Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, 2026)

In 2019, the film cooperative known as Radio Silence debuted Ready or Not. It was a surprising, fresh, excellent entry in the horror comedy sub genre. It gave theatrical audiences their first chance to discover Samara Weaving in a lead role, proving herself a genuine talent with a combination of authenticity, vulnerability, comedic timing, and a heap of that ever elusive quality often called, "Movie Star charisma." The film developed a loyal and vocal fan base between its theater run and it's initial streaming debut, ushering Weaving's character Grace into the canon of horror's most beloved heroines.

I'm not going to lie (and if you follow me on social media, I couldn't if I wanted to), and say I'm not a member of that loyal and vocal fan base. Ready or Not is among my favorite films. It's a perfect combination of fun and horror. It reaches into the horror genre by employing honest and truthful observation of some of the darkness of human psychology and social reality to hit a particular sweet spot. As a result of her work in it, Samara Weaving became an actor whose work I will always watch, and that I root for. To my mind, anyone who loves movies would be well served if she were given the lead roles in films big and small, as often as she wants them and can fit them in her increasingly busy work schedule.

All that being said, I've been both excited and trepidatious since it was announced that Ready or Not 2: Here I Come was going to be made, five years after the original. I was not necessarily among the fans clamoring for a sequel. Catching the lightning in a bottle that made the first film work so well is almost impossible, as is evidenced by the number of films that fail to do so. Doing it twice is miraculous. Sometimes, it's best to savor something when it's that good, and avoid being electrocuted when the bottle doesn't catch the lightning a second time.

I also don't think it's fair to judge a first viewing of this sequel by the experience of watching the original film for the first time. A sense of surprise and discovery were central to the first film being such a great experience, and because it's a sequel, it's inherently impossible to do that again. Those aspects of the experience made it feel fresh among the other horror films dominating the theatrical landscape at the time, with the way it mixed character and absurdity to create darkly comedic, but still humane observation. I've been trying to temper my expectations as a result. Get Out and Ready or Not were really the two entries in the horror comedy sub genre to stand out amongst a crop of truly excellent, but very self serious, emotionally crushing horror films of that period between 2014 and 2020 now generally thought to be the beginning of this current Golden Age of horror.

Ready or Not 2 delivers on being an excellent sequel. It expands the mythology of the original in ways that are fun, entertaining and give the story more heft. More importantly, it expands on Samara Weaving's Grace. We learn more about Grace's past, and we also get to see her with more agency in this film. By doing both, this sequel gives Grace more depth that is likely to only deepen audience and fan sense of affection for her.

One of the things central to the success of that original film is the process of discovery we're experiencing, with Grace as our audience proxy. She's as incredulous about the situation she's in as we the audience are. Weaving's charisma and vulnerability are key to making that work. The sequel faces an inherent problem, because it can't rely as heavily on the sense of incredulousness and absurdity of the basic premise that the original did. We, as the audience, already understand the premise. We've seen the ending of the first film, so we've also gotten answers to certain questions the original could use to lean on that, to heighten it and create both tension and comedic moments. It also meant the only relationship Grace has in the first film is to the person responsible for putting her in this situation.

Adding a character Grace has a relationship with, that isn't trying to kill her, gives Weaving a chance to explore dimensions of the character we didn't get to see in the first film and she is more than capable of handling the task. The run time of the first film focused more on the character relationships within the Le Domas family that she married into. Here, the writers use the events of the first film, to create a good reason to introduce a character that allows them to focus more of the run time on this relationship, and one of the most important relationships in Grace's life, predating the events of the first film. By doing this, they're able to maintain the balance of character based moments and interactions, with the comedy and horror that was so significant in the success of that previous film, in a different way, that by extension gives the audience more insight into, identification with, and reason to continue rooting for Grace. It helps insure a tone that matches that first film, without being a beat for beat retread.

Ready or Not 2 understands how to maximize the fact that it is a sequel. It uses different aspects of the story and mythology that were revealed at the end of the first film in new ways, giving audiences that ever illusive "the same, but different" that so many sequels struggle to balance. Here, they use the expansion of the mythology and Grace as a character, to take beats that were particularly successful or important from the first film, and subvert or invert them. To the writers credit, this doesn't feel like fan service either, it never has that ring of "Remember that thing you loved last time? Here it is again." They are used to serve character and/or story. They are moments of revelation and discovery or comedy. It's not just discovering things about the mythology for, its own sake, but are instead in service of discovering or furthering aspects of Grace or other characters. All of it also done with an eye to the overall impact and experience of the film as a whole.

In both films, the writing, directing and editing come together to give all of the actors opportunities to create memorable characters and with their individual moments. The writing team of Guy Busick, and R. Christopher Murphy were responsible for the original's script. They are back again this time, with a co-writing credit going to co-director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin. They'd already demonstrated they can create a great horror comedy, now they've demonstrated they can mix that with the necessities of a great sequel.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gyllett keep intact their track record for having an excellent eye for casting. Casting Katherine Newton as Faith, sister to Samara Weaving's Grace, could have been an instance of the directors casting an actor they have a previous relationship with, which they have a penchant for. There's more to it than that though. Beyond the physical similarities of being blonde haired and blue eyed, the two actors share a certain kind of energy on screen. There's a degree of similarity, but still enough difference to make it quickly and easily believable that they are sisters.

The directors also deserve credit for not engaging in pure stunt casting with Sarah Michelle Gellar. With her own sizable fan base, and it's crossover with the horror crowd, stemming from being the iconic Buffy in the influential Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series, it's not unusual for Gellar to get cast in a small, cameo like roles to draw on that audience. Here, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gyllet give her a character that has meaning to the film and a chance to demonstrate she can be versatile and compelling. Shawn Hatosy, who's been a fan favorite on HBO's The Pitt, gets a chance to demonstrate his versatility, being as engaging as he is on the show, in a very different role. Nestor Carbonnell and Maia Jae don't get much of a chance to flesh out their characters, but they get great moments, and both of them make the most of them, showing off great comedic sensibilities. Elijah Wood continues to put his post Lord of the Rings fame to use playing every conceivable variety of weird little guy one could imagine, and is again demonstrating his comedic talents are equal to the prodigious dramatic talents that made him a well known actor in his youth. Casting David Cronenberg is also an inspired choice. There is an aspect of stunt casting to it, but his place as one of the Master of Horror for the last two generations only adds to his impact in the short time his character is in the film. The entire ensemble here is excellent. Our cast of villains isn't as well fleshed out as the Le Domas family in the first film, because this one chooses to spend more of that time with Grace and Faith, but like the first film, they're all perfectly cast to maximize their screen time and add to the overall experience.

If there's one place this sequel doesn't provide a cinematic experience on par with its predecessor, it's that the setting doesn't provide the same level of opportunity for the set department, and the cinematographer in turn. There's a good deal more of the film taking place outdoors, during the day. The set design of the Le Domas family mansion in the first film was genuinely excellent, contributing to both character and theme having more resonance. They aren't given as much opportunity here, but the production designer, set director, art director and costume design go beyond being purely effective in the opportunities they do have.

With a set as beautifully, thoughtfully detailed as the Le Domas mansion, it gives a cinematographer ample opportunity to compose a shot. If every possible direction or angle gives them the chance to create an image that's rich in texture and detail that adds to the reality of the film, it makes for a higher likelihood the audience is that much more immersed in the reality the film is creating, and gives the cinematographer an almost endless variety to choose from. There are some scenes and shots on par with the best of the original film here, but the opportunity to create them was far more limited, so we do get a less overall sumptuous visual experience.

The directors also demonstrate, again, why they were the choice for the two Scream sequels they made between the Ready or Not films. Blocking, staging and editing with an ensemble cast are particular skills, all their own. Its easy for it become boring, due to the fact that it's very easy to get locked into shooting groups of characters together in a way that's repetitive. Directors without much experience or imagination for shooting ensembles, can often find one or two different set ups and angles, and repeat those, because they have found an efficient answer to the problem. It's difficult to do in a way that makes sense to the audience to begin with, and finding variation on how to do it, takes a particular kind of imagination. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gyllett continue to excel at this, and in all of their films, there's a through line of understanding how to use editing in creating a purely visual way of advancing character and story, despite the fact that there are different editors on a number of their films. Films with casts this size often struggle with pacing issues, and how to include enough of each of the characters to make sure the audience doesn't forget they exist. With these directors, there's clearly an understanding of how to use this as a foundation for the pace, and as an opportunity to keep the comedy and horror elements balanced.

All in all, fans of the original Ready or Not are in for a good time with Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. I'm not exactly sure why someone who didn't like the original would be watching this sequel, unless they were paid/required to as critics or if they're the variety of trolling influencer disguised as a critic, who sustains their brand on rage baiting pop culture audiences.

The draw here, the "justification" for this sequel is spending more time with Grace, one of the twenty-first centuries most fun and charismatic on screen heroines. Ready or Not 2 film delivers on that, splendidly.

That is my spoiler free review for Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. There's a high likelihood I'll make a spoiler heavy video, going into specifics of what I appreciated about the writing and character work for this film, at some point this weekend. Later today or tomorrow, I will be posting a big, long, deep dive into the original film, exploring character and theme from a more sociopolitical perspective. I'm going to go put the finishing touches on that now! If you've made it this far, thanks for reading, and I hope you'll share this and be back for those other things.