‘Ready or Not 2: Here I Come’: Overdone sequel

This live game show action-horror follow-up picks up from where the 2019 feature let off. It’s also billed as a comedy but the excessive blood-letting and repulsive body pulverising action on display here is certainly not amusing. The “most dangerous game” played with wealthy, eccentric, power hungry families participating isn’t exactly original either.

The set-up happens to be a live game show where Grace, the sole survivor from a burnt- out mansion, finds herself in the next level, fending off an all-out attack by six rival families while keeping her estranged sister Faith out of harm’s way. The prize is a throne that signifies unimaginable power akin to that of ruling the world.

The first film had tension, with the unsuspecting bride being led into a family slaughterhouse. This one, introducing several rival families, secret councils and hungry villains, feels like a ridiculous setup. The villains are cardboard thin, and the violence, though elaborate, loses deadliness due to overkill.

Grace (Samara Weaving), who barely survived the wedding night from hell, gets plunged into a more dangerous game where the degree of difficulty is double that of the first, but the thrills don’t make the cut. The convoluted lore and expanding rules are explained by Elijah Wood, playing Le Bail’s lawyer.

Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and writers Guy Busick and R Christopher Murphy, reunite to fashion a scrappy, gamey thriller that pits a twin target in Grace and Faith (Kathryn Newton) against ultra-wealthy Satan-worshipping teams in an ultra-violent spiral of blood and gore that is way over the top, and therefore unjustified. Evil proves to be pretty much stupid here and therein lies the comedy. The blood-curdling shrieks punctuating the action fail to make it scarier.

The original was a surprise package; this one though only has a deja vu feel to it. The pace is furious, the action is bloody but the resultant feels outlandish, illogical and impractical. It appears like this sequel was expressly fashioned to outlast the earlier one at the box office. Alas, with the returns diminishing, it doesn’t feel like an upgrade at all.

The protracted violence feels slapstick and the overly generous helping of blood and gore appears comedic. And it’s not much fun watching the assorted eccentric characters flail and whine about ineptly. Even the killings, though gruesome, fail the inventive test. And then there are characters combusting from time to time.

What seemed like fun the first time around feels rather overdone now.