Ready or Not: Here I Come
The Le Domas family are dead, long live Grace Elizabeth MacCaulley, widow of Alex Le Domas, killed on his wedding night along with the rest of his clan when they defaulted on their pact with the sinister Mister Le Bail after an unfortunate game of Hide and Seek where Grace was the winner, their legacy extinguished and their mansion in flames, Grace the only survivor found in the ruins, by default chief suspect and handcuffed to her hospital bed where she is questioned.
Any explanation she can offer unlikely to be believed without supporting evidence of demonic cults, instead rescue comes with a catch, an extraction team led by “the Lawyer” who represents the remaining families of the Council kidnapping Grace and her visiting estranged sister Faith and advising that unprecedented circumstances have left the High Seat vacant, the next round of Hide and Seek a “double or nothing” against the eldest of the Danforths, Wans, Rajans and El Caidos, the winner literally inheriting control of the world.
Released five and a half years after the original but picking up the action moments later and detailing the subsequent twenty-four hours in the chaotic life of bloody widow Grace MacCaulley (Azrael’s Samara Weaving), Ready or Not: Here I Come is again by directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett from a script written by Guy Busick and R Christopher Murphy, this time joined by Freaky’s Kathryn Newton as Faith alongside an ensemble which includes Elijah Wood, Shawn Hatosy, David Cronenberg and Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy Summers herself, as the Lawyer and the conniving Danforth clan.
Determined to win with the contest held on the home turf of their expansive resort hotel, there are two ways a sequel can go, either a departure springboarded from the original but placing the characters in a contrasting setting, such as Exorcist II or Chronicles of Riddick, or more of the same but bigger, as with Aliens, yet despite making no effort to conceal that Here I Come is to follow the exact same template as the dazzling opening celebrity deathmatch it actually feels subdued when hope and expectation might indicate that it would be more outrageous.
The premise fully explored first time around, this replay is just variations on an albeit entertaining theme, but running ten minutes longer at double the budget it does not represent value for money, the principal shift being much of the action moved outdoors in daylight hours, but while what is presented is certainly adequate, entertaining, caustic and messy, it does not stretch the idea in any new way nor raise the bar other than giving Grace a sidekick as she and Faith address their resentments, bickering heavenly virtues in the realm of deadly vices.
New weaponry deployed including high-powered long-range rifles and a bazooka, with more than a few conspicuous nods to Gellar’s Sunnydale days, it is an overdue and welcome return to the genre which demonstrates the time away has not dulled her moves or attitude, but already treading water it is apparent that while a better follow-up than many horror comedies are able to produce the brand will not survive a third trip to the bloody well of diminishing returns.
Ready or Not: Here I Come is currently on general release
