I am a huge fan of the original Ready or Not, and have recommended it to so many people that I almost feel partially reasonable for its current cult status. For my taste, that original film is perfect Friday night entertainment: it’s hysterically funny, wildly thrilling, and has the sort of ending that makes you laugh with glee. It’s just a preposterously fun thrill ride.
I am sad to say the sequel doesn’t live up to the original. The problem is partially that there’s no real way to escalate things further when the “bit” you end the first film with is absurdly comic. After you start making bodies combust because of a failed blood pact with the devil, you really have nowhere else to go.
So a film whose entire premise is quite literally “double or nothing” doesn’t work when you already know everything that’s going to happen. The gig is up. You’d have to get wildly inventive here, and pivot to a whole different genre — like pulling an Aliens-style sequel — in order to make this happen.
But that’s not what this is. If I had to sit and think about it, Ready or Not 2 would have worked better if it became a spoof of the Kill Bill films, leaning into gory action rather than gory horror. There’s no horror here left to mine; it’s just a redux.
To add insult to injury, the entire sister subplot adds nothing to the film and just detracts from Samara Weaving’s great performance. Bummer.
Elijah Wood is a bright spot, and he adds a lot of flavour to what would otherwise be a paint by numbers affair. It’s great that Lord of the Rings has afforded him the chance to take these weird little roles that he seems so obviously into.