Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is the highly anticipated follow up to 2019’s hit Ready or Not – Samara Weaving gives a fantastic final girl performance in a hilariously bloody (and very charming) tale of a bride forced to play a deadly game of hide-and-seek on the night of her wedding.

This story picks up right were we last saw Grace (Samara Weaving) in her blood soaked wedding gown. She’s battered, bloody, and bruised outside a burning mansion. Grace finds herself in police custody after two of the deaths are attributed to her. Little does Grace know, her winning the game triggered an even bigger game with bigger stakes.

A group influential and wealthy families are known as the Council of Families. The heads of the Council of Families must play a game of hide-and-seek with Grace (and her sister Faith played by Kathryn Newton). As the lawyer (Elijah Wood) states, this game is double or nothing for it all. By all, he literally means all. The family that kills Grace earns the High Seat and control the world. The only catch is they can only use weapons that were used during the time their family member made a deal with Mister La Bail.

Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton are the engines that drive this film. The council of devil-worshiping families, loyal to the late Mister La Bail is a fantastic group of actors that includes Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, Nestor Barbonell, Kevin Durand, Olivia Cheng, and Varun Saranga. The supporting actors work well together and have fantastic comedic timing during the back-and-forth exchanges.

Similar to the first film, the bulk of the story involves Grace and Faith on the run from evil elites. What elevates the chase this time is the sisters having to work on their estranged relationship while trying to survive. Their fight for survival includes a lot of laughs, some great kills, and plenty of exploding bodies.

For horror obsessed fans, there isn’t a lot of “horror” in the story but there are enough gallons of blood used to keep fans interested. What the sequel accomplishes very well is expanding the lore. They’ve created a much bigger world of santatic elites that makes the stakes feel higher this time. Similar to John Wick 2, this film opens up a a world of global dominance, elites, and people’s unquenchable thirst for power.

What makes Ready or Not 2 a fun time is watching two working class women take on a group of bloodthirsty elites. It’s a working class person’s dream on film. Not only do they get to take on the puppet masters, the sister’s are justified in doing so.

Shawn Hatosy (The Pitt, Animal Kingdom) as Titus Danforth is the scariest thing about this film. He has all the greed and lust for power like the other elites, but he also is sadistic and barbaric in ways we don’t see in the other characters. Hatosy gives such a good performance, audiences will be looking at him differently.

There is a sequence captures what this film is. The film jumps between Faith fighting for her life as she’s being brutalized in the hallway, to Grace and an assailant both blinded by mace fighting in a ballroom. A brutally violent sequence being juxtaposed with an hilarious fight sequence is what this movie and series is. Lots of laughs and lots of brutality.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is a good sequel and a good time at the movies. It expands what the original did without sacrificing the heart of the story. Some horror fans may have wanted the story to be a lot more different than it is, however most moviegoers will appreciate how fun and delightfully entertaining the film is.

Grade: B