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| Images courtesy Searchlight Pictures |
The always amazing Samara Weaving returns in the follow up to the dark horror comedy, 2019's Ready or Not. The sequel picks up immediately after the first film as Grace is transported to the hospital after her horrific ordeal. She links up with her long-lost sister played by horror baddie, Kathryn Newton, who for all intents and purposes is in superb form here. The interplay between the two is natural and not forced, bringing a whole new level of fun and bloodshed to the series. Both lean into highly physical performances with tons of wit.
Finding themselves drawn in to a high stakes game of hide and seek, the newly aligned sisters must pair and battle for their lives against another bevy of villains fighting for their rightful place at the head of the Satan worshipping table. The resulting hour and forty-eight minutes is a refreshing spin that does what great sequels should do. Ready or Not: Here I Come establishes new rules for the franchise while it takes the original idea and expands on it ten-fold. It's quite obviously being set up for a third act.
The second chapter gives Animal Kingdom's Shawn Hatosy and Sarah Michelle Gellar tons of screen time to prove their dramatic worth. Hatosy digs deep to give a performance reminiscent of James Gandolfini in True Romance. His character has no remorse and has a vicious taste for unadulterated violence. Unlike so many genre entries that struggle to bring tangible terror to the screen, Hatosy delivers in spades. Gellar brings balance to his maniacal activities. She reminds us why we fell in love with her in the first-place decades ago.
Returning directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett had their work cut out for them by releasing a sequel six years later. And damn, they certainly succeed. Here I Come is silly when it needs to be but goes hard in its attention to gore and interesting kills. Heads are mashed. Bodies explode. Children play with guns. And Samara in cahoots with Kathryn both wreck the screen for nearly two hours straight. This is a full scale take no prisoners approach that works when others might fail.
This entire film is a nod to other cat and mouse thrillers with a high body count that brings it at every turn. If you're looking for a blast at the theater that knows how to meld horror and action into a succinct final product, this is it. And no one is EVER going to complain about an extended cameo by body horror patriarch David Cronenberg.
This is what the movies are about. Escapism.
Hail Satan.
-CG