Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026)

I am a big fan of Ready or Not. So there was a certain amount of trepidation when I went to see Ready or Not 2 cause I am still wary of sequels being better than the first. Despite coming out six years after the original, this film takes place immediately after the first one. As Grace survived the game the scriptwriters scrambled around for a way of rehashing the original plot and introducing her sister Faith played by Kathryn Newton.  The additional aspect of the plot is that the Le Domas’ were part of a group of families and Grace now being the winner is forced into playing double or nothing/ There are suppose to be six but with  the Le Domas’ were wiped out and Kevin Durand’s Bill Wilkinson and his family were wiped out so we are already down to four.

We meet Francesca (Maia Jae) who was originally suppose to marry Alex in the first film but he ditched her for Grace for some reason so this seemed to be introduced to add some drama. Her father Ignacio (played by Nestor Carbonell who is frankly chewing the scenery) seems to be lousy with a weapon and then when Francesca has a bazooka she is also rubbish with it, firing it in the opposite direction. If they wanted to they could have made her the driving force of the conflict but then again Maia Jae isn't Sarah Michelle Gellar. When Virat is killed, his brother Madhu he forfeits his position in the family to his wife who then decides to leave. She is actually the smartest of the entire cast and she drives off into the sunset and out of the movie. All the supporting characters of the supporting characters add nothing to the plot.

My main issue with the film is that its the first film but way more bloated in terms of story. Not just in terms of the cast numbers that don't do anything substantial but there are also way too many plot points where they try and get themselves out of a hole only to dig themselves into another hole. The first one was simple and effective, this time it just felt bloated and unnecessarily so. It’s not a terrible film by any means but I think that it's a classic sequel in that it does the first film but with a bigger budget so it’ll be bigger and louder and most of the time it doesn't work.

I don't think that this is a terrible film by any means because Samara Weaving is likeable as Grace and the absurdity of the whole film is used well enough but I don't think that this needed to exist. The script is weighed down by having to do too much and whilst it ends in a satisfactory way, it makes life very difficult for itself. There is potential for more if they wanted to although I think that they should stop now but I suppose it depends what happens at the box office.

They Will Kill You (2026)

They Will Kill You was a film that I got interested in purely because of the trailer. It’s advertised as being produced by Andy Muschietti although he didn’t direct it. Zazie Beetz plays Asia who starts a job at a fancy apartment block. It is soon revealed that she is looking for her sister who she abandoned 10 years earlier when they were trying to escape their abusive father. The film takes place primarily inside the complex and that is one of the things that appealed to me because I really like a film that has just one setting. There is a nice sense of claustrophobia about it and even though there are plenty of rooms, the isolated setting is used quite well here. 

The apartment complex is led by Lily (Patricia Arquette) and her husband Ray (Patterson Joseph) and a group of residents which include Tom Felton as Kevin and Heather Graham as Sharon. I thought that they were both quite good and it's always funny seeing someone from Harry Potter doing a role that is as far removed from Draco Malfoy as its possible to get. Patricia Arquette is fine as Lily and her story as to why she is there was interesting enough but Arquette is putting on the worst Irish accent I think I have ever heard. There are a couple of moments where I could hear some decent Irish words but for the most part it was pretty bad.

The film owes a debt to Ready or Not in a good way. People have to be sacrificed and one woman who isn't trained for this sort of combat has to try and defy the odds. I thought that Zazie Beetz was quite good as the older sister trying to go through the madness so she could rescue her sister. The final act of the film is where things start to fall apart a little bit. I thought that the relationship between Asia and Maria was quite good and I thought that Myha’la was quite good but her character doesn't really have much to do when she is on her own. It’s only when she is with Asia that her character works. The idea that the big boss is a headless pig that is keeping people’s names on him and the pen is tied to him is strange but it doesn't feel in keeping with the whole vibe of the film.

I thought the fight scenes were all pretty good. They looked great on the trailer and in the context of the film they looked even better. They did remind me of the fight scenes in Atomic Blonde and the director managed to show restraint by not having shaky cam so that we can’t see what’s going on. Things moved but you were still able to follow what was happening and appreciate the kills. 

I enjoyed this film but I think that it doesnt quite have the ending that it should have. I thought that the performances were really good (minus Arquette’s accent) and the style was something that I really liked. The film has a simple premise and the film was paced perfectly and ended at the right time. I thought Kirill Sokolov directed the film well and I look forward to more films from him.

The Good Boy (2025)

Good Boy (or Heel as its known on Letterboxd) sees Tommy played by Anson Boon who is a totally unlikeable man who causes fights, takes drugs, has sex and is then kidnapped by Chris (Stephen Graham) who has him chained up in the basement. Chris lives with his wife Kathryn (Andrea Riseborough) and their son Jonathan (Kit Rakusen). The film is directed by Jan Komasa who previously directed Hater which was one of my favourite foreign language films of 2020 and this film sees Komasa make his English language film debut.

The film doesn't get off to the best start with what feels like 20 production companies. It reminded me of the gag from Family Guy where Peter is watching a film and there is what he thinks is the start of the film but its just a production company logo and it keeps going and that is what it felt like in this film. Thankfully things improved immediately although I think for some people the loud dance music might be off putting. The film does a good job of making Tommy (Anson Boon) seem really unlikeable. In fact he could come across as too real because I suspect we have all encountered someone like Tommy over the years. 

The film takes place largely in this big house. Now singular settings always go down well with me because it means that your entire focus can be aimed on what is happening in the house. Yes there are moments where we leave the house and go into a more populated setting but those are very brief and dont distract from the story.

Stephen Graham is very good in this film. I feel like at this point saying that sentence is like saying day follows night and Tuesday is followed by Wednesday but he is really good as Chris. He is doing this horrible thing which isnt made better by the fact it’s being done to someone that is very unlikeable. There is a suggestion that he is ex police but it’s never properly explained. In fact there is something off about Graham’s performance which makes it uneasy to watch. It’s difficult to tell if he is the mastermind behind what is happening or is being controlled by Kathryn. I have never been the biggest fan of Andrea Riseborough. I think she is a very good actress but there is something that doesnt quite work for me and i think she seems to thrive in very sad and downbeat roles which in a weird kind of way is why she is so good as Kathryn.  Anson Boon is very good as Tommy. He’s so unlikeable at the beginning but as the film progresses then he matures and becomes a bit more likeable. 

There is one aspect of the plot that feels out of place is the Rina being followed part. I understand that she is at risk of being sent back to Macedonia but having someone follow her in two scenes only for he to be taken by a group of men who don't blink twice at the guy being chained up in the living room but once she is taken then that is it for her story so it seemed to be there just to add a convenient way to write the character out of the story.

At the point where it’s obvious that Tommy would escape isn't done in the way that I thought it would be. Tommy is allowed to leave by Chris and Kathryn which seemed like a strange thing to do and then we see Tommy going back into the club to see Gabby and the film ends with Tommy ‘kidnapping’ Gabby and bringing her to Chris and Kathryn to the only ‘family’ that he has probably ever had. 

I feel like ‘enjoyed’ is the wrong word to use. I thought this was a very good film but I doubt I would ever watch it again. There was a walkout which wasn't the most surprising thing given that it was quite a downbeat movie although that is about the fourth movie this year where someone has walked out although this is the only one that made sense. It was a mystery screening but another one that I am glad that I watched because I doubt I would have seen it of my own choosing. 

The Bride! (2026)

The Bride! will probably go down as the most polarising film of the year and the film had already some negative reviews and my expectations were high when it seemed to suggest that this film was a musical akin to the second Joker film. This is a remake/reimagining of the 1935 classic Bride of Frankenstein and stars Jessie Buckley in her second cinematic role of 2026 as Ida and The Bride and also Mary Shelley who speaks through Ida at several points of the flm. After being killed by members of the mob, Ida is brought back to life so that she can be the titular bride to Frankenstein’s Monster played by Christian Bale. Annette Benning’s Dr Conelia Euphronius is this film's Dr Frankenstein and there are a couple of detectives trying to catch Frank and the Bride in something that resembles Bonnie and Clyde.

Second film of the year starring Jessie Buckley and once I heard about this film I thought that the only thing stopping Jessie Buckley from walking away with an Oscar would be this film. I don't think that this will affect her chances at all which is a relief. She is very good at playing Ida and Mary Shelley. There is something about Ida which even when she is speaking as Mary Shelley she becomes mesmerising. Whenever Buckley was on screen I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen and was totally engrossed with what was happening. I couldn’t quite make my mind up about Bale’s version of Frank because it has come relatively recently after Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi’s version and whilst it is unfair to compare the two because they are two very different films. This version of Frankenstein’s monster doesn't quite have the menace that Elordi’s does. Together though I thought the chemistry between Bale and Buckley was great and the film works because you buy into their relationship.

The only real issue with the story was the use of Myrna played by Penelope Cruz. The recurring gag that she was overlooked because she is a woman felt a bit weak and wasn’t really needed. In fact the whole detective part of the plot felt a bit unneeded and whenever the story moved away from the Bride and Frank was the time of the film where I was less interested in what was happening. The impression that the film gave or was given by some that this was a musical is very misleading. There are musical moments but these can all be written off as just happening inside Frank’s head and they are totally bonkers but somehow the film manages to pull them off.

I enjoyed The Bride!  The film is the most batsh*t thing I have seen for quite sometime and its obvious that it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea due to how disjointed it feels. The film totally flips all over the place and you are either going to be on board with it or not and I was on board from the very beginning. It’s not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination but the film's flaws are kind of why I like it. I think that the idea that a major Hollywood studio would give someone $80 million to do this sort of film is such a risky thing to do especially for one like Warner Bros. and I am glad they did. I think this will not do well at the box office which is a shame but this worked a lot better than the second Joker film and was a genuine surprise.

Scream 7 (2026)

I can’t quite believe that we are now seven films into this franchise and the seventh time they have tried to squeeze the last drop of money out of the first film. I went into this film having heard nothing but negative things which did surprise me. Some of that may come from fans of the franchise but not being one of them I have just viewed them as slasher films that have at times bordered on pretentiousness. Oh look at us we’ve watched horror films and understand the ‘rules’ of sequels, prequels and something else I can’t quite remember ending in quels. The ‘plot’ sees Sidney (Neve Campbell) and one her kids that we have never heard of before Tatum (Isabel May) and her husband Mark (Joel McHale) and someone is trying to get to SIdney by pretending that Stu Macher from the first film is alive and well. 

I thought that Tatum was quite unlikeable at first. I don't think that it was necessarily the fault of Isabel May but just the way that she was written. She was being grumpy for no real reason. It’s sort of defended with the fact that Sidney is being over protective without telling Tatum what happened to her when she was younger or help defend herself from the inevitable time when someone dons the mask. Thankfully that stuff gets ironed out in later scenes but it was a ropey couple of scenes for her. 

I am quite glad that they went with the idea that Stu’s appearance was AI/Deepfake. The idea that he had been in an insane asylum for 30 years and no one would have spotted him was suspending disbelief a little bit too far. This is another horror film where Mckenna Grace appears for 10 minutes only to be killed off.  It also felt like Courtney Cox was in this film just so they could bring in another legacy character cause they are running low on established characters. She pops up, does the interview with Sidney and then literally disappears for a good 20 minutes. She doesn't really add anything to the story. It was fun to see Matthew Lillard back in the franchise after 30 years but the scene towards the end where he, and other past characters return in a cheap looking video.

There was something else that stood out to me. This was an 18 certificate film and I thought it was less gory than Whilst that I saw the previous week which was a 15. I’m assuming that the stabbing itself is what got it the 18 cause the blood sure didn’t. It does feel like there is a bit of inconsistency when it comes to classification from the BBFC. Most of the deaths are stab related deaths but one was quite impressive and its when of them gets skewed on a drink lever and not only it remind me of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but when the guy is finished being skewed on it the flow of beer through his mouth did make me chuckle and I thought it was the one creative death in the entire film. 

This is one of those times that I genuinely don't understand the hate. Ok it's not brilliant but it's not terrible either. The previous film was not just the worst film in the franchise but honestly the most boring horror film I have seen for some time and I'm not sure if I can see how this is worse. They will inevitably make an eighth one and a ninth one so it really doesn't matter what we say about these films cause as long as they keep making money then they will keep making them cause Paramount need to pay off that huge debt they’ve now got. Despite all the things wrong with the film it is still infinitely better than Return to Silent Hill.