April 1, 2026
In the final two Wednesdays prior to Holy Week 2026, two films were released with very similar scenarios. Both were comedy-horror films that featured graphically-violent kills scenes with effusive blood and gore. Both told a story of two sisters caught in a luxurious location run by wealthy Satanic cultists. They only had each other to rely on to survive the night and escape with their lives. If they fail the challenge, they will both be dead.
The first film was READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME, the sequel of 'Ready or Not" (2019), directed by the same team Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The first film was about Grace (Samara Weaving), who had to participate in her husband's family's tradition of playing a game on her wedding night. She picked out "Hide and Seek," which meant that she has to hide, while the other family members had to hunt her down to kill her before dawn breaks.
In this sequel, Grace survived her game and was reunited with her estranged sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) while she was recovering at the hospital. Both of them were abducted and brought to the mansion of the Danforth twins (Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy), where the "Lawyer" (Elijah Wood) declared that the sisters needed to survive as the senior members of the other four families of the Council hunt them down to kill them before dawn.
Being a sequel, there is no more sense of surprise anymore as to how the plot will go this time around. Compared to the original film, this sequel had a lousier, less memorable, more annoying roster of supporting characters, not as fun, and not particularly funny as well. The kill scenes were expected to be over-the-top and they were, but they were not that impressive. I gave the first film an 8/10 even if I am not into gore in films. But this was merely okay for me, average. 5/10
The second film was THEY WILL KILL YOU, directed and co-written by Kiril Sokolov. This was about Asia Reaves (Zazie Beetz) who went to work as a maid at a century-old New York City high-rise called The Virgil which exclusively housed wealthy residents. She had learned that her long-lost younger sister Maria (Myha'la), with whom Asia had been estranged since 10 years ago when she went to prison for shooting their abusive father.
The building manager was Lilith Woodhouse (Patricia Arquette), who oriented Asia about the building and her work. Asia met residents like Kevin (Tom Felton) and Sharon (Heather Graham) in the wildest way ever, when they broke into her room and attacked her. With the extreme fighting skills she learned in prison, Asia was able to fight them off. However, much later, Asia would realize that everyone she killed would come back to life.
Even with all the blood spraying around when body parts were slashed off, this film was actually very entertaining. The violence was so extreme, relentless, and over-the-top, you actually get numbed to all of these gory things. Yet Sokolov still manages to slip in endless ways to kill, aiming to outdo the Sam Raimi and Quentin Tarantino films that inspired him. Bloody bad-ass action becomes Zazie Beetz and her big wild hair so well, she makes us root her on to get her and Maria out of there. 7/10.


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