Movie Review: Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — No peeking!

Synopsis

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come follows Grace Le Domas (Samara Weaving) directly after surviving the events of the last film, where her Satan-worshipping husband and his family tried to sacrifice her in a demented game of hide-and-seek. While Grace assumes it’s all over, the death of the entire Le Domas family kicks off a new game where the surviving victim is forced to play and survive another night of being hunted. Once again trapped in an enormous estate with wealthy people attempting to kill her, Grace isn’t the only one in peril as her estranged younger sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) also finds herself roped into the situation.

My thoughts

I became a fan of directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, collectively known as Radio Silence, when they had their breakout hit, Ready or Not, back in 2019. The less said about their 2014 debut film Devil’s Due, the better, but with Ready or Not, as well as 5CREAM and SCREAM VI all being excellent, it appeared they were talents that could reliably provide the gory genre thrills horror fans demand. Unfortunately, I wasn’t too high on their last effort, Abigail, as it just didn’t live up to its concept and felt like Radio Silence was treading old ground with how similar it was to Ready or Not.

Screenwriter Guy Busick co-wrote both of those screenplays, and if there’s one thing he and Radio Silence really like, it’s characters sneaking around an elaborately designed estate while being hunted by someone trying to kill them. If those characters are sisters, even better! Ready or Not: Here I Come (I’m now dropping the 2 from the title for obvious reasons) is Radio Silence, Guy Busick, and co-writer R. Christopher Murphy once again wading through familiar waters, but at least compared to Abigail, this one is far more entertaining.

New game, new rules

With a seven-year gap between installments, you might be like me and ask yourself, “Why did they take so long to make a sequel?” Well, in classic Hollywood fashion, Ready or Not: Here I Come started off as an original story Radio Silence conceived about two sisters that would star Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton. When Disney/Searchlight Pictures asked Radio Silence for a sequel to Ready or Not, they evidently thought, “Why not?” and turned that into what we got here.

While it’s impossible to know what their original concept would have entailed, Ready or Not: Here I Come is very much one of those sequels that basically does the same movie again, only bigger, bolder, and bloodier. Grace is once again trapped in an enormous estate and, along with her younger sister Faith, forced to survive until dawn as everyone tries to kill them. Grace even suits up in her bloodstained wedding dress and yellow Converse sneakers from the first film. Why? Just because, really.

Ready or Not: Here I Come isn’t as tight an experience as the first, as you have to get through a clunky setup to get all the gears moving. It’s all pretty contrived stuff with the new game Grace partaking in reeking of playing a game with an annoying person who keeps making up new rules to stretch it out and keep the odds in their favor. Once things get going in the middle section with a clear pace and structure, it’s loads of suspenseful fun as the hunt is on against the sisters, even if the ending loses a little steam. It’s all sloppy seconds, but at least they’re tasty.

They’re definitely sloppy, too, as Grace and Faith get blasted with gallons of blood left, right, and center. If you got a kick out of the explosively bloody finale in the last film, you’ll receive consistent helpings of that here. This is one bloody affair featuring impalements and people getting blasted with shotguns, displayed in all its viscera, yet clearly played for laughs. Such bits include a hilarious confrontation inside an industrial laundry and a dance floor fight, although we really need to retire Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart from being in movies from here on out.

Three Queens

Grace’s character was fairly underwritten in the first film, so it was nice to get some hints at her backstory with her younger sister, Faith, being brought into the fold. When the two aren’t running, hiding, or trying to defend themselves, they get nice little character-building scenes as they repair their damaged relationship. This emotional core between the two is solid and gives the proceedings a little bit more heart this time around, even if we’re still simply watching schlock where people constantly explode.

Like the first film, Samara Weaving is the main reason to watch this. I have immense respect for how much she’s embraced her modern Scream Queen role and the effort she puts into every single project. She’s an actor good enough to be in dramas that could get Oscar recognition, but now that horror films are becoming more legitimized there, maybe she’ll get her chance! It won’t be for this movie, but her talent is certainly there.

Still, it’s nice to have an actor in movies like these that takes them seriously, and Weaving knows just how to play it in each scene. She’s emotionally engaging in the dramatic parts, but she’s going absolutely feral during the action sequences with her iconic primal screams and all. Since this takes place right after the first one, Grace hasn’t fully recovered from her numerous injuries and suffers even more in this one, and unlike many actors whose characters suffer constant abuse, Weaving acts like she’s genuinely in pain.

Weaving plays off Kathryn Newton well, who’s also great and appears to be becoming a new Radio Silence mainstay. Newton shares many similarities with Weaving, making them a good fit for playing sisters. She’s become somewhat of a Scream Queen herself, and like Weaving, her character also goes through the wringer, and you can believe every wince, groan, and scream. Bringing a swagger and grit to her character, Newton ensures Faith is a suitable counterpart to Grace. Are we going to meet their other sister Hope in the next one?

Speaking of Scream Queens, Sarah Michelle Gellar has a sizable role as Ursula Danforth, something that feels written specifically for her. Cold, calculating, and cunning, she’s a solid antagonist and even gets a fight scene with Weaving! Ursula has a twin brother, the more violent and unhinged Titus (Shawn Hatosy), which mirrors the relationship between Grace and Faith. The rest of the cast gets the job done, with Elijah Wood’s lawyer/gamemaster character and Néstor Carbonell’s eccentric Ignacio El Caido making the most impact.

Final verdict

Ready or Not: Here I Come doesn’t come close to Radio Silence and their crew’s best work, but it’s definitely a step up from the anemic Abigail. This outing provides enough trashy genre thrills and terrific lead performances from Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton, so if you were a fan of the first game of hide-and-seek, it’s worth going for a second round.

Still, it makes me think back to my Abigail review, where I was pondering how deep the well of creativity with Radio Silence goes. For the third time, they’ve made a film that not only centers on sisters with a complicated relationship but also traps those characters in one location. They’re currently slated to direct the upcoming fourth Mummy film starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, so perhaps they’ll give it the Scream 5 treatment and create a new instant classic. Let’s just hope the entire movie doesn’t take place inside a puzzle-filled, booby-trap-laden pyramid.

My rating: 6/10

Ready or Not: Here I Come will be released in theaters nationwide on Thursday, March 19.

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