Family Games Can Be Deadly

Family Games Can Be Deadly

Bruce Von Stiers

At the end of the film, Grace is asked what happened to her. She replies “in-laws.” That is the killer line for a killer, literally, horror comedy titled Ready Or Not.

Ready Or Not finds Grace and Alex about to exchange nuptials. The wedding goes off without a hitch but the undercurrent is that Grace is a gold digger. It seems that Alex's family have a game company and have invented a series of hugely popular parlor, board and sports games. So, yeah, they're pretty well off. And apparently, Grace is not.

All is going well after the wedding, until that evening when Grace is initiated into a family tradition. This tradition has Grace drawing a card from a very special box. Cards in the box have names of games on them. Whatever game is on the card is what Grace will have to play. Well, the card that Grace gets is Hide & Seek.

This is no ordinary game of Hide & Seek. The person who hides, this time being Grace, has to survive being found or die. The seekers will all be armed with various weapons, with the intention of killing Grace. All she has to do is survive until sunrise and the game will be over. Makes you really want to get along with your spouse's family, right?

The film has a lot of comedic moments tossed in with the gore and horror. The wrong person being shot, boiling water thrown in faces and bodies crushed in dumbwaiter doors are just but a few of the gory sight gags in the film.

Why did Alex allow this to happen? Can he save Grace? Even if he tries, will he be able to? These are the questions you might find yourself asking as you alternate between being amused and being exposed to elements of gore. Possibly at the same time.

Grace is played by Samara Weaving, whose credits include Guns Akimbo and the television show SMILF. Mark O'Brien is Alex. He's been seen in City On A Hill and Bad Times at the El Royale.

Adam Brody, recently seen in Single Parents, plays Alex's brother Daniel. Other cast members include Melanie Scrofano of Wynonna Earp fame as Emilie and Elyse Levesque of Orphan Black as Charity. Playing Fitch is another Orphan Black alum, Kristian Bruun. The added bodies, literally, in the film are Hanneke Talbot, Celine Tsai, Daniela Barbosa and John Ralston. There is also Nicky Guadagni, who plays Alex's deranged aunt.

Henry Czerny has racked up a lot of film and television appearances. He plays the dad, Tony, in this film. And a nice surprise for the film was Andie MacDowell as the mom, Becky.

Ready Or Not was a lot of gory, gruesome fun. It just goes to show that some family wedding traditions and games can be very deadly indeed.

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