It was right around the time when newlywed Grace (Samara Weaving) punched her pre-teen nephew in the face and subsequently fell into a pit filled with decomposing bodies that I found myself completely shutting off to Ready or Not, the new horror-comedy from filmmaking collective Radio Silence.

From there, atrophy set in—rendering me numb to each subsequent act of violence that was supposed to shock and/or amuse me. In Ready or Not, the significant efforts—expended by screenwriters Guy Busick and Ryan Murphy, and co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett—to riff on awful rich people and the dumb shit we all do in the name of family are completely undermined by every moment of screeching histrionics and squishing flesh, with the filmmakers' attempts to land a big gut punch with the film's final line feels instead like getting gently slapped with a wet nap.

Which is too bad, because there's plenty of promise at the outset as Grace—on the night of her nuptials to Alex (Mark O’Brien), the heir to a board game empire—is gently pushed into a deadly, ritualistic game of hide and seek with her new family. The seekers are a miserable bunch of monied white people who act badly, treat each other like shit, and seem to think that their survival depends on murdering their newest family member.

But the acidic laughs wrung out of this scenario (particularly through the performances of Nicky Guadagni, as stone-faced, bloodthirsty Aunt Helene, and Melanie Scrofano as Emilie, this clan's drug-fueled daughter) are soon overtaken by the sounds of cracking bones and ripping skin, and no one, not even the wide-eyed Grace or her embittered, alcoholic brother-in-law (Adam Brody, in his best deadpan mode), elicits any measure of sympathy. As Ready or Not rolls on, it all becomes much too much of everything—a bit of playful, clever wrestling that, after turning into a full-out brawl, ends messily and ignominiously.