Ready Or Not is Gruesome Fun With Layers

Ready Or Not is your traditional wedding story. A woman marries a rich man, and she has to survive until daylight while her new in-laws hunt her down with guns and crossbows. You know, it's just like every other wedding you've been to. There's a lot to say about this movie and it's commentary made on the wealthy privileged elites of society, and there's also a lot to say about Samara Weaving's performance as the bride who just can't seem to catch a break.

Class warfare is the most blatant theme throughout Ready Or Not, and it's sort of a play on those stories of the wealthy hunting humans for fun. The family's dysfunction leads to her new husband, Alex, having complicated feelings about the role he's forced to play. Like the wealthy who contemplate whether the role they play in society is truly beneficial or actually actively harms the poor, he sways back and forth from longing to protect his wife and feeling certain that he has a duty to perform. After all, where would he be without his money?

Weaving plays Grace as a fun-loving woman who was thrilled that she married the man of her dreams. Of course, being hunted down by his entire family for a night wasn't what she expected. Her struggle is reminiscent of what many women endure during a marriage. The bonding of two families often leads to feelings of inadequacy, and though most brides don't find themselves literally hunted down with weapons by the groom's entire family, it can sometimes feel like there's a secret plot against them. Weddings and marriage can be a messy thing, when a couple crosses the boundary of dating into a legally bound couple the rest of the family is forced to deal with the fact that the woman they may have privately resented for years is suddenly blood. Our hero Grace faces this exact sort of judgment, but worse because everyone is armed and actually trying to murder her.

Ready Or Not is a demented game of hide and seek, and it's filled with scenes that are absolute torture in the best way imaginable. As Grace hides and navigates the confusing maze of her new family's mansion the audience hears footsteps around every corner, laughter ringing through the halls, and you'll hold your breath as she ducks into hiding spots while a loving relative slowly walks past with a rifle in her hands. Everything is expendable to a family that has more money than they know what to do with, so taking lives is the biggest thrill for them, which is perhaps most visible in Alex's sister Emilie's cocaine addiction and the way the thrill of the hunt makes her light up like a child on Christmas morning.

Ready Or Not is a phenomenal and simple horror movie, and it can be utilized to spark some deep conversations about family ties, wealth, privilege, and how effective horror is at communicating a political message. It's available now on Vudu and Amazon Prime.