Family game night lets families bond in competitive but fun ways and allows family members to disconnect from the trappings of their work/school lives and reconnect with their loved ones. Games teach important skills while also teaching good sportsmanship, and nothing beats being engaged in hours of family time board game plotting, scheming and double crossing. "Ready Or Not" takes family game night to the extreme with surprisingly good effect.
Grace (Samara Weaving) has fallen in love with, and plans to marry, Alex Le Domas ( Mark O'Brien) the prodigal son and eventual heir to the Le Domas gaming empire. Alex hasn't been around for years, and the Le Domas clan hope that his marriage to Grace will finally bring him back into the fold once and for all.
The Le Domas clan is comprised of Alex's parents Tony (Henry Czerny) and Becky (Andie MacDowell), his conflicted brother Daniel (Adam Brody) who is sympathetic to Grace's dilemma, his cocaine-addled sister Emilie, who isn't skilled with handguns or crossbows (Melanie Scrofano), their spouses Fitch (Kristian Bruun) and Charity (Elyse Levesque) and last but certainly not least dear, sweet Aunt Helene (Nicky Guadgni), a woman who looks like she takes makeup lessons from Cruella de Vil. The Le Domas family members each have their own particular motivations for how they choose to interact with the newest member of the family. Grace, an orphan raised in foster homes, is more than happy to put up with the somewhat cold and unconventional family of the man she loves so that she can finally find the stability and the sense of belonging that she hopes Alex's family will provide.
The Le Domas family know something about games. They amassed their vast fortune ala a Parker Brothers-like gaming dynasty although Alex tells Grace the family prefers the term "dominion", they own everything from board games to professional sports franchises. In order to join this very wealthy and eccentric family, it is tradition that new family members must partake in a game on their wedding night at the stroke of midnight and play the game until dawn. Unfortunately for Grace she picks the absolute worst card in the deck, the Hide and Seek card. Instead of playing checkers until dawn, Grace will be forced to hide in the Le Domas palatial estate as she becomes the prey while the family seek her out in order to perform a bizarre ritualistic sacrifice with Grace as the guest of honor.
I forgot to mention something about the Le Domas family...they may or may not be Satanists who believe that they must perform a ritual before dawn in order to maintain their wealth, social standing and ultimately their lives. It's probably all nonsense, really, but the Le Domas family isn't taking any chances.
Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and producer Chad Villella (the horror filmmaking collective known as Radio Silence) have crafted a gory, funny and whip smart horror-comedy. Samara Weaving gives a star making performance and the rest of the cast are equal parts funny, scary and sympathetic in their bungling and confused attempts to sacrifice their prey with ancient weapons. A funny moment finds Fitch on the toilet watching YouTube videos on how to properly use a crossbow.
If you like your movies dark, funny and with just a splash of gore, "Ready or Not" is the movie for you. It has just the right mix of humorous gags to keep you laughing one minute and enough tension and blood to have you squirming in your seat the next. Samara Weaving’s Grace is such a funny, charming and bad-ass final girl that you can’t help but root for her to win the game and stick it to the Le Domas clan. "Ready or Not" is not to be missed.