If the family you’re about to marry into is
a direct recipient of the Devil’s good graces, and your life once you say ‘I Do’ is
dependent on winning a game of Hide n’ Seek, what do you do?
I’m going to break down the mistakes made by Alex, Grace, and the cursed
Le Domas family, what you should do, and how to beat the DEATH GAME in READY OR NOT.
Two kids are running through the Le Domas mansion looking for a hiding spot in an
ultra-wealthy version of hide-and-go-seek, which seems easier for the hiders since there’s
more places to hide. They must be balancing out the game somehow... Daniel hides Alex in a
closet, then is confronted by a wounded man named Charles. Charles begs Daniel to help him
hide. He’s bleeding out from a spear in his gut. Daniel’s a conniving little shit and alerts
his family, who arrives in ceremonial masks. Despite the pleas of his bride, Helene,
Charles is shot with a speargun again.
He’s then dragged into a special
room to be ritually sacrificed.
This is one of those situations that once
you're involved in, you stand very little chance. I’m going to make the bold assumption
that at some earlier point, Charles made some poor decisions or ignored obvious red flags.
You just don’t find yourself in a deadly game of hide-and-go-seek in Wayne’s Manor being
hunted down by generations of a masked family wielding spearguns. I could be wrong though.
30 years later, that little boy named Alex who was hiding in the closet now runs the successful Le
Domas Family Games company, and is set to marry Grace, a former foster child after having
dated for just over a year and a half. Alex offers Grace a final chance to flee with him away
from his self-proclaimed horrible family. Grace insists that she wants to join their family.
On her wedding day, Grace meets the Le Domases: Alex’s brother Daniel the snitch and his
catty gold-digging wife ironically named Charity; Alex’s disapproving father,
Tony, and uniquely friendly mother, Becky, who tells Grace that when she was getting
married into the family she too wasn’t as popular because her blood wasn’t “blue” enough either.
The most disconcerting member of the family is Helene with her permanent resting bitch face. It’s
clear she’s poorly coping with past trauma…
Moments later, everyone gathers for the
ceremony, and Grace and Alex are married. After the wedding the newly wed bride and groom
head back to their room to get intimate. They’re rudely interrupted by Helene’s freakish scowl.
She ominously tells them that she hopes they can hide better than that, and reminds them that they
need to join the family for game night now.
Grace scoffs that of course they have secret
doors, which Helene snuck in through. Alex clarifies that it’s a servants corridor
that runs all through the house.
He then nervously explains to Grace that as per
tradition, since they made their fortune with games, every new addition to the Le Domas
family has to join the family for a game at midnight after the wedding. Grace asks what type
of game. Alex lies and tells her he doesn’t know, that she draws a card to choose. It might be
Checkers, Backgammon, Croquet, or Twister with Helene. He says she doesn’t have to win, only
to play, and that it means more to the family than the wedding itself. Grace is puzzled but is
willing to play along to officially be accepted into the family. She tells Alex that she will meet
him downstairs for the game in a few minutes.
Alex is a royal scumbag for suckering Grace into
what he knows is a game which could end her life like Helene’s husband, who he heard getting
murdered from within the closet back when he was a kid. He made several subtle mentions that
his family was horrible, and that they should run away together and leave his family behind. He
knows the wretchedness that takes place within the mansion, yet lured Grace in anyways.
Earlier I thought that Charles had to have neglected obvious red flags for him to suddenly
find himself in a sick life and death game. Now I'm not so sure. Grace and Alex had been
dating for almost two years, she had known his family for some time prior to the wedding,
and there weren’t any real obvious red flags up until this point. It all seems like a weird mix
of unsavory characters and traditions afflicted with proximity to billions of dollars.
Grace seems like a cool girl with a full head on her shoulders. She couldn’t know what was in
the center of the thing was biting into.
Grace enters the music room where the family
is waiting. After Becky scolds someone on the phone to get here by midnight, she talks with
Grace and tells her that all she asks is that she brings Alex closer to the family. Seems there
was some animosity and separation for some reason. Definitely has nothing to do with everyone
despising one another yet bound anyways by a money cow and the Devil’s traditions.
Alex joins back up with Grace. He’s visibly nervous about the game night, but covers
saying he’s just feeling a little sick.
Alex’s friendly drug-addict sister, Emilie, and
her pompous husband, Fitch, exchange pleasantries, but are rudely interrupted again by Helene.
Helene’s not a fan of Emilie, or really any of the ladies. I think we all know why.
Tony ushers Grace and the family into a special room memorializing his great
grandfather, Victor Le Domas.
Tony explains his ancestor Victor Le Domas made
a deal with a man named "Le Bail" to build the Le Domases fortune in exchange for the family
observing a tradition: every new member draws a game card from Le Bail's puzzle box on their
wedding night. The family passes Grace the box to draw a card from it and pick the game. Charity
said she got Chess, while Fitch got a game called, ‘Old Maid’. Grace takes the box and draws ‘Hide
and Seek’. The room falls dead silent. Alex’s face goes white, Daniel hangs his head, and Becky
looks worried. Grace, still confused and trying to stay lighthearted, asks who hides and who
seeks. Tony says that since it’s her initiation, she will be the one to hide. As everyone leaves
the room to begin the game, Alex quietly tells her to meet him in their room after Tony briefs
her on the rules. Which are as follows:
1. ‘She can hide anywhere in the house’
2. ‘They will count to 100 and try to find her’ as soon as she leaves this room
3. ‘They will turn off all the cameras’ in the house to play the game as
his great grandfather would have
4. ‘She has to stay hidden until dawn to win’
Grace leaves the room totally ignorant of what’s at stake to go hide while Tony hands out weapons
from Victor Le Domas’s personal collection to each family member. The game is about to begin.
Tony forgot to mention a couple minor rules. See, Victor Le Domas made a deal
with the devil himself, Mr. Le Bail, and his offer of fortune came at the cost of a
deadly curse. The rules he left out are:
1. Should the new addition to the family draw
the game, ‘Hide n’ Seek’, the ignorant newcomer must hide and be hunted down by the family.
2. The weapons used by the family must only be the traditional weapons kept in the Family Room.
3. The newcomer is to be captured, not killed, and brought back to the Family Room for the final part
of the ritual. A Satanic incantation performed followed by their sacrifice before dawn.
4. If they fail to end the initiate’s life or compromise the game in any way, all family members will die.
Now, how does the family know the threat is real? 3 possible ways:
1. I’m guessing the dealing of extreme fortune came as a surprise. Their fortune was
acquired not through skill and strategy, but by luck and external forces. Their unworthiness of
the wealth signaled the power Le Bail wielded, thus making his threat credible.
2. Alex later mentions relatives who mysteriously died after ignoring the terms of the deal.
3. As we later find out, Le Bail made a supernatural appearance in front of Alex when
he was 5 years old. The other family members were skeptical that he was young and imagining
it, but this coupled with the mysterious deaths and fortune were enough to make them think
twice about crossing Le Bail’s rules.
Could Alex have prevented Grace’s twisted
fate some other way? Could the family have circumvented Le Bail? The way I see
it, they have 7 potential options. Some are certain death, others might be worth
exploring before murdering innocent people.
1. Not playing the game. This flat out
doesn’t work. It’s established by the family that previous refusing couples
all suddenly died shortly after.
2. Not formally marrying. Alex later mentions
one of the rules is that marriages have to be performed at the Le Domas mansion. While Vegas
or common law is out, keeping new additions to the family as girlfriend-boyfriend or intimate
offshore business acquaintances might be worth trying. The nuances of what constitutes
an addition to the family is unclear, and trying to semantically game the system could
easily result in their deaths. Considering what happened to refusing couples in option 1, none
of them would be inclined to attempt this.
3. Fleeing from family. Alex seemed to think
that this was an option. Before the wedding he asked Grace if she wanted to just run
off with him and leave his demented family behind. This is different from option 2 in
that they would no longer be a part of the family or have access to it’s riches. A total
separation based on what they know could work, should a family member choose a partner that
is ill-fit to be a part of the Le Domas family. Which brings me to the next option.
4. Choosing partners carefully. Tony wasn’t being a jerk for no reason when he asked
Alex if Grace was a Les Domas in character. This game night ritual with the occasional
sacrifice is clearly a filter so that only those deemed corruptible or morally impure
will be initiated into the Le Domas family. Tony, Becky, and Helene are distinctly
aware of why Charles was sacrificed, and the bumbling fool Fitch or the sociopathic
gold-digger Charity were successfully initiated. Grace’s unfortunate receipt of the Hide and Seek
card was most likely because she was too moral, or ‘red-blooded’ as Becky pointed out. Mr. Le Bail
realized she wouldn’t be the soul-selling type, and chose to have her sacrificed. Alex would have
known all this, and being the CEO of the Le Domas gaming dominion, he should have figured
out that Le Bail’s game was deterministic, not probabilistic. The deterministic nature of the
game to root out the moral, the holy disciples, the good in man, meant that Grace never would
have drawn anything besides Hide n’ Seek. Alex should never have chosen her as a wife.
5. Let them choose. If he and Grace really wanted to get married and take their chances, he
should have told her everything so that she could make an informed decision.
This isn’t a problem as his brother, Daniel, later is revealed to have told Charity
about the curse prior to the wedding.
6. Only have flings. Tony Le Domas mentioned
that a 3 year courtship process is expected, which Alex shortened by a year. It’s not clear if
after those 3 years they have to marry, or if you have to eventually find someone to marry at all.
They could sabotage all relationships prior to the 3 year mark. Maybe not the most fulfilling
life, but better than the alternative.
7. Keep the bloodline pure. Children don’t
need to go through the marriage game process. What lengths would you be willing to go to
avoid having to murder a loved one’s spouse? This is the only non-violent way of
having children and expanding the family. I never said these were good options.
Now that Grace and Alex got married and she pulled the card, the Le Domases have
to kill her or they themselves will die. What can Alex and Grace do at this point?
1. While Alex is supposed to stay in the Le Domas game room while the hunt is completed, if he’s
feeling guilty enough, he can leave the room to help Grace escape. After Grace drew her card, he
told her to meet him in his room. If she’s there, he can help her, if not he will have to find
her before his family does while not revealing his intentions. If they find out he’s trying
to save Grace, they will kill or detain him. Of course, this would ensure his own death
and the death of his entire family. Which is also why the Le Domases need to keep an eye on
Alex to ensure he doesn’t fuck them over.
2. Grace has no idea that she’s being
hunted down to be sacrificed to the devil. There’s nothing she can be expected to do.
Not even to stay hidden until dawn. It’s a dumb kids game and Tony saying that she needs to
stay hidden until dawn to win came off as a joke, so why would she stay hidden for more than
an hour. Grace needs Alex to warn her or to get a lucky break in the initial attack.
Grace nonchalantly finds her hiding spot in a dumbwaiter. The Le Domas’ count
to 100 and begin hunting her, with the exception of Alex and Charity. Alex
for obvious reasons, and Charity to guard the entrance to the sacred sacrificial room.
Alex leaves the room through the servants corridor, but is quickly found out by
Charity when she returns moments later.
Grace gets tired of hiding in the cramped food
elevator and leaves to forfeit the game. Luckily, Alex finds her before the others and quietly
pulls her into one of the rooms. They both hide behind the bed while one of the maids comes into
their room looking for two young Le Domas boys running amuck. Grace witnesses the maid get
brutally maimed by a shot to the head.
She then hears the family scolding Emilie
for accidentally shooting the maid instead of Grace, and how they needed to maim
her, not kill her for the sacrifice.
Tony, Helene, Daniel, and Becky come in to help
move Clara's body because they don’t want Grace to see it and get spooked. Grace is completely
shell-shocked, but Alex manages to get her into the servants corridor before Emilie comes back
for her gun. He then tells her that his family is cursed, and that if they fail to win the game,
which means killing Grace, they will die at dawn. Grace is understandably pissed the fuck off
that Alex involved her in this. He exclaims that nobody ever draws that card, that he thought the
chances were worth it, and, this last one's good, he blames her for wanting to get married and
be a part of his family even though he hid the part about them being cursed by the devil
and how she may have to be sacrificed.
Alex at least has the decency to help her flee
despite the consequences to himself. He tells her that he’s going to the security room to disable
the lockdown, and she needs to run the other way to the service kitchen, which is near an exit
of the mansion that she can escape through.
Alex is an idiot for not realizing
that the game is deterministic, and a piece of shit for not telling Grace
about Le Bail’s game ahead of time.
The dumbwaiter is an obvious hiding spot,
and one of the first places I'd check if I was a Le Domas. Then again, Grace couldn’t
have been expected to hide in a good spot since she thought it was a harmless game.
With their lives on the line, the Le Domases should have guarded Alex better or brought
him with them to keep him in sight. As well as locked the security room. He has too strong
a motive to cause them to lose the game.
The first of the Le Domases' many
screwups is handing a drug addict a firearm and sending her out into
the mansion with maids, butlers, and their kids all running around. And had
Emilie accidentally shot Grace in the head and killed her, there may have been
dire consequences for the family.
Unfortunately, Grace and Alex’s phones were
confiscated, so calling for help is out. Alex’s plan is simple but effective.
Disable the locks and get Grace out. The execution, however, was flawed.
Grace is mentally gone right now. She should not be left alone to navigate the
giant mansion she’s unfamiliar with. She also can be easily overpowered by a couple of the Le
Domas family members should they find her.
Alex needs to have Grace stay put in the servant’s
corridor, tell Grace how long it will take him to disable the locks and what to do if he’s not back
in time, and then have her wait for him to come back so he can guide her to the exit while fending
off any family members that spot them.
If they were hell bent on splitting up for
good, Alex should at least have told her how long it might take him to disable the security
system so she doesn’t prematurely make a break for it and get caught at a locked door.
This is all assuming that the windows are made of a strong plexiglass that they couldn’t
throw a lamp through. In which case disabling the security system is the only way out.
Grace rips the bottom of her dress off and heads down the corridor where she reaches two doors on
either side. She picks the wrong door and walks out into the hallway Helene, Alex, and Tony
are dragging the maid’s corpse through.
The drugged out Emilie opens fire with
her Pepperbox multi-barreled pistol.
Grace managed to duck out of the way and come
out unscathed. Emilie drops the gun, so Grace runs past her to get away from the others.
She flees into another room to try to escape with no luck. Alex still hasn’t disabled the security
system. The windows are locked and the phones are down too. She’s trapped. Daniel walks into
the room, almost ignoring Grace at first. Being disillusioned with his Satanic family, he
gives her a 10 second head start then alerts his family. Charity and the others show up. She
tells them that Alex left the game room.
Emilie throws a fit about losing her pistol
earlier. Fitch graciously hands her his crossbow since he still couldn’t figure out how to use it
after all those videos on the John. Unlike Fitch, Emilie’s a bit of a natural. When another maid
runs into the room to tell them she saw Grace, Emilie accidentally fires a
bolt through her mouth.
They try to form a new plan to stop Alex and
find Grace, but keep getting interrupted by the maid's deathly groans. Helene finally gets
fed up and decapitates her with the axe.
In desperation, their new plan is for Tony
and Daniel to go turn on the cameras to give themselves an advantage while the rest
fan out to find Grace and Alex.
Since Alex failed to disable the security
system, Grace devises a plan of her own. She sneaks back to the unattended game room
where all the old weapons were stored and grabs the elephant gun with it’s bandolier
of ammo. It’s time for some payback.
Grace’s premature exit out the wrong side of
the servant’s corridor is exactly why Alex should have guided her or told her how long it
would take to disable the security system.
Why are the Le Domases still dragging the maids
body around. Not only are they wasting precious time, but they are far more likely to be seen
by Grace or leave a blood trail she’d find. It would be far more effective if
they’d just rolled her up in the rug, stuffed her in a closet, and locked the door.
Emilie needs to get benched. Why they gave her one of the most dangerous, effective weapons in the
first place, and why they didn’t take it away from her after she shot the maid is beyond me. She
nearly killed Tony, Daniel, and Helene.
The Le Domases should have planned,
prepared, and trained much better for this night. They are all splitting up, not
taking it seriously, getting high and drunk, haphazardly checking random areas instead of
clearing the house directionally, and giving guns to untrained undisciplined morons.
If I’m being honest, the Le Domases fucked up way before all this by choosing idiots for
partners and poorly parenting their children. New additions need to be morally corrupt,
not braindead substance abusers.
Turning on the cameras should have
been done from the start. Again, this ritual is about filtering out moral
newcomers. The only goal that really needs to be satisfied is sacrificing Grace by dawn.
When they fan out to find Grace they should be paired up, stupid with smart. This way a 2v1
ensures that when they find Grace they can subdue her, as well as keeping the morons of the
family in check. They also should be directionally and thoroughly clearing areas to be sure Grace
doesn’t sneak into a previously checked area.
Since the doors and windows are still locked,
Grace’s plan to go back to the game room slash armory was a good idea. The elephant gun was the
only weapon left, which she promptly picked up. I don’t think she loaded it though. It’d be wise
of her to practice dry firing and reloading to make sure she knows how to operate it. The Le
Domas family is pretty big, so she’s going to be reloading a lot. Grace does have the advantage
that they have to be careful to only maim her, while she can outright kill them.
Grace finally makes it into the service kitchen. The doors are still locked, who knows
what happened to Alex. There’s no time to wait for him to do his part. Grace tries to blast the door
open but the gun won’t fire for some reason... Before she can figure out why, the Butler,
Stevens, arrives to grab a late night snack.
Grace slips around the corner and ever so softly
slides a .577 Nitro Express cartridge into the breach while the butlers singing. She sees the
exit door getting disabled and makes her move on the butler. He doesn’t budge, so she pulls
both triggers. Nothing happens. The butler reveals that she loaded display dummy rounds
and attacks her. Grace hits him over the head with the boiling pot of water. Stunned, he
grabs a kitchen knife and starts blindly swinging at her. She can’t make it past him so
she runs off in search of another exit.
Meanwhile, Alex bashes the security system to
prevent Tony and Daniel from reactivating it. Tony’s not too happy about the situation.
He knocks Alex unconscious, and they handcuff him in another room.
Seriously, why are all the maids, kids, and butlers wandering around
while the purge is going on.
Not that it would have mattered, but Grace should
have loaded the gun as soon as she picked it up. It should be obvious that the gun wouldn’t have
been kept loaded. That said, she can’t be blamed for not knowing they were dummy rounds. The Le
Domases grabbed the guns from the same wall. It’s unfortunate, because seeing Grace nuke
Stevens with the 8 bore would have been cool.
Alex understandably didn’t want to kill his dad
even though he poses a grave threat to Grace. He’s too conflicted emotionally. He did do a good
job of destroying the security system though.
Now that the doors and windows are unlocked and
the cameras are off, Grace should have free reign to pop open any of the exterior windows or doors
and escape. She should also start a fire with the candles. A large fire would signal emergency
services and disrupt the Le Domases hunt.
Grace’s new plan is to go back and hide in
the same dumbwaiter she originally hid in. Except another maid is hiding in it. The
maid then starts yelling trying to alert the family that Grace is there. When
she tries to get out of the dumbwaiter she accidentally hits the elevator
button, crushing herself in it.
That is a strong food elevator,
damn. Grace is forced to flee the scene before anyone else arrives.
Stevens rejoins with the family to give his report. He was unable to
repair the security system, meaning the doors and windows are still unlocked,
and Dora was crushed in the dumbwaiter.
The Le Domas’ feud with each other for a
bit, then head back out in search of Grace. They won’t be finding her inside though.
Grace is standing on the windowsill just outside the room they cuffed Alex in.
Grace jumps off the roof, somehow managing to not break her ankle, and sprints for it.
She gets pretty far, but someone’s out there with a flashlight blocking her path. Grace
decides to hide in the nearby Stable, which proves to be a poor choice as the person with the
flashlight starts searching it moments later.
It’s Georgie, Emilie’s son. Grace asks
him to help her escape, but Georgie’s too indoctrinated by his psycho family. He
pulls out a pistol and fires at her.
Luckily he missed anything vital and only blew a
hole through her hand. Grace knocks Georgie out cold before he can get another shot off. She’s
then startled by a goat, causing her to fall into the goat pit. It’s not just goats. This is
where the Le Domases dumped the bodies of previous spouses that drew the Hide n’ Seek card.
She one handedly climbs out of the goat pit via the rickety wooden ladder. It breaks just as she
reaches the top. As her bloody hand slips off, she slams her wounded hand down on the protruding
nail. The hole in her hand catches the nail, which Grace uses it to pull herself up.
The family might have heard that gunshot. She quickly bandages her hand up with
a piece of her dress and heads for the fenceline before others show up.
Grace really needs to stop trusting anyone associated with the Le Domases. Everyone
should be treated as a threat from now on.
Leaping 10-15 feet to the ground in front of
a giant window was dangerous. Not only could she have twisted an ankle putting herself at
an even worse disadvantage, but if Fitch or anyone else was looking out that window at
that moment she’d have been caught.
When Grace was cut off in the courtyard by
Georgie with the flashlight, she should have stayed put and kept behind the tree out of his
view by watching where the light was shining. They are most likely headed over to the stable
to search it since it’s an obvious hiding spot. It was stupid of Grace to run over
to it ahead of the searcher. Not as stupid as revealing herself to Georgie.
The Le Domases should have done a much better job of disposing of the bodies. If anyone got
suspicious of why multiple people went missing the night of their wedding at the Le Domas mansion,
this would be one of the places they’d check.
Grace was lucky she was able to make it out of
the pit on that old ladder. Once she got out, she should have thrown Georgie
in the hole and taken his gun. It was the same Pepperbox that Emilie had.
There might be ammo in it. Even if there isn’t, it could be used to scare off the Le Domases.
Charity see’s Grace run from the stables and takes a shot with her harpoon gun from the
mansion terrace. Which totally misses.
Grace makes it to the fenceline. She’s too
weak and wounded to climb it. There’s a broken piece of the fence that she’s able to
fully snap off, creating an opening barely large enough for her to squeeze through.
She makes it through to the other side, gashing herself in the process. Grace then
tries to flag down a car, but they speed off yelling at her to get out of the road.
Grace understandable gets a bit upset.
Catching a ride isn’t working, so she runs off
into the nearby woods. Stevens drives by shortly after and see’s the broken fence. He reports
back to the family saying that Grace fled into the woods but that he will find her, and fix
the broken fence in the morning of course.
Meanwhile, Alex finally regains
consciousness. Realizing Grace must be in danger, he starts trying to saw
his handcuffs through the bedframe.
The butler finds Grace running through
the forest. He runs her down in his car, tackles her to the ground, and tries to shoot her
with his tranq gun. Grace knocks it out of his hands, gouges his eye and burnt face, then chokes
him out with her dress's waist ribbon.
She jumps into his car, peels out, and
hits the Onstar button to call for help. The attendant is a useless NPC that, despite
her cries that people are trying to kill her, tells her the car was reported stolen
so they have to shut it down.
Grace puts her head down, thinking the police
must surely still be on their way. Stevens catches up to her before they arrive, breaks the
window, and shoots her with a tranq dart.
Grace completely stumbled at the finish
line. When she made it past the fence, trying to flag down oncoming cars was far
too risky. It easily could have been driven by a Le Domas or one of their employees
looking for her. Luckily it wasn’t.
I don’t know how she got surprised by a car
in the dark quiet forest. She definitely should have seen him coming and hid.
When Grace gouged Stevens face, she should have immediately ran and taken off in the car.
Trying to choke him out was too risky. Stevens is much larger and stronger than she is, and
easily could have overpowered her, rolled out of the choke, or pulled the fabric away from
his neck as it is rather wide and large.
Had she taken Georgie’s pistol and shot down
Stevens, finished him off by backing the car over him or shooting him with the tranq gun,
she wouldn’t have gotten recaptured.
The Onstar Tripsafe service needs to be sued into
oblivion for immediately shutting down a vehicle with a driver that is in fear of her life. Waiting
in the shut down car was a terrible decision. It should have been obvious that Stevens was the one
who reported it missing since choking someone out for 10 seconds doesn’t kill them despite what
most movies indicate. He knows the direction Grace went in and will be coming after her.
Stevens reports back to the family once more that he captured Grace and he’s making his way to the
rear gate with Grace tied up in the backseat.
