Here I Come - with a review for Ready or Not (SPOILERS!!!!)
I don't care for gory movies. I just don't.
So, so often it contributes nothing to the story. You’re watching a movie, following along and [insert gory scene here]. Extra points for shock factor. It reminds me of the early days of CGI when you would have those “let’s show you what we can do with CGI” scenes. And everyone at the time would go around talking about how great the CGI was. Now you look back at it and yawn because that scene only exists to show you what CGI was capable of back in 2002. Who bloody cares?
A good story is only interested in itself. It doesn’t exist to bolster a scene. Scenes should exist to bolster stories.
This being my firm belief made me wonder why I liked Ready or Not so much. As is evident even by the trailer, it is quite gory.
Again, if you didn't see SPOILERS in all caps in the title, I'm warning you again. So many spoilers will happen below this line.
Ready or Not is about a young woman marrying into a wealthy family. They are all strange right off the bat, but after the ceremony, which takes place at the family home, they get weirder. She is told she must draw a card and play a game, which has been a right of passage for anyone entering into the family by marriage for many years. She draws the card "Hide and Seek" and her new husband, and mother-in-law seem none too happy. Her father-in-law tells her she has until the count of 100 to hide, and that the only way she can win would be to stay hidden until dawn. The bride thinks this is ridiculous but plays along and after she is gone the family begins distributing all kinds of weapons. They encourage her new husband to stay back but he sneaks out to try and help her escape - and thus the carnage begins.
All the maids are accidentally brutally murdered by the family, who are unfamiliar with the weapons they are using - usually in front of the bride. She gets majorly injured often, including getting shot through the hand. In another scene her back is ripped as she squeezes through a fence. As the film progresses you sense and feel her anger mounting at the family that is doing this to her. She fights with unearthly strength to stay alive but in the end, even her new husband betrays her and for a brief moment it looks like all that fight was for naught.
And then dawn comes. Turns out the family had made a pact with the devil long ago. If someone picked the Hide and Seek card, they were to be ceremonially sacrificed before dawn or else...
Well, or else happens. One. Bloody. Else - at a time. The bride watches, inches away, as each of these people who had hunted her down mercilessly are disposed-of and begins to laugh.
As the audience we feel, satisfied. Vindicated. Because as cringe worthy as each gory scene is, it serves its purpose. We feel this woman's suffering. We feel her terror. We feel her anger. We feel the injustice to the umpteenth degree. When the families own sins finally visit them, we feel that justice has been served - and we feel it strongly.
I still don't like gory movies, but Ready or Not was a surprising exception.
So, so often it contributes nothing to the story. You’re watching a movie, following along and [insert gory scene here]. Extra points for shock factor. It reminds me of the early days of CGI when you would have those “let’s show you what we can do with CGI” scenes. And everyone at the time would go around talking about how great the CGI was. Now you look back at it and yawn because that scene only exists to show you what CGI was capable of back in 2002. Who bloody cares?
A good story is only interested in itself. It doesn’t exist to bolster a scene. Scenes should exist to bolster stories.
This being my firm belief made me wonder why I liked Ready or Not so much. As is evident even by the trailer, it is quite gory.
Again, if you didn't see SPOILERS in all caps in the title, I'm warning you again. So many spoilers will happen below this line.
Ready or Not is about a young woman marrying into a wealthy family. They are all strange right off the bat, but after the ceremony, which takes place at the family home, they get weirder. She is told she must draw a card and play a game, which has been a right of passage for anyone entering into the family by marriage for many years. She draws the card "Hide and Seek" and her new husband, and mother-in-law seem none too happy. Her father-in-law tells her she has until the count of 100 to hide, and that the only way she can win would be to stay hidden until dawn. The bride thinks this is ridiculous but plays along and after she is gone the family begins distributing all kinds of weapons. They encourage her new husband to stay back but he sneaks out to try and help her escape - and thus the carnage begins.
All the maids are accidentally brutally murdered by the family, who are unfamiliar with the weapons they are using - usually in front of the bride. She gets majorly injured often, including getting shot through the hand. In another scene her back is ripped as she squeezes through a fence. As the film progresses you sense and feel her anger mounting at the family that is doing this to her. She fights with unearthly strength to stay alive but in the end, even her new husband betrays her and for a brief moment it looks like all that fight was for naught.
And then dawn comes. Turns out the family had made a pact with the devil long ago. If someone picked the Hide and Seek card, they were to be ceremonially sacrificed before dawn or else...
Well, or else happens. One. Bloody. Else - at a time. The bride watches, inches away, as each of these people who had hunted her down mercilessly are disposed-of and begins to laugh.
As the audience we feel, satisfied. Vindicated. Because as cringe worthy as each gory scene is, it serves its purpose. We feel this woman's suffering. We feel her terror. We feel her anger. We feel the injustice to the umpteenth degree. When the families own sins finally visit them, we feel that justice has been served - and we feel it strongly.
I still don't like gory movies, but Ready or Not was a surprising exception.
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