Co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have stayed busy since Ready or Not, helming both Scream V and Scream VI, as well as the vampire comedy Abigail. It’s been seven years since Samara Weaving’s Grace lit a cigarette in the aftermath of watching her Satan-worshipping in-laws go up in flames.
The premise was a killer hook: survive a deadly game of hide-and-seek on your wedding night to earn your place in an ultra-wealthy and ultra-cursed family. The film became an instant hit, praised for its sharp humour, satirical edge, and simple, effective execution. The question for Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is: how does Grace pull another card from the devilish puzzle box and survive even more twisted antics?
Picking up immediately after the first film, where Grace emerges as the sole survivor of the Le Domas family’s ritualistic hunting game, she now finds herself marked by more powerful, satanic forces. David Cronenberg’s Chester Danforth, a man capable of ending a war with a text message, quickly learns of the family’s demise, declaring, “The bride is alive, the ball is in play.” This time, four rival families - the wealthiest and most influential on Earth - are drawn into a new game, each vying for a coveted seat on a world-controlling council.
Bloody, outrageous, and hilarious fun, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is a boisterous sequel built on the “do what worked before, but bigger” approach. With more players, more weapons, more family members, and more elite-combusting chaos, it may lack surprises and as-salient-satire, but it more than makes up for it with gleeful, violent mayhem and sharp sisterly banter. With Kathryn Newton joining as Grace’s estranged sister Faith, the duo must work together to survive a now-global game of ultra-wealthy hunters. Between a cultist lawyer, a feral ex-fiancé, and lingering family tensions, Grace’s return to her blood-soaked wedding attire comes with plenty of dizzying hurdles.
With Grace kidnapped from the hospital and handcuffed to Faith, the ever-disgruntled scream queen is thrust into yet another deadly round of “survive the rich cultists,” this time fighting to protect her sister. Kathryn Newton plays effortlessly off Samara Weaving, their bickering chemistry grounding the chaos as their strained relationship gradually unfolds amid a steady stream of quips, jokes, and creative carnage. While the script occasionally leans too heavily into positioning Faith as a damsel, the added dynamic, and having someone for Grace to bounce off, is ultimately a welcome change.
Far more intricate and lore-heavy than its predecessor, the sequel significantly expands its scope, sometimes asking the audience to invest in stakes that verge on overcomplicated. Elijah Wood provides welcome support as Le Bail’s soft-spoken lawyer, bringing a dry humour that helps balance the increasingly crowded ensemble. Among the opposing families are Chester’s children, the scene-chewing Titus Danforth (Shawn Hatosy) and his sister Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar). Though their sibling rivalry is entertaining, it is Gellar’s Ursula who ultimately feels underutilised. Néstor Carbonell adds flair as Ignacio El Caído, but it is his daughter Francesca (Maia Jae) who lands some of the film’s biggest laughs.
Even once the third act drags, Grace consistently proves her fighting acumen. One standout sequence, set to Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” sees Francesca take matters into her own frenzied hands. With an axe to grind, a bazooka, and even pepper spray, a crazed ‘bride-off’ between her and Grace results in one of the film’s most absurd and laugh-out-loud moments. It helps, too, that the colour grading is noticeably less murky than in the first film, allowing the gorier, more ludicrous set pieces to play out with sharper detail and a more striking visual palette.
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come plays like the John Wick: Chapter 2 of horror-comedies, trading a lean, streamlined concept for higher stakes, deeper lore, and a bigger body count. The film could have done without one particularly sadistic moment in the back half, and a tighter runtime might have served it better. Still, it delivers back-to-back horror-comedy thrills, making it a worthy companion to its predecessor.
It may be a touch overstuffed, but with the charismatic pairing of Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton, plenty of gleeful carnage, and genuine laughs, there’s no hiding from how much blood-soaked fun Ready or Not 2: Here I Come delivers.
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olphin, Tyler Gillett
Cast: Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Elijah Wood
Writers: Guy Busick, R. Christopher Murphy, (screenplay by Matt Bettinelli-Olphin, Tyler Gillett)
Producers: Bradley J. Fischer, William Sherak, James Vanderbilt, Tripp Vinson
Composer: Sven Faulconer
Composer: Brett Jutkiewicz
Editor: Jay Prychidny