They f**k you up, your mum and dad. But not half as much as Grace Le Domas’ (Samara Weaving’s) in-laws who hours after her wedding to Alex (Mark O’Brien) are not so much toasting her future happiness, but roasting her current buns.

She knew they were “moderately f**ked up”. The father Tony (Henry Czerny) is as “rich as God” and hates her with a passion of the Antichrist. The aunt Helene (Nicky Guadagni) has “boundary issues” and a mouth like a Venus flytrap. And the brother Daniel (Adam Brody) is an alcoholic who hits on her more than he hits the bottle.

So far, so dysfunctionally normal. So Royal Family, even.

But that all changes when she is invited to take part in an initiation game (the family made their fortune selling playing cards and board games). A card is picked from a box, Hide and Seek is revealed and ready or not here they come – with rifles, blades and harpoons.

Thankfully, her pursuers are more shit than sharp shooters. The sister Emilie (Melanie Scrofano) wipes out half the servants by mistake. Her husband Fitch (Kristian Bruun) resorts to Googling “Getting to know your crossbow”. And what the butler saw is not very much, after being scolded in the face with a teapot.

What follows is a thrilling rib-tickler with gore-tastic set-pieces. An occasional analogy to class: “It’s true what they say, the rich really are different.” And a fabulous performance from Weaving who runs the gamut of emotions from terror and tee-hee to girly and gung-ho. Go see!

Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Writers: Guy Busick, Ryan Murphy
Stars: Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Mark O’Brien
Peter Callaghan
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