HIDE AND SEEK TAKES A DARK TURN Deadly game’s Downton Ready Or Not and dirty
MOST cinemas stopped offering double bills decades ago.
But with clever planning (and sometimes a little subterfuge) you can keep this tradition alive by jumping screens at a modern multiplex.
If you fancy a lively pairing, this week I recommend Downton Abbey and Ready Or Not. Both are set in lavish country piles and both feature aristocratic families working with loyal servants to halt a crisis.
Downton will be busier but the horror-comedy has more of an edge. Here the big event isn’t an impromptu royal visit but a family wedding.
Grace (Aussie actress
Samara Weaving, niece of
Hugo), an orphan brought up in foster homes, is marrying
Alex (Mark O’Brien) and into the loaded
Le Domas family whose fortune has been made in board games.
After the ceremony she is told she must take part in a bizarre ritual – whenever someone joins the family they have to play a midnight game selected by an antique box. Recent additions have had to play drafts and Old Maid, but Grace pulls out a card marked Hide And Seek. Worried looks dart around the table. They haven’t seen this card in decades. As Grace seeks a hiding place, the family choose antique weapons and prepare to go on a hunt. It turns out the box belongs to the Devil, who made a pact with a fortune-seeking ancestor. And if the family don’t sacrifice Grace they will all die by sunrise.
The plot is a touch more preposterous than the one in Downton but it could be more honest. Here we see the class violence hidden behind the lavish veneer of the period drama. Head of the house Tony (Henry Czerny), his wife Becky (Andie MacDowell) and their spoilt grown-up children don’t want to kill Grace but they know someone must suffer for their life of luxury.
Much of the comedy stems from the fact that they are such useless murderers. After the weapons are doled out, one family member heads to the toilet to watch a YouTube video called Getting To Know Your Crossbow.
After a couple of close shaves, Grace realises she has the smarts to turn the tables on her complacent assailants.
The film moves at a fair clip, with the filmmakers making clever use of their single location to stage over-the-top gore and tongue-in-cheek comedy.
Heads gets squished – sometimes the wrong ones – and family divisions begin to open up.
As in Downton, the person most determined to maintain the status quo is the butler. It makes you wonder how far Carson would go if Lady Mary shacked up with a plumber.