What I’m watching: a fun horror film and a documentary

Date: 9/10/2019

What I’m watching: a fun horror film and a documentary about Harvey Weinstein

In theaters: Ready or Not

On her wedding day, the young beautiful bride, Grace (Samara Weaving), is anticipating that her wedding night would be typical for a newly married couple, until her husband Alex explains the family tradition.

And it’s really not much fun.

You see Grace is marrying into the extremely wealthy Le Domas family, whose vast fortune was created by their company that has manufactured games for four generations. At midnight on the wedding night the family gathers to perform a ritual: they need to play a game that is selected at random by a mysterious box given to the great-grandfather who started the game company by an even more mysterious man named Mr. Le Bail.

Mr. Le Bail promised the family would be rich if they followed this ritual. Usually the selected card reads “checkers” or “chess” but every few years it says “hide and seek.”

When that happens, the new in-law must hide and stay hidden from the family until dawn. The family needs to kill or wound the in-law and participate in another ritual or face their own dire consequences.

Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett know their way around a horror film and understand that in this day and age a “hunting a human” script needs a bit more to make it interesting. What works here is the level of dark humor that works very well.

I’m sure some people will see the film as some sort of commentary in Trump America. I really didn’t, as films casting the wealthy as stupid, venal and ineffective are pretty common. As much as American popular culture elevates the rich, it also tears them down. This aspect of the film is not new, but the overall treatment of the subject matter overcomes the obvious.

In “Ready or Not,” the Le Domas family appear to be successful in spite of themselves, which adds to both the humor and the horror. Whether they are consulting YouTube videos on how to use a crossbow, sending idle texts during the hunt, snorting coke or killing the wrong people, the family sums up most the of the negative stereotypes we assign to the idle rich.

The star of the film is Weaving, who portrays a young woman who goes from elation to terror to a determination to live. She is quite effective in the role and we easily root for her survival.

There are several nice twists at the end of the quickly paced film. Be aware this film is R-rated for a reason and is not suitable for children.

On Hulu: Untouchable

Most of the world now knows that Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein has been accused of multiple sexual crimes against a long list of women. This new documentary, produced in part with the BBC, describes through interviews with some of his accusers how he operated and the power he used to intimidate and force people to do what he wanted.

Weinstein has pled not guilty to the charges brought against him after his 2018 arrest in New York City. He is no longer associated with his production company, which has been bought and closed down.

What this film does in a very somber and methodical way is to plot his behavior back to the beginning of his show business career, when he was a young concert promoter in Buffalo, NY, to show Weinstein exercised these illegal and immoral behaviors from almost the start of his life in entertainment.

Director Ursula Macfarlane uses archival interviews, evidence from police investigations and interviews with victims – the most well known being Rosanna Arquette – to tell the story of a man who brought the conventions of the casting couch to new horrifying and violent levels.

The film also documents how the Weinstein revelations led to the growth of the Me Too movement.

This is an important documentary that should spur additional discussions about toxic behavior.