In 2019, Radio Silence duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett broke into the mainstream with their smash hit thriller Ready or Not. With a simple enough plot of a newlywed bride (Samara Weaving) being pitted against her new in-laws in a sadistic game of hide-and-seek, writers Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy’s excellent black comedy elevated the thriller into one of the defining horror comedies of the 2010s. Nearly 10 years later, Radio Silence is back at the altar after two successful Scream films and 2024’s Abigail.
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come picks up immediately after the events of the first film, as Grace (Weaving) has seemingly fended off the Satanic Le Domas family, but she soon finds herself thrown into yet another game, where the fate of the world rests on whether she lives or dies. Joining Weaving, whose performance in the original is regarded as a defining “final girl” of that decade, is Kathryn Newton as Grace’s estranged sister Faith. Newton previously worked with Radio Silence in Abigail, giving a particularly hilarious performance as robber Sammy. The supporting cast, the group of people representing the Satanic elite, includes Shawn Hatosy, more recently recognized for his role as Dr. Abbott on HBO Max’s The Pitt (2024-present), and Sarah Michelle Gellar, perhaps one of the most significant women in horror for her iconic role as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003).
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come kicks things off in a gory fashion as Grace is immediately taken from the hospital to play hide-and-seek once again. Despite the higher stakes in this sequel, as the film progressed, I wondered what exactly was being added to the first film. What made the first Ready or Not so refreshing was that a sequel seemed nearly impossible. It’s a story that wraps itself up in a neat little bow. The sequel ups the stakes, sure, but what does it actually add to the story?
The addition of a sister character (Newton) is compelling on paper because of Grace’s feeling of not having any real family in the first movie, and thus wanting to impress her new one. Newton and Weaving’s characters butt heads because of their estrangement, which allows for a compelling conflict between the two. These sisters are contrasted by Gellar and Hatosy, who play wealthy twins Ursula and Titus Danforth. I was initially expecting the contrast between the two sets of siblings to be a focal point of the conflict, adding depth to a life-or-death situation, but the story never expanded upon these dynamics in a meaningful way. Two sets of siblings that resent each other, one for leaving the other and the other for sticking around and keeping them from a lifelong goal, could have been an interesting foil for the film to jump off thematically, but the final product was too shallow to add anything.
As Grace is thrown into another game, this time with her little sister in tow, we’re treated to more of the black comedy present in the first film. This film is just as funny as the first one, and just as, if not more, bloody. More people explode, and Weaving’s Grace is put through even more hell physically as she is beaten up, stabbed, and shot at. Weaving brings an animalistic ferocity to Grace as she fights back against the elite families, but again, it fails to bring anything new or different from the first film. I am happy to see Grace screaming like a banshee and tearing up the horror genre once again, but ultimately, audiences don’t get anything new out of this entry.
Radio Silence’s knack for blowing people up in their movies returns in full force, with the bloody explosions punctuating much of the film. While it can get tiresome by the end, I have to commend the filmmakers for taking such time to craft the practical effects that go into it. The Le Domas family blowing up at the end of the first film was easily its biggest surprise, but here it feels almost like a plot device. It’s not necessarily a bad thing; I was grinning from ear to ear every time it happened, but I can see it getting old for some very quickly. The rest of the gore effects are just as impressive, with one particularly gnarly kill involving an industrial washing machine.
Ultimately, while I had a blast (pun intended) watching another black comedy from Radio Silence, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is an unnecessary sequel that fails to bring anything new to the world of the first horror-comedy. Weaving, Newton, and the entire supporting cast are great, and bring compelling performances to what could have been a cheap cop-out sequel, but I am ultimately left scratching my head at this film’s existence and whether it was necessary.
Review Courtesy of Nadia Arain
Feature Image Credit to Searchlight Pictures via IMDb