Entertainment
Sexy, R-Rated Horror Comedy Is The Best Sequel Of The Decade
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
When it comes to horror movies, sequels are often hit-or-miss. Sometimes, you get an ambitious sequel like Friday the 13th Part 2 that adds to franchise lore in a big way. Most of the time, though, you get movies that are weak sauce compared to the original. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge is a fun, accidentally gay romp, but it’s nowhere near as scary as the first film. American Psycho 2 is forgettable tripe compared to the original classic. Oh, and The Exorcist II: The Heretic is so bad that I’d rather be tormented by an actual demon than watch another minute.
Because of this, I was very pleasantly surprised by Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. It’s the sequel to a movie that seemed like it would be impossible to follow up on, and it changes lore right away by giving our only child main character a sister. An impossible concept? Major changes to existing characters? On paper, this is the recipe for a pure disaster. Amazingly, though, Ready or Not 2 ended up being the best horror sequel of the last decade, and you can discover what the hype is about by streaming it for yourself on Hulu.
How About A Nice Game Of Death?
The plot of the original Ready or Not was that Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving) had married into a family that forced her to pick a random game to play on her wedding day. She drew “Hide-and-Seek,” but there was a twist: she had to hide while the rest of the family grabbed weapons and tried to kill her. She managed to survive, and her new family died as a result of a demonic pact.
In Ready or Not 2, we find out that this was just one of several families who had made the same demonic pact and are constantly vying for control. Now, Grace and her estranged sister are forced to play a fatal game of Hide-and-Seek yet again, this time against various families who are fighting for nothing less than control of the entire world. As for Grace, she doesn’t want global domination. She wants exactly what she fought so hard to do in the first film: to survive!
Twisted Sister
So, what makes Ready or Not 2 such a great sequel? For one thing, it adds Kathryn Newton to the mix as Grace’s sister. Normally, I’m not a big fan of such retcons, but this change to the lore gives Weaving someone to bounce off of during her bloody fight for survival. It helps that Newton is a hilarious horror veteran, having previously starred in spooky films like Abigail, Freaky, and (my personal favorite) Lisa Frankenstein. She perfectly understands the assignment, and she leans into both the over-the-top gore and over-the-top comedy while demonstrating some serious chemistry with Weaving.
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come also expands the wild lore of the first movie, opening the door to more colorful new characters. This includes horror icons like David Cronenberg and Sarah Michelle Gellar, the latter of whom turns in what is easily her best performance since Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Additionally, Elijah Wood absolutely kills it in a role where he’s basically the devil’s lawyer. All of the new performers are excellent, and this film does the best job of adding new lore to a franchise since Friday the 13: Part 2 transformed Jason Voorhees from a one-off jumpscare to the scariest villain of the ‘80s.
Buckets Of Blood
If you’re more into horror for the gore than the lore, don’t worry: Ready or Not 2 has you covered. Or, more accurately, it has its characters covered in buckets of blood. This sequel boasts several new environments (the original was mostly contained to a large house), which leads to some very ambitious kills. “Bloody” doesn’t really do this film justice; like, at one point, we see a fountain of gore in a nasty visual gag that feels straight out of Army of Darkness. Of course, I won’t blame you if you’re more focused on the blood that has been splattered all over Newton’s tastefully tight tanktop.
At the risk of sounding too much like a fanboy, Ready or Not 2 is the best horror sequel of the last decade because it does everything the original film did, but better. The premise is the same, but every chase, every fight, and every kill is bigger than what we got in Ready or Not. The humor is still hilarious, but everything is that much funnier when Weaving has Newton to riff off of. Best of all, the new lore makes this franchise seem epic in scope, all while changing how we watch the first film for the better.
Without getting into any spoilers, Ready or Not 2 gives a very satisfying ending that (much like the original movie) doesn’t make any effort to set up a sequel. It’s an awesome, self-contained story, one which you can enjoy even if you didn’t watch the earlier film. Like all great horror movies, it’s also under two hours, and it wastes no time getting down to business. Whether alone or with friends, this is the perfect sequel to put on when you’re looking for a bloody good time. Let’s hope your remote isn’t playing Hide-and-Seek, because you can stream Ready or Not 2: Here I Come on Hulu today!