Ready or Not is a twisted fun ride. Samara Weaving is a great and compelling lead, as she hits every mark that she should, and her character is well developed gradually. The film is well shot, the production design is fantastic, and the film hits exactly the tone that it should. There are lots of genuinely funny moments of wicked dark comedy; I really dug this film’s sick sense of humor. Also, it was refreshing to see a film where both the heroes and the villains in a horror film act reasonably intelligent. The first two acts are fantastic and showcase the film at its absolute best. Unfortunately, the film makes some story mistakes in the third act that take it down a peg from the genius it could’ve been. The motivational shift in one of the characters is too jarring and isn’t set up properly. The film does a good initial job at setting up the nuance of the film’s antagonists, which the third act completely removes. The film also goes nowhere with the initial subtext about the conflict of nature vs. nurture. And finally, I kind of wish the film’s big reveal was different than what it ended up being, (even if it admittedly does lead to some genuinely hilarious moments regardless). Still, the semi-lackluster third act doesn’t screw up enough to ruin the film. It’s still an entertaining, funny horror comedy, one that could’ve been genuinely fantastic, instead of just great.

Rating: 4/5