GENRE | 'Ready or Not 2: Here I Come' Doubles Down x SXSW 2026

"It didn't work out."

Searchlight Pictures / Radio Silence Productions

Radio Silence filmmaking duo, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, reunite for their horror-comedy, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. Six years after the first Ready or Not, the "eat the rich" sequel picks up directly following the memorable end of the original, with Samara Weaving's blood-soaked bride Grace, having just defeated her ne'er-do-well in-laws, when a new cabal of rich, soul-sacrificing oligarchs, the Danforths, kidnap her and her estranged younger sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) before forcing them both to play a new deadly game of hide-and-seek for their sick and twisted amusement.

While its predecessor satirized elements of romantic comedies and slasher flicks mashed together to make its points about the corrupt elite class, Here I Come doubles down on its mythical lore about wealthy, satan-worshipping family ties with far too much exposition and abandoning the basic hide-and-seek premise. Scripted again by screenwriters Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy, a new cast of degenerate sycophants, led by twin heirs played by Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy, are convened to an evacuated casino resort to hunt the sisters down to secure the seat as head of a secret global satanic council.

Weaving and Newton both make for compelling scream queens paired together as blonde final girls against strange supernatural terrors in another bloody splatter fest. However, Ready or Not 2's intentionally derivative storyline makes the comedic parts harder to swallow by letting the next day's events get so extremely dire. Faith is constantly bickering with and mocking Grace, despite the murderous events she just barely survived and the dangers they are currently facing. It's just nowhere near as fun, clever, or inventive the second time around.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come premiered at the 2026 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival (Austin, Texas) as part of the Headliners section.


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