Matt Bettinelli-Olpin
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Clue (1985)
Directed by Jonathan Lynn
influenced Ready or Not (2019), Ready or Not: Here I Come (2026)
Characters Themes Plot
This new phase of the game is presided over by Elijah Wood’s unnamed Attorney, who’s purely a functionary here but one imbued with a nice, light touch of mischief in the vein of House on Haunted Hill’s Vincent Price or Clue’s Tim Curry performances.
With their mix of upper-class pomposity and casual bloodshed, the Le Domas family calls to mind a rich tradition of blackhearted drawing room farces, from Kind Hearts and Coronets to Clue.
Rather than delivering on the promise of the premise, “Ready or Not” lurches unevenly and a bit smugly through the twisty halls of the Le Domases’ “Clue”-like mansion, with little of the 1985 murder-comedy’s boundless charm.
Ready or Not, as a friend so pointedly put it, is Clue if it took place during The Purge.
The underloved Clue is in the DNA of Ready or Not, in which a bunch of people who think they’re smarter than they actually are bumble through a sprawling Gothic mansion.
Instead, they’re like the cast of an ultraviolent remake of Clue, and if that’s not a glowing recommendation what is?
Not quite; its third act occasionally shuffles cards when it should be building to a crescendo, and its expansive cast of characters is so winningly performed that you almost wish you could get to know them a bit better amidst the breakneck pace (in both of these regards, it falls somewhat short of Adam Wingarde’s brilliant, thematically similar You’re Next).
Whilst comparisons to Adam Wingard’s under appreciated horror gem You’re Next are inevitable, Ready or Not ultimately punctures similarities by posing the question of what to believe when it comes to the supposed curse the family believe they are under.
Comparisons to Adam Wingard’s cult favorite You’re Next are hard to avoid.
In many ways, this one reminded me of Adam Wingard’s You’re Next , which I also had issues with.
Dirigida por Matt Bettinelli-Olpin y Tyler Gillett ( “Devil's Due”, segmento 10/31/98 de VHS ), Ready or Not recuerda algo a You're Next (Adam Wingard, 2011).
For a more sharper comparison, this movie could’ve been closer to the style of Adam Wingard’s You’re Next and felt like a remarkable moment for the genre.
John Wick (2014)
Directed by Chad Stahelski
influenced Ready or Not: Here I Come (2026)
Visuals Themes Plot
Imagine a film with action scenes as intense as a John Wick movie, but where many of the combatants don't know how to fight or use the weapons they wield.
The story is beyond ridiculous, and attempts to expand the “Ready or Not”-iverse reminds us of the superior “John Wick” saga. Those films have star power (Keanu Reeves), expert fight choreography and a stellar sense of mayhem.
…there’s only so far you can take a John Wick-like world-building of your central concept before it mainly is a retread in most respects…
The film takes a leaf from Lionsgate’s popular John Wick franchise in expanding a self-contained film through the use of global secret societies and the like.
Yeah, it borrows more than a little from the John Wick school of sequelization (and executes it not nearly as cleanly).
The Attorney reads from the comically-large rule book like a Bible, but the foregrounding of arcane rules, twisty politics, and agreements bound in blood by this organization – this High Council – all feel painfully duplicative of John Wick’s High Table, especially as the first film kept these elements mostly relegated to tossed-off asides from the Le Domas family.
Abigail is allegedly a loose reworking of the 1936 Universal Studios film Dracula’s Daughter, but it’s difficult to see how, beyond a musical nod to the original 1931 Dracula and the fact that Abigail is, well, a vampiric daughter.
It's a heavy hint that the theme music, accompanied by a solo ballet turn, is that snatch of Swan Lake heard at the beginning of Dracula in 1931, but the first act then plays like a shadowy riff on Reservoir Dogs.
What the trailers don’t reveal is the twist ending, that Abigail is not just any vampire-ballerina, but Dracula’s daughter. Here, Dracula is played by British actor Matthew Goode, and while the other characters refer to him by his underworld alias, “Lazar,” the film’s credits identify him simply as “Father.” The implication, however, is clear.
The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
Directed by Irving Pichel
influenced Ready or Not (2019), Ready or Not: Here I Come (2026)
Plot
Unfolding where The Most Dangerous Game (1932) meets Satanic Panic (2019)…
This lurid, comical blend of "Rosemary's Baby," "The Most Dangerous Game" and Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" begins with a flashback that reveals a bit too much of what bride-to-be Grace (Samara Weaving) is about to experience.
Yet while The Hunt was canceled because it too explicitly adhered to red-blue political divides — pitting billionaire liberal elites straight out of a Josh Hawley fever dream against a cadre of Real Regular Americans — it's interesting to note that Ready or Not, another riff on "The Most Dangerous Game" in which the aristocratic hunters eventually become the prey, premiered without incident this week.
Ready of Not takes the best and most crowd pleasing elements of The Most Dangerous Game, Your’re Next, The Purge, and Clue and blends them into a tasty, bloody smoothie.
The latest from Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, two-thirds of the filmmaking group Radio Silence best known for the first-person horror segment of V/H/S , mashes up Clue and The Most Dangerous Game and infuses it with dark, nutty energy, gore (the loopy rather than repulsive kind), smart laughs and sharp satire at the expense of America’s well-to-do.
Oh wait, there's still one left and it's Ready or Not, a bloody hilarious take on The Most Dangerous Game that somehow slipped through the cracks in Disney's acquisition of Fox.
But Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett keep things lively with a lavish visual style that nods toward Kubrick’s The Shining , Eyes Wide Shut , and even Barry Lyndon , while still maintaining an identity of its own.
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
influenced Ready or Not (2019)
Characters Plot
Grace will not go quietly, ripping her wedding dress so she can be more mobile — a nod to Uma Thurman’s angry bride in “Kill Bill” — ditching her heels for a pair of Converse high tops and fighting back.
She sympathetically goes along to get along at first, before her wide-eyed realization of terror, then grows into a bloody bride fighting back like Uma Thurman in “Kill Bill” (2003).
Samara Weaving continues her career of kicking ass while looking unbelievably gorgeous with her lively latest movie Ready or Not , the story of the toughest bride having the worst wedding day since Kill Bill .
For Samara Weaving, who has starred in genre films like “The Babysitter” and prestige titles like “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “Ready or Not” is a revelation in her capacity to become a take no prisoners heroine in the tradition of Uma Thurman in “Kill Bill.”
…this one heavily reminds me of one of my favorites, 2019’s Ready or Not, with its message of rich people doing horrible things to maintain their wealth using both genres to great effect…
Death of a Unicorn was a delightful, if slightly gory surprise, reminding me a little of Ready or Not (2019) and Violent Night (2022) with its treatment of the 0.01% without going fully swinging the other way with a proletariat “for the people” message.
…like a Ready or Not with fairy-tale creatures instead of infernal bargains.
Several scenes recall monster-in-the-house classics, from Robert Wise’s “The Haunting” (1963) to Steven Spielberg’s raptor kitchen in “Jurassic Park” (1993).
Lit mostly with candles, the sprawling villa in which the film mostly takes place assumes a creepy aura reminiscent of the opulently spooky house in Robert Wise’s The Haunting.
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Directed by Roman Polanski
influenced Ready or Not (2019)
Plot Themes Visuals
This lurid, comical blend of "Rosemary's Baby," "The Most Dangerous Game" and Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" begins with a flashback that reveals a bit too much of what bride-to-be Grace (Samara Weaving) is about to experience.
But the movie’s combination of horror, dark comedy and social commentary, while a substantial improvement over directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s previous effort, the dreary found-footage “Rosemary’s Baby” clone “Devil’s Due,” is nowhere near as deftly handled as it was in Peele’s film.
While it’s easy to enjoy this gripping, giallo-gruesome exercise as a kind of Gothic genre-movie pastiche — “What We Do in the Shadows” meets “Rosemary’s Baby,” with a generous helping of “Clue” — the subtext is rich enough to fuel reams of feminist- or film-studies essays.
The great Andie MacDowell is a treat as Grace’s morally uncertain new mother-in-law, and Nicky Guadagni is a hoot as the bloodthirsty aunt Helene, who wears a cape like an extra from “Rosemary’s Baby” and wields an ax like an extra from “Braveheart.”
“Ready or Not” is “The Most Dangerous Game” with notes of “Rosemary’s Baby” and the sassy, snarky ’tude of “Heathers.”
The direction by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillet (whose previous feature effort was the slightly less impressive “Rosemary’s Baby” knockoff “Devil’s Due”) due an effective job of mining the material for both laughs and jumps and doing so in a stylishly grubby manner.
While some of the kills are inventive, this kind of creativity has been done before- and often better- in franchises like Final Destination or other horror films that fully commit to their set pieces.
We’re not asking for Looney Tunes-esque wackiness here, but some kind of clever setup and payoff with these unique environments (à la Final Destination) would give the movie some much-needed levity and energy.
…we’ve gotten our current scary series, SCREAM, along with the FINAL DESTINATION.
…playing a character that feels like a cocktail of Buffy Summers and toxic socialite Kathryn Merteuil from Cruel Intentions (1999).
Among the hunting family members, you can look forward to Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar (Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer). And yes, she will use a stake-like weapon at some point, so look out for that little treat.
It is a pleasure to watch Gellar chew on a more venomous role while still engaging in some Buffy-isms during her throwdowns with Grace.
Taking on the MacCaullay sisters at the Danforth complex in Ready or Not 2 are twin siblings Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Titus Danforth (Shawn Hatosy)…
Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy!) shows up as his depraved daughter Ursula…
Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Sarah Michelle Gellar…
Since the immediate failure of their Dark Universe – which would have seen a shared cinematic universe with the likes of Tom Cruise’s Mummy, Johnny Depp’s Invisible Man, and Angelina Jolie as the Bride of Javier Bardem’s Frankenstein(‘s Monster) – Universal has wisely reverted to simply letting filmmakers create their own standalone takes on the studio’s gallery of classic monsters. More often than not, the results have been fairly solid, with Leigh Whannell’s 2020 version of The Invisible Man being a prime example of what a filmmaker’s vision can bring to a familiar concept (the writer-director is now currently working on a modern-day revamp of The Wolf Man).
Abigail expertly honors what came before while simultaneously flipping vampire subgenre tropes and audience expectations on their heads. In doing so, Abigail effectively cements itself as the most inventive Universal Monsters movie since 2020's The Invisible Man.
Look at Scream as an example as something that blends both well; an entertaining horror film that never sacrificed the scares or tension for a moment of fun.
Los amantes del género hallarán en Boda sangrienta resabios de Scream, y de la saga de El juego del miedo.
It’s almost a marriage of “Scream” (1996) where we get the campy blood, guts, and horror, and “The Cabin in The Woods” (2011) where we get more of the fun and humor.
Like “Shaun of the Dead” or “Scream,” it’s a rare beast: A satire that works both as commentary on a style and an exemplar of the style itself.
It's been three years and countless controversies since "Scream VI" arrived on our screens…
…one that keeps the events of Scream VI firmly in play while clearing space for the story the series has been building toward since 1996.
After Scream VI expanded the franchise’s scale, including its ambitious New York City setting, this sequel feels noticeably pared back.
After Scream (2022) and Scream VI put a greater focus on Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) and her sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) as the new leads, their departure from this series alongside formerly-attached director Christopher Landon forced a rewrite that put Sidney back as the face of this series.
As the franchise switched hands to directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett with Scream 5 and 6, the new heroine's (Melissa Barrera) brooding over being the offspring of Billy Loomis dragged the franchise into a suffocatingly grim terrain.
Following the success of 2023’s Scream VI – itself marked by the absence of franchise cornerstone Neve Campbell amid a pay dispute – the seventh entry endured director departures, cast exits, online backlash, and a very public implosion of its original creative direction.
The Purge (2013)
Directed by James DeMonaco
influenced Ready or Not (2019), Ready or Not: Here I Come (2026)
Plot Themes
It’s “Bridesmaids” meets “The Purge” with all stops in between.
The commentary never gets heavy handed, which puts it a step above mega franchise The Purge .
Ready or Not , as a friend so pointedly put it, is Clue if it took place during The Purge .
Ready of Not takes the best and most crowd pleasing elements of The Most Dangerous Game, Your’re Next, The Purge, and Clue and blends them into a tasty, bloody smoothie.
The Ready or Not script by Guy Busick (Stan Against Evil) and R. Christopher Murphy (Minutes Past Midnight) has shades of everything from The Purge to Clue, Evil Dead, and You're Next (as well as the films that inspired them), yet never comes across as being derivative.
It’s Bridesmaids meets The Purge.
The extended cast of potential killers/High Chair fillers are a rogues gallery of wealth stereotypes that would feel at home in a Knives Out flick (even if they’re not nearly as fleshed out as Rian Johnson’s ensembles tend to be).
…the first movie came out a handful of months before Parasite and Knives Out…
For good measure, the night is spiked with a shot of the madcap energy of Clue or Neil Simon’s Murder By Death .
With a cavalcade of character actors you’ll want to spend more time with, Ready or Not takes pieces from Clue , Murder by Death , and a host of ’40s thrillers to tell a story that feels keenly relevant.
Die Hard (1988)
Directed by John McTiernan
influenced Ready or Not (2019), Ready or Not: Here I Come (2026)
Plot Characters
I love the Die Hard of it all that is Ready or Not…
Once things get rolling, it basically becomes Die Hard in a haunted house.
So are her attempts at humor, with have a touch of Die Hard to them.
Su Grace me recuerda la Laurie Strode de Jaime Lee Curtis en Halloween , y hasta un poco de John McClane en Die Hard : gente normal envuelta en situaciones extraordinaria, sin la aparente oportunidad ni las herramientas para lidiar con estas, hasta que no hay otra opción.
Even viewers who haven’t seen The Most Dangerous Game (1932) – or Run for the Sun (1956) or Bloodlust!