What to think about this one... I'm not totally sure how I view <em>'Ready or Not'</em>. There are elements to it that I love, things I would've liked to have played differently and one bit that I kinda hated. I'll start with the big positives: Samara Weaving and the visual of Samara Weaving. How epic does Grace look by the end of the movie? So good! Weaving herself gives a brilliant performance, easily the star of the show. Now for the parts I'd change, admittedly I haven't thought it through properly so probably wouldn't have made sense, but I digress. Based on the early knockings, I could sense the obvious rift in terms of support that the characters had for 'the event'. I would've loved if we had a civil war-esque situation develop, you could've had basically everything that still happens in the film but Grace, Alex, Daniel and Becky vs. the rest would've been cooler and more eventful imo. As for the bit I disliked: it involves Mark O'Brien's Alex at the end. What an utterly woeful twist, a twist for the sake of twisting. It was quite something how my interest in the movie left me in that exact moment, I don't think a film has lost me that sharply before. So stupid and unnecessary. However, there is a caveat to that. The flick, in fairness, kinda won me back shortly after with the actual conclusion. The 'pops' are amusingly ace, while the final line of Weaving's Grace is a good'un. I just wish that aforementioned issue with Alex didn't happen, because it has altered how I feel about this; albeit, I think, after judging it as an overall, I can still class this 2019 picture as very good.

**The evil of money, a brutal carnage and a marriage for love in a movie of ups and downs.** How many times we, common contributors, do not think of the hypothetical dark side that would like to exist in those rich families of business, politics and the arts? For many people, envy is very natural. Others, like me, are more concerned with the lawful origin of fortunes (what matters to me is that the rich honestly earn their money, the rest I feel it does not concern me) and others think that, since money is so earthly and perhaps evil, all great fortunes have some dose of perversity. Unlike people like me, who face money as a tool that can be well used or not, there are a lot of people who associate this malevolent load with money. This movie begins around this wealthy family and creates a story of Satanism, carnage and lack of scruples. Everything is set on the wedding of the Patriarch's firstborn son. The young bride, for his family to accept her, will have to play a mysterious traditional game that they all have to play at a given moment. A crazy initiation ritual in a hunting room full of weapons and embalmed animals. What follows is the predictable carnage. And I say predictable because the movie is stupidly easy to guess, which is the weak point of the plot. As a horror movie, it will only work for those who have a weak stomach for bloody scenes: yes, the movie has a lot of gore, but I've seen worse. Technically, the movie has its ups and downs. Taking advantage of the places that the production has achieved to shoot in Canada, including a famous museum-mansion, sets and costumes are excellent and worthy of a much more expensive thing. It is not a low-budget movie, it is obvious the producer has invested in the project, but it does not seem to be the first bet for a movie season: convincing and effective visual and sound effects help a lot and the editing was well performed. The soundtrack has its moments, but in contrast, cinematography is excessively trembled and occasionally poorly framed. With such apparently heavy bets, it was a shame to feel the production went to seek a third-ranking cast. The protagonists are not bad, but they lack the experience of first water projects with more calloused colleagues: Samara Weaving made a secondary character in “Three Billboards…”, Mark O'Brian went to do another in “Arrival” and Adam Brody participated In “Mr. & Mrs. smith ”, but it's that. They are actors competing for their space in the sunlight, a rightful desire, but without experience and perhaps a little raw. Truth be told, the movie also does not give them challenging characters or complex situations. The best actress here is Andie MacDowell, but it is far from showing the qualities we saw in her oldest work. Canadian Henry Czerny does what he can and is remarkable, but cannot save the movie alone.

**In a world of remakes, Ready or Not brings a bold new take on fun old horror.** It’s no wonder Ready Or Not’s directing duo was asked to take over the Scream franchise. This film has Scream’s dark humor dripping from every kill, every snarky one-liner, and every fully embraced horror trope. Ready or Not is a beautiful mixture of Scream, Clue, and The Most Dangerous Game, all held together by Samara Weaving’s fantastic performance. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are the masters of taking over used horror tropes and using them to tease and subvert expectations creating dark, fun, and tense movies that delight any horror fan. Ready or Not does just that with a story that feels familiar and surprising, recognizable and innovative, resulting in an original slasher filled with charm and chills.