A sequel to Ready or Not was always going to face an uphill battle. The 2019 original, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, blindsided audiences with a deceptively simple premise: a bride forced to survive a ritualistic game of hide and seek on her wedding night. That sense of not knowing how far the film would push itself was half the appeal. Here I Come reunites the same directing and writing team, but can’t recapture that unpredictability, and thats is exactly what is wrong with this otherwise perfectly serviceable sequel.
Grace (Samara Weaving) is dragged back into a deadly contest of wealth, power, and old family tradition, this time with her sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) in tow, and multiple rival families raising the stakes. Expanding the scope makes logical sense for a sequel, but it trades the tightly wound tension of the original for something closer to an ensemble brawl a la Knives Out, and it does’t always work.
Weaving remains the film’s beating heart. She brings the same ferocious physicality and sharp comic timing that made her so magnetic the first time around. Newton is likeable and energetic, and the two share genuine chemistry. But Faith never feels truly essential to the story and ends feeling like a spare part throughout. Elijah Wood is a clear highlight in an eccentric supporting turn, leaning into the chaos with obvious relish. Sarah Michelle Gellar, meanwhile, is a missed opportunity: she has the presence, but the script doesn’t give her enough to work with sadly.
The horror-comedy blend still works in parts. There are inventive set pieces and flashes of the original’s anarchic spirit. But the humour is uneven and some gags land cleanly, others strain too hard to match the first film’s tone rather than carving out something new.
The biggest problem is the ending. Ready or Not built to a finale that felt both outrageous and earned. This one resolves more predictably, and you can feel the absence of one sharp, unexpected swing that might have changed everything. Without it, the climax doesn’t quite land with the same force.
Here I Come is entertaining, well-acted, and occasionally reminds you why the concept works. But it never recaptures the lightning-in-a-bottle thrill of the original. Buoyed by Weaving and flashes of invention, anchored by a film that needed one more genuinely daring idea.
