They are saying each time Samara Weaving belts out her one-of-a-kind scream in a horror moviean angel will get its wings. Or, as can be extra correct for the style, a satan will get its horns. This was true in “Prepared or Not,” the darkly, devilishly enjoyable 2019 horror romp the place Weaving performed Grace, a working-class lady who marries right into a rich household desperately sustaining their iron grip on cash and energy through a cope with the mysterious Mr. Le Bail, who, because it seems, is the literal embodiment of Devil.
Nonetheless, placing apart the prince of darkness, the standout of the movie was Weaving as she cemented her standing as a memorable trendy scream queen and joyously compelling motion star. Her aforementioned scream, specifically, stays an all-timer, feeling like it’s exorcising a deep, primal concern simply because it rattles you in your seat. A lot as Grace needed to battle her method via a nightmarish sport of conceal and search the place she should survive being hunted by her murderous new “household” till dawn, Weaving was in a position to combat towards most of that movie’s prevailing limitations and are available out on the opposite facet in a single piece. Even when all the things then went to bloody items throughout her, leading to a splendidly grotesque and explosive gag of an ending, she held all of it collectively.
One would assume that one other movie that offered extra of Weaving, her boundless charisma, sly humor, and shattering scream can be powerful to fumble. But by some means “Prepared or Not 2: Right here I Come,” a surprisingly protected sequel that picks up proper the place its predecessor left off but goes in disappointingly few new attention-grabbing instructions of its personal, manages to do loads of fumbling. It’s larger and boasts a bigger ensemble, together with these performed by Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, and, briefly, a pleasant David Cronenberg, whom Weaving should once more do battle with. Although simply because the scope expands, the creativity shrinks, leaving Weaving having to do much more heavy lifting because the movie merely feels prefer it’s going via the motions we’ve all already seen completed higher the primary time. It’s obtained extra moments of correctly grotesque silliness, however little in the best way of significant thematic chew, partaking motion, or well-shot horror. Whereas Weaving is sensational as soon as extra, managing to profit from what little she has to work with via nearly a sheer power of will, it’s a movie you’d quite simply say “not” to, whereas sticking with the unique.
Directed by the returning duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett from a screenplay by the also-returning Man Busick and R. Christopher Murphy, the movie opens the place “Prepared or Not” closed with the good in-laws’ kicker. This line, which may have simply felt like a hacky, womp womp comedy second, was given life through the wearied and deadpan method with which the blood-covered Weaving delivered it, guaranteeing that it wrapped again round to being genuinely impressed. Such inspiration is profoundly missing right here as “Prepared or Not 2” instantly finds itself awkwardly constructing off of this by displaying Grace then passing out following this joke and being taken to a hospital. With every shock of a defibrillator, we catch transient glimpses of memorable, extra genuinely menacing highlights from the primary movie. This second one doesn’t do itself any favors by reminding us of the strengths that made its predecessor such successful, however there may be a minimum of one thing successfully streamlined about the way it drops these reminders into the opening. Alas, we then arrive at a hospital the place all the things grinds to a halt, and we get an exposition dump on all the things that occurred earlier than this anyway. The movie retains explaining itself to you time and again, although not often do you really really feel something just like the jolt of power the primary had.
It’s on the hospital the place Grace is quickly interrogated by a detective, who at first, seems to be nearly like he’s being performed by Jemaine Clement (sadly, he isn’t), reconnects along with her estranged sister, Religion (Kathryn Newton), who she nonetheless had as her emergency contact, explains what it was that occurred to her, after which will get roped again into the identical cat-and-mouse sport she simply solely barely survived. Solely this time, it’s not marriage that’s on the desk, however the Excessive Seat of the Council (which mainly supplies management of the world) that 4 households at the moment are making an attempt to take for themselves. Whoever kills Grace and Religion would be the one sitting within the chair, although, once more, in the event that they survive til dawn, the entire rival members of the family will explode into bloody pulp. We see lots extra of those explosions, however the place the primary movie used them as an extremely satisfying payoff, the sequel retains going again many times to the bloody effectively to diminishing outcomes.
A lot of this, save for a smattering of extra darkly playful jokes, like one the place we see how Cronenberg’s bedridden patriarch can wield quick energy with a single telephone name, or all the things surrounding Elijah Wooden’s wacky little evil lawyer overseeing all of it, proves oddly tiresome. The place “Prepared or Not” just about obtained proper all the way down to the enjoyable, “Prepared or Not 2” does extra stumbling about, punctuated with bloody explosions that don’t fairly hit as onerous as they did the primary time. That it treats the unique movie with an odd reference, together with in a single baffling scene the place Grace dons her bloody wedding ceremony robe and yellow high-top footwear like she’s a superhero suiting up for battle, simply additional strains credulity when it doesn’t put in the identical work to creating a case for its personal existence. The place “Prepared or Not” felt genuinely contemporary and enjoyable in the way it smashed collectively acquainted style components, “Prepared or Not 2” simply rinses and repeats a lot of it. It’s not ever actually scary or tense with the best concern you are feeling coming not from the movie, however from its creators who appear to be averse to taking any actual dangers.
It’s nonetheless usually enjoyable to see Weaving prepare dinner, particularly in how she’ll underplay key scenes for comedic impact, however a lot of the movie will get misplaced within the woods of the huge resort Grace and Religion should navigate. It cycles via the more and more tiresome patterns of the duo operating, getting caught, partaking in stiffly staged and shot combat sequences, after which operating once more whereas some expositional particulars about their estrangement get awkwardly teased out. It’s not boring per se, as there may be at all times lots that’s taking place, however it’s pretty primary, usually falling again on predictable contrivances to maintain issues shifting. There are some betrayals, twists, and revelations, although the precise development of the movie leaves you largely uninvested in them after they come up. The cinematography feels flat and drab, with few attention-grabbing compositions that stick out within the thoughts.
This can be a disgrace, as a resort, particularly one with a golf course, is ripe for excellent cinema to be made utilizing it as a backdrop. Such locations are pristine and exquisite, although additionally frighteningly synthetic, usually masking a simmering violence. Sadly, there may be so little in the best way of visible panache to be present in “Prepared or Not 2” in the way it uncovers this. All it finally ends up betraying is the movie’s painful lack of something resembling audaciousness in both its technical or thematic components. There simply isn’t a lot of something right here to carry onto save for Weaving’s efficiency. The addition of Newton doesn’t add any noteworthy bits aside from superficial sibling bickering and a compelled sentimentality the movie doesn’t earn. The place the unique thrived in its simplicity, a lot of the expansions this sequel makes really feel like litter and take away from the sturdy core character.
Weaving does get one second in the direction of the tip the place she’s in a position to supply one thing a bit extra layered with a alternative no one anticipated Grace to make, complicating what your complete movie was all about. Alas, this comes far too late to go away a lot of an impression. As an alternative, it does one other retread of the ending we already noticed the primary time. Blood goes in every single place, however there isn’t any actual coronary heart behind it. For a horror movie ostensibly about discovering a technique to play the sport of life by yourself phrases and never by the merciless guidelines of the rich, it’s disappointing how a lot “Prepared or Not 2” delivers extra of the identical however worse. Even when it does chew down, there’s no tooth to it. All you’re left with is the echo of what was higher earlier than. You watch solely in a position to want Weaving was given extra to work with than this, or, on the very least, larger room for her iconic scream to rattle you as soon as extra.
Grade: C
“Prepared or Not 2: Right here I Come” premiered on the 2026 SXSW Movie & TV Competition. Searchlight Footage releases the movie on March 19.
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