Only slightly less antiquated than their audio-only name suggests, Radio Silence has long felt like a relic of a better internet. Way before Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett were busy revitalizing legacy horror IP and setting box office records on the big screen, they were part of a scrappy filmmaking collective that broke out experimenting with form on YouTube.
The team’s early “choose your own adventure” shorts (built using a now-defunct platform feature) weren’t just clever gimmicks, but proof of concept for a team of emerging filmmakers caught teaching themselves how to control tone, pacing, and audience expectation in real time online. That DIY ethos never really left the brand. Even as Radio Silence transitioned into found footage with a standout contribution to the original “V/H/S” (2012), and later their messy-but-promising feature debut “Devil’s Due” (2014), Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s work retained a kind of gleeful instability that teases the promise of something funny or scary happening at any time.
What’s changed in the decade-plus since the brand’s breakout is the directors’ sense of control. In 2026, Radio Silence is among the rare genre voices capable of delivering major studio projects with indie-like spirit. They’re exceptionally attuned to the musicality of horror and humor — extracting performances that feel rhythmically alive rather than mandated or engineered. They ground even their most outlandish premises in sharp dialogue and sincere emotion, resulting in an overall filmography that, despite boasting several sequels, still hasn’t collapsed into sameness.
Even at Radio Silence’s messiest, their movies have a crowd-pleasing undercurrent that can make even marginally adventurous audiences feel drawn instead of pushed away. That instinct has translated into several savvy collaborations, from the electric pairing of Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera in their “Scream” heyday to the star-making alchemy of Samara Weaving in “Ready or Not.” Like Weaving’s quintessential final girl, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett thrive under pressure and guided by instincts that don’t always land for everyone but nevertheless feel purposeful compared to many other filmmakers’ uses of recycled slasher IP.
That’s part of what makes “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” such a compelling inflection point. Personally, I liked it considerably more than critic Chase Hutchinson did in his review for IndieWire out of SXSW. But if history is any indication, he and I won’t have to wait long before Radio Silence gives us another movie inspired disagreement. (“The Mummy,” anyone?) Read on for a ranking of all eight major Radio Silence projects, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.
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“Abigail” (2024)
Image Credit: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection Before Timothée Chalamet put both feet in his mouth on CNN, “Abigail” was the worst thing Hollywood had done to ballet in a while. In the frustrating film, a group of career criminals are tasked with guarding a young kidnapped dancer in a remote mansion. They quickly learn their hostage is a centuries-old vampire intent on turning the group’s seedy playdate into a far more dangerous game.
It’s a deliciously pulpy setup, but even early in its marketing campaign, “Abigail” felt like Radio Silence spinning their wheels. The single-location chaos recalled “Ready or Not” without carving out its a comparable grand identity, and the heist structure paired with the script’s needless Universal monster baggage turned a gleefully weird premise into something oddly generic. Just 13 years old here, Alisha Weir is strong enough to anchor something sharper, but the film devolves into repetitive carnage instead.
That said, Kathryn Newton pops as a comedic standout, and the late Angus Cloud adds welcome texture. Plus, that tutu!
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“Southbound” (2015)
Image Credit: The Orchard Set along a desolate stretch of highway where travelers drift into an interconnected nightmare facilitated by otherworldly stalkers, “Southbound” thrived as a showcase for indie horror voices on the festival circuit in 2014 and 2015. Though Radio Silence isn’t responsible for its strongest segment (that distinction belongs to David Bruckner’s deeply unnerving “The Accident”), Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett make a compelling case with the supernatural bookends they do direct. “The Way Out” and “The Way In” infuse the anthology with a dusty sense of existential dread — and a sci-fi twist to boot! — that helps the pair’s contribution feel like connective tissue. “Southbound” reinforced the filmmakers’ reputation for craft while elevetating their still-ongoing role as star-making collaborators in the genre community.
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“V/H/S” (2012)
Image Credit: Magnolia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection In Radio Silence’s “10/31/98,” a retro-style supernatural segment of the original “V/H/S” anthology from 2012, a group of Halloween partygoers stumble into what they think is a prank haunted house. They realize too little too late that the occult ritual unfolding around them is horrifyingly real, and soon get swept into one of the most memorable shitstorms in the “V/H/S” series’ now decade-plus history.
Rewatching “10/31/98” today, the premise feels less novel than it may have on release. Even still, the directors’ execution crackles and the segment stands out for its pulse-racing momentum as well as dark humor. Channeling a kind of scrappy fearlessness that recalls Sam Raimi’s early days, it’s proof this duo was capable of delivering visceral, crowd-pleasing horror from the very beginning.
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“Scream” (2022)
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection A new generation of Woodsboro teens, all curiously tied to the original 1996 murders, find themselves targeted by a killer weaponizing the toxicity of modern horror fandom in Radio Silence’s first “Scream.” Also known as “Scream 5,” it’s a knowingly clumsy “requel” that’s stuffed with legacy lore, shot-for-shot Wes Craven homages, and some eye-roll-inducing dramatic reveals (including Melissa Barrera’s soap-operatic connection to Billy Loomis) that do the genre renaissance prouder than you’d think.
At times, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett try a little too hard to prove their Ghostface bona fides. But that oozing chaos is part of the appeal and as much a fault of James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick’s script as anything else. Either way, the 2022 sequel successfully tapped into the series’s inherently ridiculous DNA and delivered a modern take on scary movies that made Woodsboro truly worth revisiting, for a time.
Read IndieWire’s complete ranking of the “Scream” franchise.
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“Devil’s Due” (2014)
Image Credit: ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection Radio Silence’s slow-burn feature debut follows a newlywed couple whose seemingly normal pregnancy evolves into something far more sinister. Blending the shagginess of found-footage with spiritual echoes of “Rosemary’s Baby,” the surprisingly tender possession film from 2014 became a sudden box office hit that ultimately recommended the duo for all of their future work. (Working with 20th Century Fox here, it also set up the relationships needed for the studio’s more auteur-driven arm, Fox Searchlight, to back “Ready or Not” five years later.)
“Devil’s Due” has since been overshadowed by Radio Silence’s flashier releases, but its earnestness and jump-scares still resonate. Zach Gilford and Allison Miller ground the escalating terror in real emotion, with Gilford feeling especially compelling as a husband watching an unknowable force consume his wife. It’s a flawed but revealing early showcase of the directors’ keen instincts for both mood and tone.
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“Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” (2026)
Image Credit: ©Searchlight Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection Radio Silence reunites with Samara Weaving’s iconic final girl, Grace, or a bigger, messier follow-up that leans into the filmmakers’ hard-earned confidence to spectacular payoff. Expanding the world with a stacked ensemble — including Kathryn Newton and Sarah Michelle Gellar — the sequel feels like a victory lap that actually justifies its indulgences. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett show a sharp awareness of what worked the first time without collapsing into repetition, cranking their lethal game of hide-and-seek to new extremes. It may not sharpen the original’s eat-the-rich allegory, but its campy political chaos proves that more can still be more. Hail Satan!
Read IndieWire’s “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” review by Chase Hutchinson.
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“Scream IV” (2023)
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection Uprooting the franchise from Woodsboro in “Scream IV,” Radio Silence sent a fresh crew of survivors to fight for their lives in New York City, where Ghostface turns subways and cramped apartments into his (her? their?!) hunting grounds. The shift isn’t just cosmetic. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett pull back on the meta overload and lean into a more character-driven mystery to let the series’ then core four — led by Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera — fully come into their own. The result is the pair’s most confident studio outing and a “Scream” entry that exemplifies an old slasher legacy achieving a new best .
Read IndieWire’s complete ranking of the “Scream” franchise.
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“Ready or Not” (2019)
Image Credit: Fox Searchlight/Everett Collection When bride Grace (Samara Weaving) sees her wedding night turn deadly — her wealthy new in-laws forcing her into a ritualistic game of… hide-and-seek? — Radio Silence hones the alchemy of horror and comedy for their best results yet. This masterpiece from 2019 is laugh-out-loud funny, gleefully violent, and just absurd enough to keep its innate cruelty from curdling as Weaving’s final girl lays determined claim to her enduring status a genre icon. Grace’s blood-soaked wedding dress and battered yellow sneakers were practically engineered for Halloween immortality, and revisiting her first movie years later, “Ready or Not” still feels like fire meeting algebra. It’s a timeless tale of betrayal that solves the puzzle of suspense while letting its cast swing big to fill a dark fantasy universe that’s electric, alive, and “in play.”
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