Somebody caught the bloody bouquet at the wedding, and now we have a fun sequel.
The opening credits give the sequel “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” the better title than the poster: “Ready or Not: Here I Come.” It knows how to forget the “2” and cater to the Hide and Seek line: “Ready or not, here I come!”
And yes, I did say this was a sequel. A sequel to the 2019 horror comedy hit, which took the genre to new heights and exploded. Literally and metaphorically speaking. It also gave Radio Silence (directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett) the opportunity to help bring the “Scream” franchise to the 2020s (they were only executive producers on the awful “Scream 7), and they both know how to combine horror and comedy with originality.
To recall the first movie, Grace (Samara Weaving) married into a rich family-the Le Domas family-who turned out to be a satanist cult, and the game Hide and Seek required them to sacrifice her by dawn. She, however, survived the game, and everyone else, including her cowardly husband, exploded.
But this sequel shows it isn’t the end of it. The Le Domas family was part of a council, which consists of six families. Now, thanks to Grace, it’s been reduced to four. There are different families from different countries and states (like Nestor Carbonell as a sniper welder in Spain, Olivia Cheng as a single mom in China, or Kevin Durand as a cokehead in Atlantic City, NJ), and the main family is the Danforth family, which is headed by the dying Chester (David Cronenberg) and his twins: the psychopathic Titus (Shawn Hatosy) and the sensible Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar, who is no stranger to the horror genre).
The four families target Grace and her estranged younger sister Faith (Kathryn Newton), who comes back into her life after all these years and criticizes her life choices. And the lawyer (Elijah Wood) places them in a Double or Nothing game, which takes place at a casino and golf resort. Whoever kills Grace and Faith will be the head of the council. And whoever kills another team player even by accident or fails miserably in the end, BOOM!!!!!
The screenplay is only predictable in that notion, but there are some explosions that pay off and the rest of the film provides us details we probably wouldn’t have guessed in this franchise. And the rules of who gets to kill Grace, based on the next of kin, couldn’t be more explicit. In fact, when Grace has to do something to save her sister, I think it’s more heart pounding than how Sydney Prescott kept taking heat for not appearing in “Scream 6.” So, I think Radio Silence made the better choice of directing “Ready or Not 2” and not “Scream 7.”
Weaving is still the right actress to play Grace, because she displays the attitude and fears of her, and with her argumentative relationship with her sister, the stakes are high. And that’s when I should also single out Newton for specializing in the horror comedy genre as well, especially when she did the body switch movie “Freaky” and collaborated with Radio Silence before on “Abigail.” And the killers, though we have too many to focus on, are often energetic and consistent, especially Gellar and Hatosy.
There’s a scene later in the film when Titus is kicking the crap out of Faith, which reminded me, unfortunately, of how that boy kicked a girl in “This is Not a Test.” But unlike that heroine, Faith tries to fight back, at least, even spitting blood at him. So, this movie, in a small way, fights against abusive men. And like the first movie, there’s a lot of blood and gore, which is violent and fun to watch.
“Ready or Not 2” is not better than the first film, but it is still expansive, comical, and gory enough to invite us back for the afterparty. And for the record, my wedding will feature no blood oaths. Thank you.
