What actually happens
The family tradition requires a speargun
The movie opens with a young Daniel Le Domas, who finds a wounded man named Charles begging for help in the family mansion. Daniel tells his family instead, and they arrive in ceremonial robes and masks, shoot Charles with a speargun, and drag him into a locked room. Thirty years later, Alex Le Domas, who is estranged from his parents and their games company, marries Grace MacCaullay, a former foster child. On the wedding night she meets his relatives. Tony explains that his great-grandfather Victor made a deal with someone called Le Bail to build the family fortune, and the family pays for it with a tradition: every new member must pick a card, at midnight on the wedding day, from a puzzle box that belongs to Le Bail. Grace's card says Hide-and-Seek. She treats it as a harmless game and hides, while the Le Domases each pick up a weapon.
Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.
Hide-and-seek, with a death toll
Alex finds Grace and tells her the truth: when the Hide-and-Seek card is drawn, the family has to find the new member and sacrifice them before dawn, or the family dies instead. Charles drew the card last, and the family hunted him down. With the mansion locked down, Alex switches off the security system so Grace can run. Daniel, who has grown tired of his family, finds her and gives her a head start before he alerts the others. Along the way, Emilie accidentally kills a maid she mistakes for Grace, and later another maid. Stevens, the family butler, blocks Grace's way out, and she splashes boiling tea in his face and runs. A third maid crushes herself in a dumbwaiter while trying to warn the family.
Goats are not on her side
Grace heads for the goat shed, and Georgie shoots her in the hand there. She knocks him out, but a goat startles her and she falls into a pit full of remains from the family's earlier sacrifices, including Charles. The scene people dread most is the pit, and it comes in the middle of the movie. She climbs out, gets through the front gate, and is caught by Stevens, who starts driving her back to the house. She wakes up and attacks him, the car crashes, and he dies. Near the wreck, Daniel stops Grace once he realizes his father is watching.
Hydrochloric acid in the ritual cup
The Le Domases get ready to finish the ritual, but Daniel has slipped a non-lethal dose of hydrochloric acid into the ritual cup, which leaves them all incapacitated. Charity shoots Daniel in the neck and leaves him to bleed out while Grace runs. In the confusion the mansion catches fire, and Grace fights Charity and knocks her out with an empty gun. Alex slips his restraints and discovers that his mother, Becky, is dead, and the puzzle box was the weapon Grace used. Grace pulls away from him. Alex decides she will never trust him again and will walk out the moment she can, so he overpowers her to finish the ritual.
The ending, explained
Grace gets loose right as the sun comes up. Nothing happens at first, and the family decides Le Bail is a myth. Helene still wants to kill Grace to please him, and as she swings an axe she explodes. The curse is real, and the rest of the family explodes one at a time. Alex is the last. He asks Grace to forgive him, she gives back her ring and asks for a divorce, and he explodes too. Le Bail shows himself to Grace for a moment and nods at her. Daniel, Becky and Stevens are already dead. Grace, the only survivor, walks out of the burning mansion covered in blood as the police arrive. She sits down for a cigarette, and when they ask what happened, she answers, 'In-laws.'
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Ready or Not scary?
Barely. Ready or Not is a 3 out of 10: a horror comedy with some jump scares and some gore.
How does Ready or Not end?
Grace survives until sunrise, when the curse turns out to be real and every Le Domas explodes, including Alex. She walks out of the burning mansion alone and tells the police the cause was her in-laws.
Does the dog die in Ready or Not?
No dog dies in Ready or Not.
Is there a post-credits scene in Ready or Not?
No. Ready or Not has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who is Le Bail in Ready or Not?
Le Bail is the figure Victor Le Domas made a deal with to build the family fortune. In exchange, the Le Domas family observes a tradition in Ready or Not: if a new member draws Hide-and-Seek, the family must sacrifice that person by dawn or die themselves.
