We've entered that wonderful time of year where new horror movies abound.
The latest glorious offering is Ready or Not, a hilarious horror comedy starring Australia's own Samara Weaving (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri).
The film follows Weaving's Grace as she marries Alex Le Domas (Mark O'Brien, The Darkest Minds). Alex is estranged from the rest of the Le Domas family, who have made their incredible fortune through board games.
But, as one would expect from a fun slasher, there's more to the weird old-money family than they're letting on and before Grace can be welcomed into the fold she must play a game at midnight on her wedding night.
The game is Hide and Seek - except in the Le Domas household, if you're found, you're killed and sacrificed to keep the family fortune going. Naturally.
The rest of the film sees Grace doing her utmost to evade her new murderous in-laws (and the help) in their stunning mansion.
Weaving is a fantastic lead actress, hitting all the right comedic notes and being generally believable as someone who has the skills to escape death. The ridiculousness of the whole murder-game conceit is mentioned many times, letting the audience know the film is decidedly in on the joke.
Ready or Not is not a horror film that's all about the jump scares and tension - it's more about funny ways to kill people off. But underneath the humour it also has something to say about how the wealthy can get away with doing horrible things because they have money.
Alex even says "people will do almost anything if they're family says it's okay", a commentary on the fact that the one per cent can and do cover up the most heinous of crimes, effectively condoning the behaviour.
No one in the family is 100 per cent sure that terrible things will befall them if they let Grace live through the night, but the idea that they'll lose their fortune and/or lives if they don't is too great a risk. So they're willing to literally sacrifice someone completely innocent - who they actually like - on the off-chance it prevents something happening to them.
Ready or Not is a cult favourite in the making and deserves to be seen on the big screen.
