And There's Doomsday To Look Forward To In December

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026)

Picking up from the closing moments of the delightfully gonzo first movie, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come opens with blood-soaked survivor Grace MacCaullay (the ever-superb Samara Weaving) being taken to hospital.

There, she is reunited with her estranged sister, Faith (Kathryn Newton aka the MCU's Cassie Lang, daughter of Ant-Man), but they very quickly discover that the games aren't over, when both are kidnapped to the Danforth Estate, another home for the elite and filthy rich.

There the sisters are to be pawns in a contest for the surviving four families of the Satanic cult Grace faced in the first movie. The prize is now for control of the council of families and thus THE WORLD.

With the same directors - Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett - and writers - Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy - as the original, the transition from one film to the next is seamless.

While Ready or Not 2 may initially give the impression it's simply going to be going over old ground, but with two protagonists and four families of antagonists, it is so much more than that.

Once again hitting the ground running, the 108-minute continuation of the story rockets along with the same ferocity as the first movie, blending in some epic, Grand Guignol violence and dark, often dry, humour.

Supervised by Mister Le Bail's representative, the unflappable and nameless Lawyer (Elijah Wood, who you may know from a little trilogy called The Lord of The Rings), leading the charge for the bad guys are Ursula Danford (Buffy The Vampire Slayer's Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her sadistic twin brother, Titus (Shawn Hatosy).

While all the members of the families, in their own ways, are evil, the psychotic Titus is the most genuinely disturbing. His horrifically savage beating of one of the lead characters being the most difficult scene to watch in a movie filled with exploding bodies and gory slapstick. This exhibition of cold brutality isn't played for laughs or supernatural chills.

Supplementing these powerful performances are a couple of stand-out cameos from big name stars, whose impact on the story far exceeds their amount of screentime.

The developing bond between the feuding sisters is the heart of the film, with the plot twisting and turning around that so that the surviving characters end up somewhere totally unexpected for the grand finale.

There's nice foreshadowing along the way, although you might still be surprised by its implications.

The conclusion is very satisfying, but definitely closes the door on any possible threequels.

However, I wouldn't say no to a Kill Bill: The Whole Blood Affair-style stitching together of 2019's Ready or Not and this year's Ready or Not 2 into a single, 200-minute glorious entity, as - as is joked about at the end - both movies unfold over a handful of consecutive days.

If I had a gripe with the second movie, and it's a silly one, I just find the title is a case of a hat-on-a-hat. Make up your mind, people, call it Ready or Not 2 or Ready or Not: Here I Come. 

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is just awkward.

Look Out For The Little Guy!

This morning, Rachel and I exchanged Valentine's Day presents and cards. She had very kindly got me the superb Ant-Man trilogy on Blu-Ray and a pack of Colin & Connie The Caterpillar mini rolls for us to share.

Her wheelie bin-themed card was a stroke of genius as she is always mocking me for my obsession with ensuring the right rubbish bins are out on the right morning. And, of course, today not only happens to be Valentine's Day but it's also green bin day... so winner!

I gave Rachel a mushy card, a pair of biographical novels (Cilka's Journey and The Tattooist of Auschwitz) about life in Nazi concentration camps (not very romantic-sounding, but the genre interests Rachel) and a handbag that she'd been after for a while.

Colin (left) and Mister Mind (right)

While tidying all this up from the dining room table so Rachel could resume her work day, I noticed that Colin The Caterpillar bears more than a passing resemblance to my favourite classic Captain Marvel comic book villain, Mister Mind.

Coincidence, separated at birth, or secret identity blown?

You decide...

Abigail (2024)

A sextet of professional criminals are hired to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy businessman and hold her hostage while their 'go-between' sorts out the $50 million ransom demand.

The criminals are a mixed bag, all unknown to each other and chosen for their special skills: medic Joey (Melissa Barrera, from the recent Scream movies); ex-cop Frank (Dan Stevens, of Legion fame and many other works); hacker Sammy (Kathryn Newton, from Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania); muscle Peter (Kevin Durand, another genre staple, most recently mo-capping as Proximus in Kingdom of The Planet of The Apes); sniper Rickles (Will Catlett, from the underrated TV series Constellation); and driver Dean (the late Angus Cloud in his last live-action performance).

When they suss out that the 12-year-old ballerina, Abigail (Alisha Weir, from Matilda: The Musical) that they've grabbed is actually the daughter of a legendary underworld bogeyman, the Keyser Söze-like Kristof Lazaar, the hardened villains start to go to pieces.

Matters get worse when they realise that the isolated mansion that their contact, Lambert (The Mandalorian's Giancarolo Esposito), has sent them to seems to be designed to keep them in... rather than keep out anyone sent to rescue Abigail.

Then the gang's problems escalate as they start getting killed off one-by-one and the survivors come to understand that their hostage is actually an extremely dangerous - and old - vampire... not a small child!

And they are her prey.

Directed by horror legends Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (aka Radio Silence), who brought us the last two Scream movies and the wonderful Ready or Not, Abigail is glorious, blood-splattered cocktail mixing Reservoir Dogs and The Usual Suspects with Dusk Till Dawn.

Crime caper meets creature feature horror, with Grand Guignol results.

Following Tarantino's Dusk Till Dawn formula, the charismatic 'bad guys' pull off their kidnapping cleanly and are then find themselves trapped in a confined space with a monster even more dangerous than their own dark sides.

Extremely violent and gory, humorous, and action-packed, this 109-minute movie is so well-paced that you don't feel its duration in the slightest.

Even with a limited cast to kill off in true 'spam in a cabin' style, and an obvious 'final girl' from the get-go, the Radio Silence duo wring every bit of brilliance out of the script by their frequent collaborator Guy Busick and Stephen Shields.

The only slight slip-up, for me, in the whole production was - during the final sequence - the directors didn't seem able to decide whether it was night or day outside (which, when you're talking vampires, can be quite key). 

However, that minor glitch aside, I absolutely loved this monster movie.

A strong contender for my "film of the year" so far, Abigail also definitely feels like it has great sequel (even maybe a franchise) potential.