Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026) – Review

Quick Thoughts:

1. Ready or Not 2 features the best rocket launcher gag since In the Army Now (1994).
2. The Faculty (1998) reunion! It’s fun seeing Elijah Wood and Shawn Hatosy together again.
3. Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton have wonderful chemistry.
4. There’s an amazing pepper spray fight.
5. It’s a solid sequel that is weighed down by familial arguments. The film grinds to a halt several times as Grace (Samara Weaving) and Faith (Kathryn Newton) argue about their estrangement.
6. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett love exploding bodies.
7. It goes to some ugly and unexpected places.  
8. Actors need to stop smacking gum in movies.

When it was announced that a sequel to Ready or Not (2019) was greenlit, it was cause for excitement because the world needed to know how Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving) was going to explain why/how she was the sole survivor in a home filled with dead bodies, bloody viscera, and Satan memorabilia (that survived the fire). I’ve always envisioned a 90-minute court case in which an underpaid lawyer (played by Melissa Barrera, because the Radio Silence crew love her) explains to the jury how the recently-married woman was hunted by her Satan-worshipping in-laws. It would be great to hear her explain to the judge that the Le Domas exploded into bits when Grace managed to survive the night.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come starts immediately where the first film ended. The battle-scared Grace is taken to a hospital and wakes up handcuffed to her hospital bed. A surly detective tells her that she’s going to jail because her wedding dress is drenched with Le Domas’ family blood. Her sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) shows up because she’s Grace’s emergency contact, and this allows Grace to summarize the first film to her sister and theatergoers who might’ve skipped the first film. Faith and Grace haven’t spoken to each other for seven years, and their broken relationship is explored throughout the rest of the film. Before they can heal old relationship wounds, they’re attacked by a cocaine-addled Satanist (Kevin Durand – always great) who wants to finish off Grace so he can become the leader of a demonic cult. Before he can kill the sisters, his body explodes (because he tried to cheat the new game), and the sisters are kidnapped by The Lawyer (Elijah Wood – MVP of the film), and brought to a vast estate owned by Chester Danforth (David Cronenberg), a powerful billionaire who can immediately stop a war with one phone call (very funny moment). 

In a unique Satan worshiping cult loophole, the death of the entire Le Domas’ family opens up an opportunity for other wealthy and powerful cultists to become leaders of the capitalist demon cult. The eldest members of the four remaining ruling families are given a chance to kill Grace (and Faith), which will make their family the most powerful family in the world. Chester Danforth is too frail to hunt, so he allows his twin children, Titus (Shawn Hatosy) and Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar) to smother him so they can enter the hunt. Titus and Ursula are joined by Ignacio El Caido (Nestor Carbonell), Wan Chen Xing (Olivia Chang), Madhu (Varun Saranga), and Viraj Rajan (Nadeem Umar-Khitab), who show up at the estate with their families. 

After the rules are explained by The Lawyer, the rich bozos have until sunrise to kill Grace so they can reign supreme. It would be a shame to spoil the rest of the film, but you should expect exploding bodies, evil Shawn Hatosy, rocket launchers and way too much estranged-sister drama. During the screening, audible groans were heard when Faith and Grace argued, and at one point, I heard someone say “get over it” while Faith was yelling at Grace (while they were being hunted). Siblings will bicker in any situation, but when the movie starts exploring the relationship between the estranged sisters, it loses its momentum. Introducing familial strife adds to the drama and helps fill screenplay pages, but when two women are being hunted by satan-worshipping billionaires, there’s enough drama to go around. 

The unnecessary relationship aside, the movie is jam-packed with funny moments, brutal beatdowns (that reminded me of True Romance) and deadly washing machines. The expanded lore is interesting, and it gives Elijah Wood a chance to shine. Wood’s character is the personal lawyer to Satan, and his protectiveness of a thick demon bylaws book provides a few hilarious moments (he always hides when people explode). As expected, Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton are likable, and they expertly deliver the one-liners written by Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy. 

Final Thoughts – Watch Ready or Not 2: Here I Come in theaters. Support filmmakers who are out there making moderately budgeted films.