Radio Silence revisit their clever 2019 film about a satanic cabal whose boon from the devil is decided via playing a childhood game and raises the stakes and lore a la the John Wick franchise
READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME (2026)
★★★ & 1/2 ★ OF ★★★★★ stars
READY OR NOT was one of this reviewers favorite films of 2019. Starring Samara Weaving, the film was an amazing horror comedy action genre mashup. With shades of YOU’RE NEXT, it was an “eat the rich” type story where a working class girl, Weaving’s Grace, marries into a rich board game dynasty family. Once she marries into, she learns the family acquired its old money from a literal deal with the devil and to keep the favor of Mr. Le’Bail (an anagram for one of the names of the Devil, Belial, she has to be hunted down. It was original and fun, with an unexpected ending and energy where Grace beat the game that was set upon her by the monied elite and great casting choices. I would say READY OR NOT is a great one shot film that wraps up a great story.
This being Hollywood, seven years later we get READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME which picks up immediately where the last film left off. Grace is rushed to the hospital, suspected of killing her family. Her destruction of the LeDomas Clan triggers a double or nothing clause where one of several families blessed with the Devil’s favor now compete to kill Grace to literally rule the world. This escalates the story to make it. Ore lore heavy a la the John Wick movies and the other families are a hodge hodge of diversity. One of the families, the Danforths, led by their patriarch played by David Cronenberg, sets his children. Titus (Shawn Hatosy) and Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar) to play so they can keep their high seat on the council. Tye other families also want that seat but they can’t kill each other else their bloodlines will be wiped out leaving Grace to fend for herself. But she isn’t alone as her long lost sister Faith (played by Kathryn Newton) turns up as Grace’s emergency contact and is drawn into the game and handcuffed to Grace to slow her down. Will they make it to dawn or will the Satanjc power cabal have its day in the sun?
It stands to note that Weaving and Newton make the film fun. Both have great comedic chops and their banter is what keeps you engaged throughout the film. Elijah Wood is also great as Le’Bail’s lawyer – a by the book referee of sorts who is very skilled in contracts as someone would have to be for all the devil’s deals he would have to cut. Maia Jae (from Amazon’s Gen V) is also great as a jilted former fiancée of Grace’s ex Alex LeDomas who is out for revenge on Grace. That all being said, it’s hard to argue that READY OR NOT 2 is breaking any new ground and in some cases is just rehashing a lot of what came before just with slightly different stakes. The new families hunting Grace are somewhat incompetent and that is good for laughs, but the physical comedy isn’t as pervasive throughout this film. There’s a great scene where Weaving and Maia Jae both mace themselves and are poorly fighting themselves blindly. That being said, it’s juxtaposed by a very ugly scene where Hatosy’s character mercilessly beats Newton’s character largely to get off on it that cuts the other scene off really badly. Hatosy’s character is great, but this scene goes way too long and really sucks the air out of the room. Gellar’s character starts off in a promising way, but largely ends up being this film’s version of Angie McDowell’s character and really doesn’t live up to her potential. That being said, the third act of the film does get zany and saves the film from crashing out – channeling Rosemary’s Baby by way of Family Feud and showing the rich groveling in filth for a chance to come up. It’s an apt visual metaphor and the film ends better than it began.
Overall, READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME is a good coda for the original – it doesn’t break any new ground or improve on the original, but it gives us a parting look at the world and one last adventure with Grace while opening up the lore for a different adventure if they choose to go there. It’s not a vital continuation of the franchise, but it’s fun to see some callbacks to the original.
READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME hits theaters on March 29th from Searchlight Pictures