Ready or Not (2019)

* major spoilers *

Grace marries Alex Le Domas, heir to the family's board game fortune, at their luxurious, historical estate. The family requires that she play a game with them at midnight, chosen by a puzzle box. She figures it's a quaint, silly tradition and complies, picking Hide and Seek. While Grace obliviously  hides, the family gathers their weapons and prepare to hunt her through the night as they have done with others in the past.

Ready or Not is a horror comedy done right. The runtime is tight with not a minute wasted. The exposition is expertly handled. Grace's background as an orphan is introduced in a conversation with her fiance that also establishes their adorable relationship. Alex was estranged from his family until he met Grace and reconnected with them because family means so much to her. The rest of the Le Domas crew is seen during a photoshoot that includes a lot of snobbery and judgment. Alex's alcoholic brother Daniel and their mother Becky (also from a poor family) are the only outliers who seem to like Grace. Great aunt Helene is the most judgmental as she glares at Grace throughout in an amazing display of physical comedy, hunching over like a gnarled troll and scowling. The wedding is glossed over to get to the meat of the film.

Grace is understandably shocked and distraught that her in-laws seriously mean to kill her. The happiest day of her life turns into a night of fighting for her life. Scared and frantic, she hides and runs from the family until they force her to physically fight back. The horror of the situation never really goes away and I was thankful she didn't become some supernaturally tough final girl. Her actions are realistic and keep her alive despite some mistakes here and there.  Grace's emotions hover around hurt, scared, and panicked throughout the ordeal. Her anger starts to take over about half way through the film and only grows. Her rage and curse-filled outburst at a rich man rides away from her is particularly cathartic. She doesn't really want to hurt anyone, but she will in order to survive. Her physical transformation from happy, beautiful bride to dirt and blood caked, injured, and righteously angry shows everything she's been through and reflects her emotional journey as well. Samara Weaving is amazing as Grace and keeps her grounded in reality while navigating this outlandish premise.

Once the card is chosen and the family is on the hunt, everything changes. Established relationships are put into question and anything could happen. Alex has to choose to help his new wife escape or murder her along with his family, who have been indoctrinating him with their toxic ideaology his whole life. Every other member of the Le Domas family and staff is acting together to kill Grace, whether it's eagerly or reluctantly. Everyone buys into the idea that she needs to die for them to live to some extent. It's a running gag that all of the maids die gruesomely one by one (mostly due to Alex's coked up sister), but these people that make their house run mean nothing to the family except the inconvenience of the mess and body disposal. The family expects others to give their lives for their own wealth and prosperity, much like the incredibly wealthy making money off of the backs of minimum wage workers not able to easily afford the cost of living. The supernatural element is a fun twist and shows the evil nature of and exploitation necessary for this amount of wealth.

Alex and his brother Daniel grew up with the same indoctrination, but choose different paths. Alex goes along with the family eventually when he realizes that Grace will never be with him after this. The signs were there on rewatch because he almost kills his father (only stopping when Daniel intervened) and threatens to kill his mother if Grace dies. He separated from the family but when his life and wealth were truly threatened, he went with tradition. Daniel numbs himself with alcohol and goes along sarcastically with whatever his family does. He creeps on Grace in a feeble attempt to get her to leave, but also seriously gives her a way out while Alex keeps her completely in the dark. Later, he runs into Grace and gives her a significant head start before alerting his family. These small rebellions foreshadow his ultimate choice. He (mildly) poisons his whole family to save Grace and breaks the cycle of essentially feeding off of people. Aunt Helene used to be like Daniel, but through years of benefiting and believing in their satanic benefactor, becomes a hardened, cruel woman driven by greed.

The ending is incredibly satisfying and hilarious. The very last scene is one of my favorites of any movie. I convinced my mom to see this with me and she's completely obsessed with it, watching it at least once a week for months. I will never get tired of it. It's so much fun each and every time with just enough suspense, humor, and righteous anger with no wasted time. It also pairs well with Knives Out and Parasite with its "eat the rich" themes. Highly recommended.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Women in Horror: The Final Girls (2015)

Amanda and her daughter Max are having a hard time financially. Amanda goes to audition after audition, but can't escape her past as a one time scream queen in the 1986 slasher Camp Bloodbath. On the way home, they get into a car accident, killing Amanda. Three years later, Max's friend Duncan convinces her to be a guest at a screening of Camp Bloodbath through bribery. She is overcome with emotion seeing her mother and stands to leave, but through a series of coincidences, the theater is set on fire. Max and her friends Duncan, Gertie, and Chris plus her former best friend Vicki escape through the movie screen to safety. Things seem a bit weird since they end up in a forest and they realize they are in the movie when the car with Tina and the other counselors pull up to ask for direction. How can they escape this slasher movie alive?

The Final Girls is a charming, meta slasher that has the characters trying to survive the slasher with their knowledge of the film and the genre's tropes. Camp Bloodbath is closely modeled after Friday the 13th Part II, so it feels familiar and nostalgic to the audience. The film cycles through over and over if they do nothing, so Max and her crew decide to participate in the story. Their initial plan is to stick to the sardonic final girl to survive, but their involvement causes the characters to panic and she dies in a fiery blaze. The group has to come up with a new plan and navigate the world that transports them to the past for flashbacks and text on the screen as physical form. Billy is this world's version of Jason Vorhees who gets revenge on camp counselors with a machete for tormenting and physically and emotionally scarring him.

The characters in the film are very flat and generally badly written. Tina is super chipper and flirtatious. Her whole reason for being is doing a striptease and being killed by Billy. Her innocent question asking why her boobs make him so mad is hilarious. Kurt is similarly oversexed, but with an undercurrent of mocking and insults for everyone around him. Nancy lives the longest and has the biggest transformation of any of the movie characters. Her initial purpose is to have sex with Kurt and die, but her interactions with the real people change her. At first, Max tries to steer Nancy away from sex with lies and peer pressure. The change takes place after they really talk and explain the entire situation. Nancy now has aspirations to go to college and realizes that she doesn't have to be what the script says she should.

At its core, the female friendships and relationships are in the forefront with focus on support and getting at underlying conflicts. Max is obviously upset about her mother's death and keeps people at arm's length. She becomes closer to Gertie, Nancy (as her own person, not just her mom), and even Vicki. Vicki confesses that she's been cruel because she was hurt when Max pushed her away after her mom died. Once they are honest with each other, their facades come down and they are on their way to fixing their friendship. Max forms a friendship with Nancy similar that the one with her mom and gets some extra time plus the opportunity to say goodbye. When she realizes there can only be one final girl, Nancy sacrifices herself in a dance for herself and Max, filled with love and fun despite the horror movie trappings. Her death is heartbreaking and it imbues Max with Final Girl power in addition to resolving some of her feelings about her mom.

The Final Girls is a refreshing movie that both critiques and elevates the tropes of the slasher genre. Virginity is only valued because of the outdated genre, not because any of the modern characters actually find significance in it. There are so many touches of feminism and progressive views that contrast well with the reactionary views within the outdated slasher. While this film does lose a little bit on the second viewing, it's still an enjoyable, fun, and emotional film that I would love to see a sequel to.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Tragedy Girls

* spoilers *

Sadie and McKayla are best friends with a blog called Tragedy Girls that details the murders of their local serial killer. After luring him in with a teen couple making out in a remote area, they succeed in capturing him and imprisoning him. They are free to copy his habits and methods while targeting their own hit list and reporting the growing killing spree on their blog. To the community, Sadie and McKayla are either a nuisance getting in the way or renegade journalists exposing police incompetence. Can they keep the charade going or will they slip up somewhere and be revealed for the murderers they are?

Tragedy Girls is a horror comedy that merges a typical slasher film with the drive for internet fame. Sadie and McKayla strive for as many likes, shares, and comments as possible. Simply covering the murders that fascinate them isn't enough. They also aspire to be serial killers themselves and use the existing one to copy and displace blame. At the beginning of the movie, their blog barely has any attention at all. Over the course of the movie and their exclusive point of view skyrockets their site into internet fame beyond their town. Their exploits have to balance public outcry and fame with keeping anyone from getting close to their secret. Sadie and McKayla are cheerful in their normal lives and even more gleeful in their gruesome work, giving the whole film a lighthearted mood. Neither girl feels guilty or upset about their victims which gives a colder and harder core to their characters underneath their bubbly facades. Their murders are messy and riddled with mistakes, but the local police is incredibly inept.

A couple things threaten to tear the friends apart including a boy and an inbalance of fame. The boy in question is Jordan Welch, the sheriff's son. He edits the Tragedy Girls videos and shares a love for European horror films with Sadie. McKayla treats him like garbage, so he understandably doesn't like her and actively tries to separate them. After saving Jordan from the serial killer, Sadie is much more famous than McKayla with the media clamoring to interview her and it drives an addition fissure in their relationship. I personally didn't like Jordan very much and thought he looked much older than the other actors. His willingness to discredit and condemn her best friend is gross and weird. I got an inkling of racism in with his willingness to absolve Sadie for any wrongdoing and viewing McKayla as the corrupting force. The ending is awesome as it subverts the romantic subplot that felt icky the whole time. The film leaves McKayla and Sadie together in neon masks with the highest body count they could have hoped for.

Tragedy Girls is an odd film because the title characters are shallow murderers. However, they are made to be pretty likeable especially compared to the other idiots in their town. That line between annoying and charming is treaded carefully. The film is hilarious and many of the situations and murders made me laugh out loud. The story is fresh and fun while still including darker, more sinister elements and a healthy dose of gore. Highly recommended.

My rating: 4.5/5