Who knew Satan worshippers loved to play games so much?
By: Amanda Musto
Not long after she won the most insane game of hide and seek, Grace is thrown back into round two, only this time with higher stakes and her sister Faith along for the ride.
Whenever a sequel for a film is made, it almost never holds up to the first and tends to flop, but this one was just as great, if not better, than the first. I went into the theater with high hopes since I enjoyed the original “Ready or Not” film and was so thrilled to not have been let down with this installment.
The storyline was practically the same as the first, Grace had to play hide and seek for about 16 hours and survive until dawn and avoid being murdered by psychotic rich people. After how well she did in the first one, it seemed like it would be easy enough, but nothing comes easy when it comes to Satan and power. This time she had to hide from even more people, had to try and keep her estranged sister alive at the same time, and she was in a country club that’s much larger than the mansion she played at in part one. I thought the game being amplified and made even harder made this such a sick and fun film. The concept of murderous hide and seek was already wild in the first place, but now it was even crazier.
The whole cast was brilliant. I loved the addition of Kathryn Newton (“Lisa Frankenstein,” “Paranormal Activity 4”) as Faith who proved to be just as much of a bad ass as her sister Grace. Elijah Wood (“The Lord of The Rings”) who played the sole lawyer who oversaw everything for the game and he was such a weird but fun little dude. Other new additions included Kevin Durand (“Abigail,” “Clown in a Cornfield”), Nestor Carbonell (“Bates Motel”), and Shawn Hatosy (“The Faculty”) who all did amazing in their roles. They all nailed the parts of power hungry, psychopaths who would stop at nothing to win.
My favorite addition to the cast, is of course the queen, Sarah Michelle Gellar (“I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Scooby Doo”). She was such a perfect mix of crazy, manipulative, sly, and bad ass. Just like every role she holds, she killed this one.
The whole cast did a wonderful job but Samara Weaving who plays Grace just blew me away. I was already floored after her performance in the first film, but she outdid herself in this one. The way she gets the audience to feel every emotion she conveys is just amazing and I have to give her flowers for her iconic scream. I mean she is without a doubt a scream queen all the way. I couldn’t picture Grace being played by anyone else.
The gore levels in this film were even more extreme which is always a favorite aspect of a horror film for me, so that earned a lot of points. And the infamous fate of, if you lost you exploded, returned and it was bloodier than before.
There were good moments of humor mixed in the film, whether it was banter with Grace and Faith, a pepper spray fight scene, or a Satanic sacrificial moshpit, which lightened the mood in the perfect spots.
This film truly surpassed expectations and held its own as a sequel.
