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Ready or not, here the sequel comes. But, this installment spares no one.

Released on March 20, “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” graces our screens in a bloodthirsty spectacle. With bigger locations, higher stakes and an excess of blood, directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin commit to making a modern horror classic.

The original film “Ready or Not” follows bride-to-be Grace Le Domas (Samara Weaving) who discovers her affluent in-laws, the Le Domas family, have acquired their wealth by selling their souls to the devil — Mr. Le Bail (James Vanderbilt). On Grace’s wedding night, she survives a satanic game of hide-and-seek to avoid becoming a sacrifice.

Although Grace escapes the Le Domas family, she cannot avoid the devil for eternity.

The sequel wastes no time, continuing where its predecessor left off: Grace in a blood-splattered wedding dress, smoking a cigarette on the steps of her now deceased in-laws’ burning mansion.

After waiting six years for the follow-up story, I was whiplashed back into Grace’s nightmare; it’s an exploration into the wicked side of the rich elite as Grace unflinchingly fights tooth and nail to concentrate.

Grace is recovering at a hospital when she reconnects and recaps the crazy night to her estranged sister Faith MacCaullay (Kathryn Newton). Immediately, the sisters are kidnapped by the Danforth family into another affluent of the demonic hide-and-seek.

The sequel rhymes with the precursor’s key moments as the two heroines are pitted against another murderous group of well-off idiots. The Danforths invite other families – the El Caídos, the Wans and the Rajans – to join the hunt.

Here, the narrative finds its own direction from the original movie. It banks on the exaggerated personalities of Danforth twins Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Titus (Shawn Hatosy) to input witty quips while they stake spears into other families’ hearts. Likewise, ‘The Lawyer’ (Elijah Wood), under rule from Le Bail, moderates the rules of the game and his neutrality stages comic relief to the players’ cries.

Faith and Grace are preyed on in the Danforth’s hereditary estate. Their sisterhood connection is strengthened by the death game, but not much material is left to characterize Newton’s faith other than a damsel Grace continuously has to protect.

Still, Weaving reprises the same action-packed stunts and fierceness, solidifying herself as an iconic scream queen. She carries the feature on her shoulders and had me glued to the screen in a chaotic, ballroom scene where blood touches every single inch of the frame.

The movie is filled with muted greens and yellows. This dullness seeps the Danforth’s and other families’ mediocrity, whose deep pockets can’t overcome how much they suck at capturing Grace and Faith.

Often, horror movies feel more focused on jump scares than emotional attachment to the protagonist. “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” doesn’t fall into this trap. The more peril and fright Grace undergoes, the stronger the movie becomes and the more I want to root for her.

This sequel satisfies just as much hunger for mayhem. It does not misinterpret its premises’ absurdness and grants Grace defiance in how much dead, aristocratic blood she can get on her wedding dress.

Audiences have welcomed “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” with a fresh score of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. Comparatively, critics have not trusted the madness and faulted it for lacking the same “jolt of energy.”

Since the 2019 release of “Ready or Not,” years full of anticipation from audiences and critics have racked up high expectations. This may have underwhelmed many who were expecting a pièce de résistance of the horror-action genre, but I was content that Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin maintained the campness.

“Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” matches the blood-pounding suspense of the duology, whether you’re ready or not.

Published on March 31, 2026 at 11:01 pm
Contact Albert: aalvar38@syr.edu