The rich are different, Daniel(Adam Brody) admits as much to Grace(Samara Weaving), his sister-in-law for all of half a day. Daniel doesn't have what it takes to be a satanist, or a capitalist, for that matter. He lacks the killer instinct. "Ready or Not", directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, updates the ideology behind Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel's "The Most Dangerous Game", in which Grace, the hunted, is clearly marked as the proletariat; not a relativistic object, an animal chosen by the hunter(Count Zaroff, played by Leslie Banks in the 1932 original), which happens to be human, because the normal rules of engagement need not be abided by if you're outside civilization's jurisdiction. The rich make their own moral universe. But Daniel is moral. He discovers his brother's wife in the pool room. The moral brother gives Grace a ten-second running start before he alerts the others, starting with Tony(Henry Czernas), his father, who is adamant about keeping the family's bloodline blue. The newlywed should have paid closer attention the underlying warning of her hubby's warning. Before Alex(Mark O'Brien) and Grace read their wedding vows, the groom says: "I'm giving you an out," to his bride, who misreads the warning as being money-related. Grace misses the part where Alex never cracks a smile to reassure her that his apprehension is a joke. The family tradition is more sinister than she can imagine. As children, Daniel hid Alex in a closet the last time somebody had the misfortune to draw the dreaded "Hide and Seek" card. It was their Aunt Helene's husband, who died in a ritual sacrifice, but not before Becky(Andie McDowell), the boys' mother, let fly a strategically-placed arrow from her bow like an expert archer that kept Charles(Andrew Anthony) alive for the interim. The aunt(Nicky Guadagni), whose mien is suggestive of the proverbial woman with a grudge, has been waiting years for a night like this. Like Rosemary Woodhouse(Mia Farrow), wife of Guy(John Cassavetes), a struggling actor in Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby", Grace's unwavering belief that Alex will deliver her from evil leads to disillusionment. Although bad blood with his family led Alex to flee the LaDomas dominion, in the end, blood turns out to be thicker than water, as they say, because the gaming empire family's blood is bad, especially, the blood of the black sheep.
Daniel was slightly taller than Alex on that fateful night. You could say that he was the "high boy", running interference between Alex and the destiny he'll learn of on his wedding night. A high boy, in the furniture sense of the word, in "Rosemary's Baby", has been moved. Mr. Nicklas(Elisha Cook), the Bramford apartment building landlord, stands aghast; he knows that a hall closet exists behind the hulking cabinet. Guy rubs his face, as if annoyed at the old man for being so observant. But isn't this the first time he laid eyes on this place? Rosemary points at the outline. This annoys Guy, too. Rosemary would never guess that her husband's exasperation pertains not just to the landlord, who enlists him as a furniture mover, but because her deducing skills make them collaborators against a conspiracy plot that will become self-evident in the near-future. Landlord and wife have no idea what they just stumbled upon. The question of whether Guy's association with the cultists began that night as dinner guests of their neighbors, the Castevets(Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon), or a long-standing one which resumed after a lengthy hiatus, was an open-ended one. Arguably, "Ready or Not" resolves this ambiguity, due to the film's resemblance in form and content. Guy knows Roman Castenet and his wife Minnie. He also knows about the ghastly history of that gothic piece of 19th century architecture. Hutch(Maurice Evans), their old landlord, is only wasting his breath. Like Grace's husband, Guy probably wanted a normal life. Slitting goat necks, a LaDomas family tradition since grandfather cut a deal with fellow traveler LeBail, the devil in disguise, chased Alex away, but relative poverty brought the prodigal son back to the fold, gambling that Grace wouldn't pull the bad card. Being one of the common people didn't suit him. Slitting goat necks notwithstanding, satanism is a necessary evil Alex willingly accepts as the cost of being a trustee to the family fortune. Faustian pacts are nefarious deals, naughty by nature, that are made to either procure money, or in the case of "Rosemary's Baby", fame; two drugs more potent than love, and worth killing over, for some. Guy, as well, ventured out on his own, wanting to prove himself as a stage actor with the right stuff, all the while knowing that if he couldn't establish himself legitimately, enlisting the help of Roman Castevet and his dark arts as a last resort was an option. An actor, the man who beat Guy out for the starring role in a play, goes blind suddenly, and the play's director calls his second choice to see if he'd be interested. As payment, the husband promises the cultists a baby, albeit with some acquiescence. A son, born stillborn, Rosemary is told, she refutes, not after the sound of crying comes emitting through those thin walls on a nightly basis. The dislocated high boy, refashioned into a barricade, Rosemary remembers, then quickly diagnoses, must block a secret passageway to her next-door satanists.
Emilie LaDomas(Melanie Scrofano), already on the hook for two accidental kills; a governess and maid, makes it a trifecta of collateral damage when she shoots Daniel, her good brother. Without his "tall boy", Alex comes out of the closet, so to speak, and learns the truth about what sort of devilry he's up against, like Rosemary. She can tell by looking at her son's eyes that Guy isn't the father: Lucifer is. On the night of the impregnation ceremony, when that dessert with the chalky undertaste Minnie laced with drugs starts to have an effect on Rosemary's cognitive functions, Guy mocks his wife for added dissonance, relaying news from the black and white television about the pope's visit to Yankee Stadium. Rosemary is Catholic. His words are coded: Your god can't help you. The go-between can't help you. The Richard Connell short story "The Hounds of Zaroff", adapted into "The Most Dangerous Game" for the screen, is applicable. Guy could be a stand-in for the Count, who hunts her in baroque fashion. No bow and arrow, no gun: Guy depends on Rosemary's unconditional love for him as a weapon. The old men and women, nude throughout Adrian's conception, are the hounds. Does she fight back? No. Love is the most dangerous game. Rosemary joins the cult, agreeing with Roman that she should "be a real mother" to her half-humanoid son. God or Lucifer, Rosemary doesn't really choose either one. What "Rosemary's Baby" conveys is that she's possessed by her husband, choosing his obtuse convolutions to isolate her against the practical advice of cosmopolitan girlfriends, who all agree that Dr. Saperstein(Ralph Bellamy) is a quack. Go to Dr. Hill(Charles Grodin) they persist. But the internal physical pain, no matter how intense, because of her religiosity, the satanists know that Rosemary, their human game, will no doubt carry the little devil to full-term. Grace, on the other hand, despite her name, is a secularist; a position, guessed at, since the potty-mouthed young woman expresses no misgivings about her wedding being held outside the sanctity of a church. Since Becky, the groom's mother, gave birth to her husband, LeBail's heir apparent, the "new me", a moniker, previously though to have referenced the two women's shared experience of coming from humble stock, now means, the audience realizes, that the child she dams will carry the title of "Grace's Baby", second in succession to the LaDomas fortune and the throne of a fallen angel. With Daniel no longer alive to protect his younger brother, Alex learns that it was always his destiny to lead the family, which involves more than sitting goat necks. He has to sacrifice Grace. Does she fight back. Hell, yeah.
Bob(Joel McCrea), the lone survivor of a yacht explosion at sea, makes it ashore on a small island overseen by a madman, in "The Most Dangerous Game", proving once again that the rich are different. Bob, a published author, who writes books about big game hunting, leads Count Zaroff to believe he has found a kindred spirit; a teammate instead of opponent. Zaroff, a Bolshevik, who owns the private island, dangles the proposition of hunting his two remaining guests: Martin(Robert Armstrong) and his sister Eve(Fay Wray). Bob flatly turns down the offer. Count Zaroff calls this game "outdoor chess" when it's Bob and Eve's turn to play. Bob gets a knife. Eve gets nothing to counter their common enemy. This outdoor chess Zaroff invented is a game meant for two human animals, mano a mano. The Count deeming Bob as a formidable opponent. With the woman, he's playing checkers.
"I will play the ***t out of checkers," Grace declares before she goes downstairs. By the break of dawn, she gets to the other side of the board. The winner doesn't say: "King me," but that's exactly what Grace does.
Daniel was slightly taller than Alex on that fateful night. You could say that he was the "high boy", running interference between Alex and the destiny he'll learn of on his wedding night. A high boy, in the furniture sense of the word, in "Rosemary's Baby", has been moved. Mr. Nicklas(Elisha Cook), the Bramford apartment building landlord, stands aghast; he knows that a hall closet exists behind the hulking cabinet. Guy rubs his face, as if annoyed at the old man for being so observant. But isn't this the first time he laid eyes on this place? Rosemary points at the outline. This annoys Guy, too. Rosemary would never guess that her husband's exasperation pertains not just to the landlord, who enlists him as a furniture mover, but because her deducing skills make them collaborators against a conspiracy plot that will become self-evident in the near-future. Landlord and wife have no idea what they just stumbled upon. The question of whether Guy's association with the cultists began that night as dinner guests of their neighbors, the Castevets(Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon), or a long-standing one which resumed after a lengthy hiatus, was an open-ended one. Arguably, "Ready or Not" resolves this ambiguity, due to the film's resemblance in form and content. Guy knows Roman Castenet and his wife Minnie. He also knows about the ghastly history of that gothic piece of 19th century architecture. Hutch(Maurice Evans), their old landlord, is only wasting his breath. Like Grace's husband, Guy probably wanted a normal life. Slitting goat necks, a LaDomas family tradition since grandfather cut a deal with fellow traveler LeBail, the devil in disguise, chased Alex away, but relative poverty brought the prodigal son back to the fold, gambling that Grace wouldn't pull the bad card. Being one of the common people didn't suit him. Slitting goat necks notwithstanding, satanism is a necessary evil Alex willingly accepts as the cost of being a trustee to the family fortune. Faustian pacts are nefarious deals, naughty by nature, that are made to either procure money, or in the case of "Rosemary's Baby", fame; two drugs more potent than love, and worth killing over, for some. Guy, as well, ventured out on his own, wanting to prove himself as a stage actor with the right stuff, all the while knowing that if he couldn't establish himself legitimately, enlisting the help of Roman Castevet and his dark arts as a last resort was an option. An actor, the man who beat Guy out for the starring role in a play, goes blind suddenly, and the play's director calls his second choice to see if he'd be interested. As payment, the husband promises the cultists a baby, albeit with some acquiescence. A son, born stillborn, Rosemary is told, she refutes, not after the sound of crying comes emitting through those thin walls on a nightly basis. The dislocated high boy, refashioned into a barricade, Rosemary remembers, then quickly diagnoses, must block a secret passageway to her next-door satanists.
Emilie LaDomas(Melanie Scrofano), already on the hook for two accidental kills; a governess and maid, makes it a trifecta of collateral damage when she shoots Daniel, her good brother. Without his "tall boy", Alex comes out of the closet, so to speak, and learns the truth about what sort of devilry he's up against, like Rosemary. She can tell by looking at her son's eyes that Guy isn't the father: Lucifer is. On the night of the impregnation ceremony, when that dessert with the chalky undertaste Minnie laced with drugs starts to have an effect on Rosemary's cognitive functions, Guy mocks his wife for added dissonance, relaying news from the black and white television about the pope's visit to Yankee Stadium. Rosemary is Catholic. His words are coded: Your god can't help you. The go-between can't help you. The Richard Connell short story "The Hounds of Zaroff", adapted into "The Most Dangerous Game" for the screen, is applicable. Guy could be a stand-in for the Count, who hunts her in baroque fashion. No bow and arrow, no gun: Guy depends on Rosemary's unconditional love for him as a weapon. The old men and women, nude throughout Adrian's conception, are the hounds. Does she fight back? No. Love is the most dangerous game. Rosemary joins the cult, agreeing with Roman that she should "be a real mother" to her half-humanoid son. God or Lucifer, Rosemary doesn't really choose either one. What "Rosemary's Baby" conveys is that she's possessed by her husband, choosing his obtuse convolutions to isolate her against the practical advice of cosmopolitan girlfriends, who all agree that Dr. Saperstein(Ralph Bellamy) is a quack. Go to Dr. Hill(Charles Grodin) they persist. But the internal physical pain, no matter how intense, because of her religiosity, the satanists know that Rosemary, their human game, will no doubt carry the little devil to full-term. Grace, on the other hand, despite her name, is a secularist; a position, guessed at, since the potty-mouthed young woman expresses no misgivings about her wedding being held outside the sanctity of a church. Since Becky, the groom's mother, gave birth to her husband, LeBail's heir apparent, the "new me", a moniker, previously though to have referenced the two women's shared experience of coming from humble stock, now means, the audience realizes, that the child she dams will carry the title of "Grace's Baby", second in succession to the LaDomas fortune and the throne of a fallen angel. With Daniel no longer alive to protect his younger brother, Alex learns that it was always his destiny to lead the family, which involves more than sitting goat necks. He has to sacrifice Grace. Does she fight back. Hell, yeah.
Bob(Joel McCrea), the lone survivor of a yacht explosion at sea, makes it ashore on a small island overseen by a madman, in "The Most Dangerous Game", proving once again that the rich are different. Bob, a published author, who writes books about big game hunting, leads Count Zaroff to believe he has found a kindred spirit; a teammate instead of opponent. Zaroff, a Bolshevik, who owns the private island, dangles the proposition of hunting his two remaining guests: Martin(Robert Armstrong) and his sister Eve(Fay Wray). Bob flatly turns down the offer. Count Zaroff calls this game "outdoor chess" when it's Bob and Eve's turn to play. Bob gets a knife. Eve gets nothing to counter their common enemy. This outdoor chess Zaroff invented is a game meant for two human animals, mano a mano. The Count deeming Bob as a formidable opponent. With the woman, he's playing checkers.
"I will play the ***t out of checkers," Grace declares before she goes downstairs. By the break of dawn, she gets to the other side of the board. The winner doesn't say: "King me," but that's exactly what Grace does.