Currently in cinemas are two films that could be easily mistaken for each other, with Radio Silence’s follow-up to their breakout hit Ready Or Not releasing last week, and They Will Kill You starring Zazie Beetz also opening in a close time. Both films follow characters being hunted by rich socialites in a game of sport or a game of life and death, with a supernatural twist, focusing on a working class versus upper class dynamic. The differences come down to setting, but there mix of horror, thriller and comedy makes them feel like sister-films, it is not hard to see They Will Kill You being inspired by Radio Silence’s original Ready or Not. With how similar these films are, it is only appropriate to tackle a review of these films in one article, appraising them for their similarities and differences.
They Will Kill You
Starting with the original feature, They Will Kill You follows an ex-convict who starts working as a housekeeper at a mysterious New York high-rise. She soon realises she has applied to a job run by a community of rich socialites who are involved in a series of disappearances. The biggest problem of this film is how derivate it is, after a central twist which was hidden in the marketing, the film falls back into the common conventions of these survival action-horrors, and the narrative becomes incredibly predictable. After this initial supernatural twist, which the marketing hid by showcasing most of the first act as the main footage in those trailers, the film enters a great rhythm that gets slowed down heavily until an utterly bizarre third act. Besides it’s obvious inspiration from Ready or Not, the film very clearly holds its influences from films like Evil Dead, The Raid and John Wick very earnestly, as its bloody action feels stylized in a way that recreates the video-gamey decisions made behind the camera for the newest John Wick feature.
Inspirations from Tarantino also appear commonly, namely in the very first action sequence which feels very Kill Bill-Esque. The action is easily one of the highlights of the film, playing every action beat so comedically and with so much stylisation behind the camera that you can very easily forgive some of the pitfalls the movie falls through. Director Kirill Sokolov has made a career for making darkly comedic action films, and he clearly knows his way around a camera, there are so many dynamic camera movements here that make the action feel alive and fluid, tracking shots are a highlight of this very feature. There are some visual effects that feel out of place in the carnage, but it strangely gives the film a campy effect, something that makes it feel very rooted in tone to Evil Dead 2. The action is bloody and violent, with some excellent kills, and a great final sequence which is lit by inflamed fire axe, and the film delivers a great balance between serious gore with comedic sequences featuring those kills. The films’ supernatural twist allows for some hilarious moments where the insanity of the plot becomes a goldmine for physical comedy. A great score from Carlos Rafael Rivera and a great use of hip-hop backing track gives the action some great rhythm and movement.
It is the characters which really hold this film back from being anything other than solid. These horror-action films can really be defined by how memorable its group of characters are, from its protagonist to the group of villains that are designed to either be comedic foils or beyond evil and designed to make you want them to be killed. The villains here are so surface level and undeveloped that an audience will feel nothing when their narrative is wrapped up. They exist to hunt our protagonist and that is it, the only one who is given anything to do is Patricia Arquette’s lead villain. Arquette seems to be playing the same character she plays in Severance, with an inconsistent accent and a backstory which feels like an afterthought with how very little it gets brought up.
Her connection to another character feels surface-level and shows that such a brisky 90-minute film could have maybe done with an extra ten minutes of runtime to develop some of the background characters. Zazie Beetz is really the star of the film and is holding the entire narrative on her back. She has proven herself as an action star starring as Marvel superhero Domino in Deadpool 2, and she continues to impress as a leading woman here. She is burdened by a superfluous family plot, which feels so tropey for these types of films, that even Ready or Not 2 does the same thing and feels so barebones. Beetz manages to bring out some level of emotion from that plot, but it all feels a little empty when you must look at anything over than the action and gore
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come
Moving onto the sequel to the inspiration for They Will Kill You. The original Ready or Not was a surprise hit when it came out in 2019, a fun and refreshing survival film where a woman must survive until dawn while being hunted by her new in-laws on the night of her wedding. The movie skyrocketed the directing duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and their production company Radio Silence into major success, as they were instantly given the opportunity to make two Scream movies, and their upcoming project is a new sequel to Brendan Fraser’s Mummy franchise. A sequel to their breakout hit would have been the obvious next step along the way, and here we have it. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come picks up instantly after their original feature, as Samara Weaving’s Grace is recovering from surviving the brutal game of hide and seek that led to the death of her entire new family. Surviving the game has triggered a power-play with the elite families that run the games, leading them to use Grace in a new game, where she must protect her sister in a familiar situation.
That is easily the biggest problem with this sequel, everything feels very familiar. It feels like a typical 80s or 90s sequel, a Ghostbusters 2 or Beverly Hills Cop 2, where they are essentially the same films beat for beat as the original, just with new villains. The only big difference is their attempts to go bigger, and Ready or Not 2 does go bigger. It benefits from the fact that the supernatural elements are out of the bag now, they were a closing twist in the original, but now the film gets to run with that supernatural angle, and it allows for some very compelling visuals and kills. The main way however that the film decides to go bigger is through both the multiple families hunting the protagonists, and through the addition of Grace’s sister, meaning there is two being hunted this time rather than just one.
The addition of multiple families’ facilities the same plot being laid out, just with more characters now hunting than just one family, but the film does do something that They Will Kill You failed to do, make its villains interesting and compelling. The various families all have interesting quirks and play off each other in compelling ways, all out for themselves, whether it makes them scary or pathetic, leading to tension and comedy. Elijah Wood plays a fun role as the lawyer for each family, a man just concerned with the game and nothing else, and Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy deliver great performances as the film’s central antagonists. Hatosy delivers a very chilling performance in the final act, but a performance that isn’t scared to lean into zaniness at the same time.
Kathryn Newton plays Grace’s sister, Faith, as the film develops Grace more as an estranged sister. Newton and Weaving have great chemistry, but their arguing and cliché family relationship can get tedious after a while. It feels like a plot thread in They Will Kill You, but this film gives more time to develop that relationship, even if does feel incredibly cliché. Weaving continues to shine as a scream-queen, and you cannot help but enjoy her banshee-like scream, and her commitment to being covered in fake blood and taking part in ballsy action sequences. The film is more comedy focused than its predecessor, relying a lot more on the comedic aspects of the bloody action, and the comedic twinge allows it to standout. The editing in this is immaculate, with great comedic timing throughout, and the action is consistent throughout. It loses the claustrophobic nature of the original film’s setting, but that might be a good trade-out for a sequel with double the laughs, a bigger body count, more blood and a bigger cast of characters to work with. It will never hold a candle to the original, but Ready or Not 2 is still a very good time
Rhys Reviews 
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