Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026) Review

https://youtu.be/7K3sNRm8J0w?is=uw56PTq9FRkx0Qq-

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

I was immediately a fan of the Radio Silence team after their 2019 hit Ready or Not. When they followed this up with a dope vampire flick out of Abigail and two impressive Scream sequels, I was game for them to go back to their roots.


PLOT


The 2026 sequel, Here I Come, takes place immediately following the events of the first film. Grace MacCallauy has survived the demonic sacrificial Hide and Seek that resulted in the in law family, the La Domases, implode one by one for failing to meet their payment to Mr Le Bail. Although she slowly recovers at the hospital and reunites with her younger sister Faith who she hasn’t spoken to since leaving for college, her survival has only begun because five other elite families (The Danforths, Rajans, El Caidos, Wilkinsons and the Wans) are pact-ed to the La Domases for another game of Hide and Seek where this time, the winner is granted the High Seat of the High Council that comes with infinite worldwide power. With all families alerted, Titus and Ursula Danforth are ordered by their father Chester (David Cronenberg) to kill him so they can take his place in the game. Bill Wilkinson tries killing Grace at the hospital before the game’s commencement, but this gets him disqualified via imploding like the La Dona’s family. Grace & Faith both get taken into the Danforth complex where an unnamed lawyer on behalf of LeBail explains the rules to them both that they must survive by dawn in order to win this next level. Once each eldest member signs the blood oath, the game begins at a golf course and the sisters are handcuffed together. The first player they’re able to kill is Viraj Rojan by throwing him into an industrial washing machine. When he is later confirmed dead, his brother Madhu is up to take his place as allowed, but he forfeits his head status to his wife Martina, who leaves rather than plays. The further the MacCaullays go, they run into Wan Chen Xing who offers a loophole of marriage to end the game immediately. Grace refuses knowing that would mean selling her soul and just when she decides to reject the offer, Chen inadvertently kills Ignacio El Caido with a katana. Since players killing one another is not allowed, disqualification results in her and her son Wan Chang Fu imploding. As the sisters continue moving together, Faith would express irritation Grace would turn down the loophole so fast, resulting in both sisters to bicker about each other’s lives. As the latter points out the former chose to not keep on touch when trying to reconnect, they move forward until Titus & Ursula corner him and Faith is blamed for not trying to leave. Once she actually does out of spite, Titus abducts her. Grace doesn’t realize it until after a nasty brawl against Ignacio’s daughter Francesca, Frances La Donna’s’ ex fiancé. Desperate to save her sister, she agrees to the loophole of marrying Titus for both of their safety. As the wedding gets prepared, Ursula warns Grace of her brother’s psychopathy and considers trying to control her, but that doesn’t get to happen when he overhears and strangles her out of spite. Once the wedding occurs at an underground altar surrounded by a crowd of many satanic cult members, including Ignacio’s younger son Felipe and Madhu, Grace immediately stabs Titus with a pen after their blood pacts, which doesn’t put her in consequential danger since Ursula’s death proved there’s no rule against killing family members. As his body is thrown by Faith into a pit of sacrificed goats, Grace then removes her name from power and throws her ring into the pit for the taking. Everyone in attendance would lunge into it and kill each other for it, but those left standing would implode by sunrise one by one excluding the Lawyer. Once Le Bail gives a nod to the MacCaulleys, they are officially free. As they leave the premises with a sacrificial goat, the film ends with Grace vowing to never leave her sister again.


THOUGHTS


I wasn’t sure what to expect here considering seven years is a long wait for a sequel, except one thing, it was gonna be a bit more bonkers. I was glad to be right because the RS team (producer James Vanderbilt, writers Guy Busick & R Christopher Murray and directors Tyler Gillett & Matt Bertinelli-Olpin) succeed in making something that was constantly entertaining from start to finish. Since you get an idea of what you’re in for, it’s less scary, yet still fun in terms of how the action is edited by Jay Prychidny and captured on screen by cinematographer Brett Jutkiewicz. Just because you know people are gonna blow up this time, doesn’t mean it’s not less surprising because they still are due to each sudden case of it. If you ask me, what was topped most was the production design by Andrew Stearn & costume design by Avery Plewes. Just seeing a bigger playground for the demented game before actually seeing a satanic altar is enough to clarify how high the stakes really are and they sure relish as things progress. On top of that, I do think it also outdoes itself in terms of comedy due to how the ensemble of multiple competing families have similar greed that gets them killed either way. From the start, Kevin Durand makes a drugged up idiot out of Wilkinson to assume the game can get a winner if it didn’t even start yet. Nadeem Umar-Khitab was able to display Viraj as playfully ruthless while Varun Saranja shows Madhu being oppositely helpless that he’d rather abdicate his power to his wife when he could’ve stuck out rather than actually go for the hunt. So when Masa Lizdek laughs her ass off goodbye, you knew he reaped what he sewed hence having a late reaction to combust. I would give credit to Olivia Cheng making Chen Xing devious enough to think of a loophole, she fails to pass on this intelligence to her son who is a giant doof as shown by Antony Hall. That alone was enough for me say they were doomed. As for Nestor Carbonell, he does show Ignacio to be as lethal as his peers, but he wasn’t as skilled with his sniper rifle which is enough of a sign he wouldn’t make it either. I definitely do give credit to the young Juan Pablo Romero to back up the more vicious as Felipe who actually makes it by dawn, but then again Maria Casa also showed Francesca to be one who had too much ambition going for her. Had she let go of Alex, she’d be more focused to get her seat rather than having a hysterical fight with the bride. The second she and Grace both blindly fought each other after Peter spray exposure, I just laughed so much I couldn’t handle it. It was even cool to see Elijah Wood here as he’s done many horror/thrillers post-Lord of the Rings. I dug him as the lawyer because in his predicament, he’s all about having a fair game and doesn’t really take sides which is why he’s more surprised than mad that Grace pulled off the unthinkable in abdicating the throne. Mainly, I think the reason this deserves to be in the list of good horror sequels because this time it teaches how important it is to maintain trust within family broken or healthy, otherwise it’ll be only easy to succumb to greed. Sarah Michelle Gellar & Shawn Hatosy are indeed the end result of failing to do so as Ursula & Titus because while the former is more reserved with end goals, the latter is visibly off the hinges. They’re already on the wrong track with their father raising them to relish in power they don’t deserve, which makes it less surprising they’re willing to betray each other. The only surprise is who succeeds in pulling it off. I do not want to come off like I’m rooting for the villains as I’m saying this but if Ursula was so afraid of her brother and likely knew the family loophole, she should’ve killed him way before needing to kill their dad. Simultaneously, Titus’s intent to scare Grace with death was his own doing because it’s the one loophole she should’ve not known, hence becoming one of the more smarter decisions in the genre’s comedy. Samara Weaving returning as the infamous scream queen/final girl Grace was already the big selling point for me because I’m gonna be rooting for her hardened grit to survive, but I was most impressed with her chemistry alongside Kathryn Newton’s Faith. The latter is most guarded because she still struggled to understand how much her sister wanted to have a more comfortable life in vein to what she wanted, but couldn’t fathom she was part of that metaphorical sacrifice until reuniting. She can’t help herself trying to protect her throughout when she has many opportunities to bail because that means she still loves her sister despite the open animosity. At that point, she accepted she could’ve been a burden for her had they stuck together sooner and never wanted her to feel that way about her. Now that they’re both free from a satanic grasp, they’ll sure have the proper restart they’ve been waiting so long to have unless there is something else more dangerous waiting for them. This movie was a blast, but even good stuff have confusing moments that make me prefer the first one. For instance I know Grace went through a lot after the first movie, but she shouldn’t be surprised she is deemed a suspect after being covered in blood when found and having no evidence to back what she went through. And if Wilkinson thought he could win the seat before the game even started, he should’ve shot Grace instead of brought a knife that would kill the detective questioning her. It may be a bit nostalgic for Grace to dawn the bloody wedding dress again, but it’s odd she couldn’t anything other than a gown at the hospital. Faith doesn’t even bother helping her change which is odd because she’s obviously still in pain. Faith almost has a point it would be dangerous to enter the woods when there could be another threat waiting for them, but it’s way better than being out in the open of the golf field, so I’m glad Grace stuck to her go to the woods. Simultaneously I can get Grace wished she could reconnect with her sister before marrying into Alex’s family, but at that point, she definitely should’ve removed her from emergency contact even if that unintentionally meant she’d be safe because I doubt the Lawyer would go out of his way to collect Faith and raise the stakes had she not been at the hospital. Moving on, Ursula should’ve not been waiting on Titus if she knew she’d get the ring by killing Grace before him. Also, the lawyer should’ve told their cousin Kip (Dan Beirne) in advance instead of during the game that texting your relative where the target is at the course counts as cheating. At least that explains why Titus & Ursula can’t straight up track the phones. If anything not really goes, he should’ve added that. Hell, I’m still trying to figure out why is it allowed for Martha to leave the game. If she died by dawn, that should’ve been shown as well. It even feels like a miracle Viraj’s phone is able to still work after being thrown in a washing machine with him. And you know what, Faith should’ve taken the opportunity to slice Titus’ throat with the katana because Ursula would’ve not even shown remorse as much when it came to using that moment to disarm Grace to kill both sisters. And if it ain’t so obvious, Ursula could’ve tried to close the door if she didn’t want Titus to hear her plans against him. You’re asking to die if you can’t be discreet with your schemes. In conclusion, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is a dope sequel for action horror comedies that know how to up the ante without ever feeling over the top. If you dug the first one, I hope the feeling is similar after checking this out.