Picking things up mere seconds after Ready or Not, returning writer/directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (once collectively known as Radio Silence) waste no time getting right back into the game-playing that dominated that surprise 2019 hit—only this time, there are even more rules, and as we all know, nothing improves a horror movie like rules. Since the previous chapter, Radio Silence has given us 2022’s Scream and 2023’s Scream VI, as well as the vampire horror comedy Abigail, but none of those quite hit home the way Ready or Not did, with its tale of young bride Grace (Samara Weaving) trying not to get killed by her new husband and the entirety of her in-laws in a deadly game of hide-and-seek. She survived until dawn, and all those she didn’t kill exploded like blood-filled water balloons, leaving her the only living member of the Le Domas family.
In Ready or Not 2, Grace passes out on the front lawn of their mansion, and is taken to the hospital, where she is patched up and handcuffed to the bed, since the police can’t figure out what caused the manor to burn down with a host of dead bodies inside. Soon after she wakes up, Grace’s estranged younger sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) arrives, and the two are kidnapped in a new mansion. After a great deal of exposition by the mysterious Lawyer (Elijah Wood), we learn that Grace’s victory comes at a price: she must once again survive the night while members of the most powerful families in the world hunt her down.
The winner will claim the High Seat of the Council that essentially controls the world, a position, until recently, occupied by Chester Danforth (a fun cameo by David Cronenberg), whose twin offspring, Ursula and Titus (Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy), murder him to get the ball rolling on the contest for the ultimate power. Did I mention that all of this seems to be the product of deals each family made with the devil, and that all of these lunatics worship Satan with various levels of enthusiasm. Shockingly, it doesn’t make things any more interesting.
So most of Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is Grace and Faith running around the grounds of this estate, finding weapons where they can or making weapons out of items on the property. Meanwhile, the heads of the households (played by the likes of Nestor Carbonell, Kevin Durand, Olivia Cheng, and Varun Saranga) all chase after them. Keep in mind, these rich folks have been training their whole lives for this opportunity, but that doesn’t seem to give them an edge when they come face to face with the sisters who don’t even get along that well. To make things more tedious, despite their lives being on the line, Grace and Faith still make plenty of time to bicker about their past and who gave up on who first and whose life was better before all of the killing started.,
When one of the rich people gets killed, another member of their family is allowed to continue, which seems like bullshit, but when Elijah Wood speaks, people listen. But this is a film where the rules change to suit the screenplay and not the flow of the story itself. Some of the hunters try to cut deals with Grace (there are loopholes, apparently), but those never quite work out. And all of this is in service of nothing.
Because of the ridiculous amounts of blood in Ready or Not 2, it technically qualifies as a horror movie, I guess, but there isn’t an iota of anything scary, nothing that feels like tension or even anxiety. It’s a chase movie with lame jokes, antics, actors overplaying their parts because otherwise, how would you know who the villains are? (Clue: they’re the ones running their mouths.) There was at least something a little playful in the first film, but that’s replaced here by an overly complicated set of parameters that don’t pay off for the characters or the audience. Weaving is still the MVP in this ensemble, and it’s fun to see Buffy the Vampire Slayer back on the boards trying to slay anything, but beyond that, I was ready to leave Here I Come.
The film is now playing in theaters.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider supporting Third Coast Review’s arts and culture coverage by making a donation. Choose the amount that works best for you, and know how much we appreciate your support!
