“Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” tries another deadly game, and it mostly succeeds on the whole. Again, our heroine is hunted by a bunch of unlikable rich people willing to kill her within a limited amount of time, but what is being at stake for them and her is bigger than before, and the movie surely serves us a series of bloody and violent moments to jolt and then entertain us.

The story begins at the point not long after the ending of “Ready of Not” (2019). After she eventually won that deadly game with her despicable wealthy in-laws including her groom, Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving) loses her consciousness and then is taken to a hospital, but now she has to face all the bloody mess caused by that deadly game. Because all of her opponents died horribly, she finds herself becoming a murder suspect, and she is not consoled much by her younger sister Faith (Kathryn Newton), who comes to the hospital despite many years of estrangement between them.

Meanwhile, the situation soon becomes a lot more problematic as Grace’s in-laws turn out to be members of some powerful secret organization. There are actually five other rich and influential families in this devil-worshiping organization, and all of these wealthy families are ready to take over the highest position once occupied by Grace’s in-laws.

Of course, according to a shady lawyer representing their infernal lord, there are some important rules on another deadly game targeting Grace, and we get to know these rules one by one. Again, Grace must survive till dawn once the game is started in a big place belonging to one of these five filthy rich families, and any organization member succeeding in eliminating Grace will be the leader of the organization.

Because the previous film already showed us that Grace has enough pluck and determination for getting any chance for survival, the story adds new vulnerability to her via her younger sister, who also finds herself targeted by her older sister’s opponents. As they try to survive together in one way or another, Grace and Faith naturally come to confront the estrangement and resentment between them, and this certainly throws more tension on their increasingly perilous circumstance.

Anyway, the movie strikes us with a lot of blood and violence coupled with some wry sense of humor. Needless to say, all of Grace and Faith’s opponents show more of their unlikable aspects along the story, and you will surely cheer as they get eliminated or punished one by one while the lawyer solemnly presides over the progress of their game. In case of one of them, this figure is quite angry about Grace for a petty personal reason, and that leads to a rather amusing fight scene which eventually culminates to when our heroine uses something unexpected as a blunt instrument to strike her opponent really hard.

Although the screenplay by Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy, who previously wrote the screenplay for “Ready or Not”, loses some of its narrative momentum around its last act, the movie still holds our attention under the competent direction of directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. As they previously did in “Ready or Not”, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett skillfully balance their movie between intense thriller and dark comedy, and we gladly go along with that even though we occasionally wince a lot for some of the most violent moments in the film.

It surely helps that the movie is anchored well by the strong presence of its lead actress. Samara Weaving, who has steadily built up her genre movie career since “Mayhem” (2017) and “The Babysitter” (2017), comfortably slips into her familiar character, and she is believable especially when Grace struggles with her traumas from the previous film early in the story. As Grace’s estranged younger sister, Kathryn Newton seems to be stuck in a rather thankless role at first, but she holds her own place well right next to Weaving, and we instantly sense a bitter old history between their characters right from their first scene in the film.

Compared to Grace and Faith, many of the other main characters in the film are more or less than broad caricatures we observe from the distance without much care, but some of these detestable figures leave some impression thanks to the game efforts from the performers playing them. As the treacherous twin siblings in the story, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy are quite effective in their respective roles, and the brief appearance of David Cronenberg, who incidentally plays their characters’ dying father, is pretty much like a cherry on the top of their juicy villain performance. In case of several other recognizable performers in the film including Néstor Carbonell and Kevin Durand, they are rather under-utilized in comparison, but they chew each of their moments as much as possible at least. Finally, Elijah Wood, who has often played offbeat characters as sailing away from the Lord of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson, is often fun to watch as his lawyer character remains mostly unflappable to every twist and turn in the game.

In conclusion, “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” is less entertaining than its predecessor due to having less surprise for us, but it is still a fairly fun genre film which accomplishes its goal as much as intended. I prefer the more taut and intense entertainment of the previous film, but I had enough fun during my viewing, so I will not grumble for now.