Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is officially in theaters and, thankfully for fans of the 2019 original film, it is very much a worthy sequel. It is, ultimately, the type of sequel that actually benefits from being started right as soon as the credits roll for the first film, not unlike how Halloween and Halloween II take place over the course of a single night. With some important lore expansions when it comes to the franchise’s devil cult, another commanding lead performance by Samara Weaving, and a crew of interesting new characters, it is a sequel that justifies its own existence.
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Like the original film it is a quickly paced, bloody tightrope walk between absurdist comedy and horror. But where do its events take Weaving’s Grace MacCaullay and her sister, Faith (Kathryn Newton)? Could it lead to a trilogy-capper? Let’s find out.
Does Ready or Not 2: Here I Come Directly Lead to a Third Film?
The simple truth is no. This is one franchise that seems to know when to put a bow on things and walk away. By the end of the film, all four families that are pursuing Grace and Faith (primarily Grace) for the seat on the throne that she is entitled to are dead. Just Grace, Faith, and Elijah Wood’s lawyer character are alive and mostly well.
The way Grace and Faith come out on top involves a bit of trickery. About midway through the film Olivia Cheng’s Wan Chen Xing informs the duo that, should Grace marry her son, the game would be over just like that. Wan Chen Xing would rule the world, and Grace would get her life in the bargain. She’d have to join the devil cult and give her soul over to Satan, but at least she would still have a pulse.
Grace doesn’t want to do this. However, when she is faced with the very likely death of her sister at the hands of Shawn Hatosy’s Titus Danforth, she herself makes a proposal to him. Then, we cut to their wedding, at least after a detour to an almost tender moment between Grace and Ursula Danforth that ends with the sociopathic groom snapping his sister’s neck.
At the wedding, the cult members who are still alive gather around a pit, dressed in robes and eagerly awaiting the moment when a goat will be sacrificed and chucked into said pit, which is littered with the rotting corpses of other animals. But, after the ceremony is complete and Grace and Titus are officially married, she stabs him repeatedly in the throat with a pin and Faith 300 kicks him into the pit.
Because there is no rule about one killing their own family members (killing a member of a different family during hide and seek is strictly a no-no), Grace is safe. In fact, she’s now the leader of the cult. But she doesn’t want that just as she doesn’t want to be tied to Satan. So, she tosses the ring into the pit, which gets every member of the cult to jump down with it and fight to the death. Because of a rule that states should no one wear the ring come dawn there will be severe consequences, every member of the cult is dead.
Even having married Titus, Grace is not a member of the cult. The goat is still alive and well. No sacrificial ceremony was carried out. Grace frees the little guy and she, her sister, and the goat all walk away from the Danforth manner promising to be in one another’s lives from now on.
That’s a walk into the sunset moment, signifying that the extension of Grace’s initial hide and seek game is well and truly over. And now, the devil cult is dead, save for the lawyer. However, it’s not as if the lawyer is seething over the sight of Grace and Faith walking away. In fact, he’s smiling. They even see the ghost of the demonic Mr. Le Bail, who seems more impressed than vengeful.
All of this is to say that Here I Come does its job. It ties a very satisfying bow on Grace’s story. She’s won out, the cult is no more, and she has her sister in her life. But this is Hollywood we’re talking about. If the sequel opens well above its $14 million worldwide expectations, it’s not unheard of that there would be a third film.
But, let’s face it, there’s no Ready or Not without Weaving, and her character’s tale is told. She also is about to become a mother and has multiple projects lined up for the near future. The directors, Radio Silence, are also about to direct the new Brendan Fraser The Mummy legacy sequel so they, too, are plenty busy. As it stands, Ready or Not 2 is just a satisfying companion piece to the cult hit original film, not the middle of a trilogy.
Will you be seeing Ready or Not 2: Here I Come this weekend? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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Image Courtesy of Prime Video & Dark Horse Comics -
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