The sleeper horror hit of 2019, Ready or Not, was not only a stunning, refreshing horror comedy, but put the filmmaking collective of Radio Silence – directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett – on the map, resulting in horror hits from the duo ever since. Now, there’s the unlikely sequel, appropriately titled Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, which was a surprise to many given the bloody and shocking conclusion of its predecessor- PS: There will be spoilers for that film in this review, for obvious reasons.
This time around, though, Radio Silence are armed with far more confidence, a bigger scope and budget and not one, but two scream queens in the making with the duo of Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton. The result is a fun, bloody and more ambitious sequel that still has all the trappings of what came before, only bigger and a lot bloodier.
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Picking up immediately after the ending to the previous film, Weaving’s Grace is in hot water following the deaths of her in-laws. Turns out, their bloody demise has triggered a power vacuum in the Satanic cult they belonged to and now, numerous other wealthy families are fighting for the throne. Now, Grace, along with her estranged sister Faith (Newton), must go “double or nothing” to earn their survival and last until dawn.
The first apparent change from the first film to the second is the drastically increased scale. From the first shot, which recreates Ready or Not’s iconic ending, but keeps going in one long take, it’s clear that Radio Silence has leveled up from the first film, and even their other horror works. If the first film was a contained survival horror/thriller, this one is essentially to that what Terminator 2: Judgement Day was to the original. Everything is bigger and grander here and watching it all unfold gracefully is a joy for film nerds and fans of the genre and the directors. As nerdy as it is to praise the directing, it’s very much earned.
But the real fun is the ensemble, led off by Weaving and Newton as fractured sisters who are forced to work together to survive. Not only do both actresses give career high performances here, but every scene they share together comes alive with chemistry. Even though Grace and Faith are working through some serious personal issues, you can tell that there’s love there, even when things are at their worst. Not to mention that both of them nail their iconic, ear shattering screams of horror.
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The rest of the cast, while not as likable as our leads, are also a delight. Unlike the first, in which the hunters going after Grace were likable to a point, this film’s villains are by no means that, resulting in the filmmakers, the audience and the characters enjoying the eventual bloody carnage that follows. The highlights are Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy as twin siblings Ursula and Titus Danforth, who are both genuine threats to our heroes and give the film a more complex relationship to unravel. It also gives this film a twisted edge that only gets more intense by the climax to the point where you honestly don’t know how this will end- but the ending that we do get is just as satisfying as the first.
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is a pleasantly bolder and more confident sequel that will please fans of the first, as well as horror fans in general. Radio Silence is firing on all cylinders right now, as are Weaving and Newton, and the film world thanks them for that.
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is now playing in theaters.
