The original Ready or Not is easily one of the one horror-comedies in recent memory that flips a childhood game like hide-and-seek into a hilariously bloody battle for survival, with a timely “eat the rich” message at a time when that sentiment started to grow. The fitting-subtitled follow-up Ready or Not: Here I Come doubles down on the lore, the scale and the gore, but this is an instance where bigger isn’t necessarily better.
Ready or Not 2 picks up seconds where the first one left off, with Grace (Samara Weaving) lighting a cigarette on the steps of the burning mansion of her wealthy former in-laws, the devil-worshipping Le Domas family. She immediately passes out and wakes up in a hospital, accosted not just by the police but by her estranged younger sister, Faith (Kathryn Newton). Grace barely has any time to gain her bearings before she and Faith are forcibly taken to a resort owned by the uber-powerful magnate Chester Danforth (David Cronenberg, in an all-too-brief cameo).
Turns out, Grace’s unlikely survival–and the Le Domas’ respective demise–triggered a clause amongst a council of four more extremely powerful families, all of whom made their fortunes through a similar deal to “Mr. Le Bail”, aka the Devil. As a result, Grace now has to participate in a second, “double or nothing” round of hide-and-seek. Whichever family manages to kill Grace gets the high seat at the council, and basically becomes the most powerful person on the planet. If Grace survives until dawn, she gets the seat. Faith is additionally thrown into the mix as collateral, even though the sisters hadn’t talked in seven years.
Ready or Not 2 retains a lot of the same crew that worked on the first film, namely Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy as writers, as well as Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin (aka Radio Silence) as directors. The problem is that most of the film feels like an unnecessary retread of the first. Too often does the film rely on exploding bodies as a punchline, which has become a Radio Silence staple at this point. I never thought I’d say this, but there’s only so many times you can see bodies suddenly burst before the law of diminishing returns starts to kick in.
“The script in Ready or Not 2 also feels a lot clunkier this time around, especially when it comes to developing the relationship between Grace and Faith.”
The script in Ready or Not 2 also feels a lot clunkier this time around, especially when it comes to developing the relationship between Grace and Faith. The dialogue in their first scene, in particular, may as well have the words “exposition dump” displayed on the screen. There are a few new wrinkles in the game in terms of rules and loopholes, but it doesn’t prevent it from still feeling like more of the same.
There are a few moments where Ready or Not 2 recaptures the fun of the first film. Samara Weaving is still a very game performer, and it’s impressive to see her go through the wringer yet again. When they’re not delivering bad exposition, Kathryn Newton is a fun counterpart to Weaving, and they get a good few back-and-forths. The families are fun to dislike in their own ways, from hard-partying socialites to snooty business execs with spoiled kids.
The ones who have the most to lose are Chester’s twin children, Ursula and Titus Danforth, played with icy cruelty by Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy. Even if he’s in for a short while as Le Bail’s lawyer/official gamemaster, Elijah Wood is having a blast being so nonchalantly evil. Additionally, there are a few great non-explosive kills and some fun setpieces, particularly a hilarious pepper-spray brawl between Grace and her former husband’s ex, Francesca (Maia Jae), set to Total Eclipse of the Heart.
With how much the first film was such a surprise, it’s disappointing that Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is mostly a by-the-numbers retread. If there ends up being a Ready or Not 3, maybe switching up the games would freshen things up. A regular game of Uno is already bad enough; imagine if it had actual life-or-death stakes to it.
