Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Cast: Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, David Cronenberg, Elijah Wood
Screenplay: Guy Busick, R. Christopher Murphy
108 mins. Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore, pervasive language and brief drug use.

Ready or Not surprised the hell out of me upon release in 2019. The directing team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, known as Radio Silence (Scream) did not have many credits to their name (and I was not a fan of their found-footage film Devil’s Due), but the simple setup of Ready or Not combined with an excellent cast of veteran actors made for a thrilling and bloody good time. Now, Samara Weaving (Babylon) and Radio Silence are back for the sequel, which is a lot more of the same, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

When Grace MacCaulley (Weaving) is arrested for the events following her wedding and the deaths of the entire Le Domas family, no one could possibly believe that an ancient satanic ritual involving a game of hide-and-seek could be the cause, but she has more important problems to deal with. Her survival comes with a price: now that her in-laws are no more, the remaining families who made deals with “Mr. Le Bail” are vying for control left behind by the Le Domas family. Now, Grace and her sister Faith (Kathryn Newton, Abigail) have been taken captive, forced to be hunted by the remaining families once again.

It’s clear that in studying the Scream franchise for their two installments has had an effect on Radio Silence, particularly in how to construct a sequel. Scream 2 gave three distinct rules for surviving a sequel: the body count is bigger, death scenes are much more elaborate (more blood/gore, carnage candy), and never assume the killer is dead. In essence, Ready or Not 2 completes or at least dances around these tropes for the follow-up, and it all works quite well. This is a sequel that is almost as good as the original, a tough sell but one that the filmmaking duo is able to accomplish.

The rules this time around feel organic to the first film. It’s a different set of circumstances, and it feels like the Le Domas family would not have worried us with unnecessary information in the first film, as they likely would not have believed themselves capable of failing. I like the new additions to the rules this time around, as they allow for those sequel rules to take effect and also add a new dimension to the family strife of the original. The script is clean, getting the ball rolling rather quickly and setting the events in motion without a lot of handholding. We get a sense of the characters, and the plot puts them each in focus to round them out. This is a solid screenplay that only really falters with a solid but easy finale.

The horror and comedy (and especially the blood cannons) are both great and through a lot of it I was enjoying myself even more than the first film, but this sequel’s introduction of the sister character and the subsequent constant shouting matches (most of the time taking place when the characters should be quiet and hiding) frequently broke the immersion in the seriousness of the proceedings. Newton is great here, and Weaving and her both have good sisterly chemistry, but we spend far too much time with them digging up the same argument from the past instead of moving forward, which doesn’t upend the sequel, but it certainly doesn’t help.

Ready or Not 2 is more of the same, though I’d argue the premise and thrills work just as well a second time, making for a splattery good little follow-up to the hit horror/comedy. The new elements and characters add a different flavor to the film (though I think more could have been done with the Faith character) and the action set pieces are unique to the characters involved, sparking both laughs and surprises, and the film’s ending goes to a few new places that I hadn’t expected, even if it all fits together a bit too neatly. Fans of the original will have a blast here, and I’m looking forward to revisiting both these films as a double feature in the near future.

4/5
-Kyle A. Goethe

• For my review of Radio Silence’s Ready or Not, click here.
• For my review of Radio Silence’s Devil’s Due, click here.