a role unconventional for her), a relatively fast-paced plot, and a pretty healthy amount of ghoulish entertainment. Do not expect to be terrified, it is really just a sort of action movie loaded with black humor. (19/09/2019)

A thoroughbred lightweight horror comedy, the kind of which we hadn’t had in a long time. The creators made up for the not entirely successful Devil’s Due and followed up on their segment in the first V/H/S anthology, where they first got on the radar a few years back. Ready or Not is a delightful joke that playfully makes use of its rather silly premise (which is perfectly suitable for a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously), a panopticon of crazy rich people and an extremely likeable heroine played by Samara Weaving. The result is a fast ride that is hard to resist. Personally, I wish it was a little bit wilder, sharper and nimbler (it is not as bloody as some mainstream commenters will try to tell you). But all those quibbles can be forgotten the moment the heroine gets going and starts adorably fucking everything up. I enjoyed it very much. (22/08/2019)

Jordan Peele's open arms for horror social satire might suggest that the genre is being given some relevance again after the era of stupid ghost flicks, but that would be to forget that combing social ills in extreme hyperbole was already in the job description of the Purge tetralogy. And that was a load of crap. Ready or Not isn't that bad, and there's definitely a bigger head behind it, as revealed by some witty dialogue (for me, the argument about how tradition is important, but when you're leaking in your shoes, you start to consider that after all, its author would also have used contemporary technology if it had been available to him at the time) or the hilariously bestial ending. But the problem is that the whole thing is terribly unbelievable – the characters of the rich are simple caricatures without a shred of respect, the violence doesn't hurt, the fire doesn't burn, the vulgarities ring false, you don't trust the actors to take a drag from a cigarette, and the violence is the kind of cool domestic hurt where blood spurts, brains stick to walls, and wounds open, but in that safe movie way where it's actually kind of funny. Luckily, Samara Weaving is a wild one who gets it all right, and her clucking at the end will probably be the only thing I'll remember from the film a year from now. (25/11/2019)

Since I’m not rich yet, I’ve no problem sympathising with this peculiar fairytale. An entertainingly lively spin on the concept of the human hunt that turns into a morbid carnage in the popular setting of a big baroque mansion. Although it grinds at times with the cheap way it delays the climax and the helplessness of the hunters associated to it, the viewer can always cling to the brilliant, badass main character (Samara Weaving was really born for roles like this), and in the ending rely on an unpredictable wave of foreshadowing, thanks to which the film can be taken as perverted and openly trashy fun in A-movie clothes. I’d love to see more brainwashers like this in the cinema, and all of them could be with Samara. 75% (16/09/2019)