Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come Review
By Kevin Hoskinson
Entertainment Editor
(Note: we are going to spoil the outcome of the first Ready Or Not film, so feel free to skip the first paragraph if you don’t want to know.)
Sitting on the steps of her in-laws mansion, we thought the story was over for Grace. Covered in blood and having survived a horrific game of hide and seek at the hands of her new husband’s family, she lights up a cigarette and takes it all in as the house behind her goes up in flames. As emergency crews surround the property, a firefighter asks her what happened and she simply responds, “In-laws”. It’s an iconic moment and one that has gone down as one of the best endings in recent horror memory.
Ready Or Not: Here I Come starts exactly where the first film leaves off. What Grace doesn’t realize is that she has set off a chain of events and a new game is at play, one with control of the entire world at stake. Joining her this time around is her estranged sister Faith, who has her own emotional axe to grind with Grace. It’s a sequel that ups the ante on every level, but also one that lacks the surprises of the original film. What made the first movie work so well was not knowing what was real and what was hyperbole. Knowing the truth diminishes some of the fun but that’s not to say that there aren’t good times to be had, because there is plenty to like about this movie.
One great thing is the phenomenal cast. Samara Weaving is the only returning cast member (for obvious reasons) with a slew of awesome genre performers joining her. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy are great as the bickering Danforth siblings. They are the reason this new game is happening and their chemistry is essential for the story to work and it does. Also joining is one of my favorite actresses working today, Kathryn Newton. She is incredibly adept at reacting to things in a unique way and it works so well in this film. She has paved her way in the horror genre over the last few years and she is always a joy to watch. Also joining the cast is Elijah Wood, Nestor Carbonell, Kevin Durand, David Cronenberg and Olivia Cheng.
While I enjoyed the film for the most part, it takes a back seat to the original. Some of it felt repetitive at times and the story is pretty much a retread. The game they are playing is still hide and seek and it ends on a strange, albeit logical, solution. I love spontaneous human combustion as much as the next person, especially Newton’s brilliant reactions to it every time. But it did happen a couple times too many, taking away the novelty it once had. These are minor complaints but they do take away from the experience a bit.
For the most part, I liked Ready Or Not 2: Here I come. The filmmaking collective known as Radio Silence has been a favorite of mine since their work on the anthology film Southbound. They have done amazing work and even brought their signature touch to the Scream franchise with 5 and 6. They do a great job establishing lore but seem to struggle when building off of that into new films. This isn’t a perfect movie or even one of their best, but it’s a bloody good time at the movies.
Rating: 2.5 Pastrami Nations out of 5
