Ready or Not  ★★

THE comedy/horror sub-genre is very tricky.

You have to get the balance just right or risk not satisfying either audience.

Ready or Not is a perfect example.

Despite being co-written by Ryan Murphy, the creator of television’s American Horror Story series, the tone and subsequent balance here is all wrong.

I couldn’t tell you exactly what the original intent was, because it’s not clear from the final result.

The story of a bride being hunted down by her new family on her wedding night is ridiculous enough to be funny, but the script just doesn’t deliver enough laughs.

Having somebody look funny, e.g the scowling Aunt Helene, is fine initially but she also needs to say something funny occasionally.

All the murderous family members never progress further than caricatures running around rooms with axe, shotgun, crossbow, etc in hand.

They are meant to be people for whom killing comes easily, yet they are inept against one person who doesn’t seem to possess any natural survival or fighting skills.

There are also continuity problems which are just plain lazy. One moment we’re told a death hunt has only happened once before and the next we’re told several other newcomers to the family have died in the past.

The set-up has the son of a gaming dynasty bringing his new bride to the family mansion on their wedding night.

He tells her every newcomer has to play a game before being truly accepted.

She has to select a card from a pack with a different game on each. She could have drawn Scrabble or Simon Says but draws the Hide and Seek card which means if they find her she’s killed.

Why this ritual is so random is just one of the many confusing aspects of the film, along with one of the main character’s motivation and the final reveal.

Some of the gorier moments are ok but, again, they are out of killer with the tone.

Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett were previously responsible for short segments of the V/H/S and Southbound horror film anthologies but struggle with filling even 80-odd minutes here.

Australian Samara Weaving tries her best as the bride Grace but the rest of the cast, including familiar faces like Adam Brody as fiancé Daniel, Henry Czerny as father Tony and Andie MacDowell as mother Beckie, lose their battles with the script.

If you want to see a former Home and Away alumni kicking butt in an American horror film, you’re better off with Sharni Vinson in You’re Next.