Ready or not

When I first saw the trailer for this film, I was very sceptical to see it. It looked very weird and not that interesting. Then I heard the really good reviews and decided to give it a chance and I'm glad I did because it's a good film with a lot of surprises and twists.

First the cast and acting are fantastic. The two standouts are Samara Weaving as Grace and Henry Czerny as Tony. Grace goes from a happy blushing bride to a total badass. She brings confusion, grit, terror, tension and pain to her performance so so well. Tony is very OTT with his outbursts and that's what makes him so good. His outbursts are very funny and memorable and he's a psychotic villain who you just find entertaining to watch. Adam Brody and Mark O'Brien were also fantastic but Samara and Henry were my standouts.

The plot sounds weird reading it but watching it, it all becomes very entertaining to watch but there are two things this film does that really works; Character development and smart humour. Adam brodys character Daniel is the most developed in this film because he is very interesting and unpredictable. You know he doesn't want to kill Grace but he has to so it ensures the families survival and you just left wondering whether he'll help her or kill her.

The humour is also spot on. There's some memorable laugh out loud and scripted comedy moments and character reactions that really steal the show. One scene involving one of the family members and a crossbow is the funniest scene and perfectly timed and all of this just works because of the directors. I'm not familiar with their work but they are serious rising stars for the future. How they mixed the tension, humour, scares and OTT moments shouldn't work but does brilliantly. The tone and cinematography reminded me of a gothic type genre film.

What also impressed me was the film was at times it plays with our expectations and twists them. We think grace going to spend the entire film at the house and instead at one point she actually makes it out. She's seen wielding a shotgun to defend herself and the gun turns out to be a fake.

My main criticism though is the character of Helene. I feel she was underused too much in spite for comedy. She is a seriously creepy woman and has some tense scenes with Grace but I felt there was a showdown due between them but they mainly used her for comedy which I felt was a missed opportunity. Also I mentioned she was a creepy woman but I think she was a bit too creepy. Some scenes made her a bit either non human (which is saying something considering the family are psychopaths) or a bit pantomime creepy.

Also I thought some of the gore was forced at the end. Throughout the film, the gore we see is very storyline and character led but the ending made me feel the gore was forced to make it even gorier. I also at first had an issue with the ending but after reading the plot and really thinking it through, I'm more satisfied with the ending than I was before.

Overall this is a risky but very well made film which is entertaining, funny and will please a lot of movie goers.

⭐⭐⭐⭐