In 2019’s “Ready or Not,” Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving) won the deadly game of Hide and Seek that ended the lives of the entire La Domas family. It all tied into a Satanic ritual that frankly didn’t make much sense. Now she has to play another, also-deadly game of Hide and Seek against four other families that hold high standing in the Satanic cult. The twist this time is that she has her estranged sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) in tow.

Following (and I mean “immediately” following) Grace’s witty one-liner from the end of the last movie, she passes out and is taken to the hospital, where Faith, never removed as her emergency contact, reluctantly comes to visit. They’re soon attacked by a player (Kevin Durand) who wants to win the game before it starts. The cheater pays a heavy price, courtesy of the game’s ghostly overseer. But the sisters are soon knocked unconscious and brought to the resort of the Danforth twins – Titus (Shawn Hatosy) and Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar) – to start the game properly.

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An unnamed lawyer (Elijah Wood) spells out the rules. Representatives from four families will be competing. Whoever kills Grace first, wins. If Grace can survive until dawn, she wins. Faith is not officially part of the game, though she’ll both help Grace and be used as leverage against her in the course of the movie. If a player dies, another family member can take their place in the game. No families can kill members of the other families, or their entire family will be killed. The winner gets a special ring that lets them rule the world (yes, familiar territory for Wood).

Other players include both Danforth twins with their cousin Kip (Dan Bierne) as backup, Spanish actor Ignacio El Caido (Nestor Carbonell) with his children Francesca (Maia Jae) and Felipe (Juan Pavlo Romero), Chinese businesswoman Wan Chen Xing (Olivia Cheng) and her son Fu (Antony Hall), and Indian partyboy Viraj Rajan (Nadeem Umar-Khitab) with his younger brother Madhu (Varun Saranga) and Madhu’s wife Martina (Masa Lizdek). A movie like this wouldn’t let the players have seconds unless it had plans for them, so be prepared for a high body count, as if all the weapons in the film’s advertising weren’t enough of an indication.

The game is a deadly free-for-all, with the film’s favorite method of killing once again involving people exploding like big bloody balloons. The Danforth twins, they of the homefield advantage and most star power, are particularly conniving competitors. Grace and Faith spend the movie trying to keep each other alive while practically wanting to kill each other over past decisions. Frankly, I could have done without this aspect of the story. I can appreciate the writers wanting to give these characters depth, but there’s not much interesting about their backstory, and the rekindling of their relationship throws off the movie’s pace. On the plus side, it’s nice to have newer scream queen Newton joining established scream queen Weaving.

I had fun with the film’s action and banter. The deft touch of directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett was sorely missing from the recent “Scream 7” after they directed the fifth and sixth installments to surprising watchability. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long for another project of theirs. “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” isn’t going to set the cinematic or even horror world on fire, but it has enough of what I like in my horror thrillers for me to give it a recommendation.

Grade: B-

“Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” is rated R for strong bloody violence, gore, pervasive language and brief drug use. Its running time is 108 minutes.

Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.