At The Movies with James Phelan: Ready or Not 2 - Here I Come
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come
There aren’t many absolutes in Hollywood but one rule you can hang your hat on is that horror films are a great proving ground for talent in front of and behind the camera. Usually made for a relatively sensible amount of money, they can thrive even without star names. And they also frequently swiftly return for sequels to cash in on the following they found the first time round.
What’s slightly unusual about this second coming is that the original came out way back in 2019. That’s a big old seven-year gap to test the enduring appeal of your horror hit with fickle fans, who increasingly have the attention span of a gnat. And I’m sad to report that based on its American box office, viewers have not really returned en masse to scratch this particular seven-year itch.
I saw the original back then and I remember warming to it, even if the details have faded over time. However, when Film 4 cannily put the first film back on rotation in advance of this sequel release, I sat down to refresh my memory. And watching it again was no chore at all as plucky new bride Grace (Samara Weaving) spends her wedding night being hunted down by her in-laws, who fervently believe that their survival depends on her demise.
Now comes the tricky part about spoilers for this sequel. Do first-time viewers ever really jump in and start with the second film of a franchise? I think no. So, I am going to reveal that the cleverest twist of the first film is that for most of the running time, Grace rightly reckons her occult-obsessed new relatives are just nuts. Yet the last act proves that if the deadline for her being dead does pass, the devil-worshipping clan do indeed turn into exploding blood bags.
So, when this new film picks up right after the carnage of the first, Grace knows there is some undeniable truth underlying all the arcane mythology she has become embroiled in. She gets the briefest of respites as she is patched up in a local hospital but soon fresh assassins are bearing down on her as the high stakes game of hide and seek continues on a wider scale with four families vying to put Grace in her place. And that place is an early grave.
But now Grace is hampered by the presence of her sister Faith, who is the newcomer who gets to voice all the disbelief that Grace felt the first time around. Yet somehow the bickering siblings have an innate fighting spirit in common and are soon taking on all comers as they literally cut down several family trees to protect their own.
For this instalment, there are a couple of curious choices by the filmmakers. I’ll sum it up in one sentence – the film mostly unfolds in daylight on a golf course! Firstly, horror has a habitual home in darkness. That doesn’t mean you can’t flip the script. Maybe the creators felt that this playing out in daylight is the logical continuance of the story but was this more of a budget decision? Shooting days is far cheaper than night shoots, so is this penny pinching by the producers…?
Equally a golf course is a pretty uninspired setting. Horror is angular. The openness and flatness of a golf course as a hunting ground is a strange choice. Small wonder the action quickly segues into nearby woods and also goes indoors in a bid to find better backdrops.
At least, we are spared our heroines jumping golf carts over bunkers as a bloodbath ensues on manicured greens…
Towards the end of this film, the action ceases as an outbreak of civility is prompted by the discovery of a loophole in the increasingly convoluted rules governing the game. It leads to a sequence I didn’t care for but crucially I was invested in the two female leads throughout. Seeing them come out on top is a good enough reason to embrace all the blood-splattered silliness.
Yet the lingering doubt remains, did this film make a mistake by waiting so long to return? A third instalment is unlikely. But if it comes back. Some sage advice. Come back quicker. Come back stronger.
