Not sure how the comic tone of the violence may play as there are calls for Hollywood to tone down its violence. The rich are an easy target and "Ready or Not" has no trouble picking them off. In this case, targeting the elite one percent and assuring us that those rich folks are indeed crazy and maybe they have made a deal with the devil. Although it is not on the level of Jordan Peele's "Get Out" it does try to tap ever so lightly on some social themes as well. Directors Gillett and Bettineli-Olpin keep the pace brisk and know when to punctuate with a little gore before delivering the next laugh. The film is well shot by Brett Jutkiewicz, who helps to make the huge mansion a distinct character. The film works so well because at its core it's about a dysfunctional family dealing with what one member just calls "family sh*t." That's what gives the horror its effective comic edge. So we are engaged in the story not just because it is delivering horror but because these characters are actually fun and are more than just one-dimensional tropes just waiting to be knocked off or threaten our final girl. On a certain level, the film would still work without the horror narrative because the family members are all distinct characters who would be a nightmare to meet even if they weren’t trying to kill you. The script by Busick and Murphy is also smart. The Radio Silence guys nail that tone to deliver a film that builds suspense and delivers laughs. Both rely on careful building of tension to a punchline or release.įox Searchlight This is how the La Domas family welcomes the newest addition to the family in "Ready or Not," a new film made by the collective known as Radio Silence. Some may not think the two have anything in common but horror and comedy are actually similar. And both films display a knack for finding the link between horror and comedy. "Ready or Not" is a horror-comedy that recalls a little of the tone and feel of the recent "You're Next." Both films have a spunky female outsider dealing with a whacked family and stuck in one location. The family believes that if they fail to kill her by dawn then a curse will fall on them and they will all die.
Simple enough, right? It's a big mansion with plenty of places to hide, so Grace should be able to give them a run for their money.īut the family’s not entirely upfront about the rules, which include the fact that they are trying to kill her. Grace draws a card to play hide and seek. Grace (Samara Weaving) is marrying into the ridiculously rich Le Domas family and since they built their empire on games they have a tradition of making new family members play one on their wedding night. The script for "Ready or Not" by Gary Busick and Ryan Murphy, starts with a simple premise: meeting the in-laws can be hell.Įveryone knows weddings can be stressful but Grace’s is going to require extreme survival skills that no wedding planner could ever prepare her for. With "Ready or Not" it was a script offered to them and they felt it matched their interests. Radio Silence got initial traction as online pranksters who posted videos of their successes and failures. However the duties breakdown on "Ready or Not," the important thing is that the group creates a kind of alchemy that results in a hugely entertaining horror-comedy. The collaborative has contributed segments to such anthology films as "V/H/S" and "Southbound" as well as doing the feature "Devil's Due." Although only Bettineli-Olpin and Gillett are credited on "Ready or Not" as the directors, Villella was also part of the creative team on the set every day.
I think it was just a reminder for us to continue to make stuff, and it was going to be about not asking for permission and to just go and do and tell the stories that we wanted to tell. We wanted nothing more than to continue to make projects that we would say yes and then never hear back. Let's find a project to do.' And we, of course, were saying yes to everything. We had this very do-it-yourself mentality and we were starting to get some followers for the stuff we were making online, and we were getting a handful of meetings around town and we were oftentimes having conversations with people and that would end with, 'Hey, we should work together on something. So Gillett explained: "I guess it's based on the way that we all started working together. Radio Silence, a creative collective that started on the web, is making some noise with its new feature film " Ready or Not."įor my Cinema Junkie podcast I recently interviewed the creative trio behind Radio Silence - Chad Villella, Matt Bettineli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett - and asked about the name of their group, which seemed odd for a collaborative working so vocally in film, podcast and web.