A fun new thriller movie is available to watch from this week

It's a follow-up to a modern classic.

The original Ready or Not, which we here at JOE are huge fans of, starred Samara Weaving as Grace, a working-class woman who marries the man of her dreams (Mark O'Brien, Nuremberg) at his wealthy family's luxurious estate.

After the ceremony, however, Grace learns that her new hubby's clan, the Le Domases, secured their wealth by making a deal with the devil.

That was in exchange for the family observing a strange ritual, one which involves hunting down new in-laws to the death over the course of a night.

It's hard to talk about the plot of the sequel without spoiling the end of the original Ready or Not, so if you're curious but haven't seen the movie, go watch the film and return to this article.

For those still here, I'll continue.

In classic horror sequel fashion, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come starts moments after the supposedly happy ending of the first film. Grace survives the onslaught by the Le Domases, who are all exploded by the devil for not completing the ritual.

The sequel kicks off with Grace passing out from shock before awakening in a hospital bed, handcuffed. It turns out that she is being blamed for the killings of her husband and her family, with no one believing her claims of the supernatural.

She is also visited by her estranged sister, Faith (Kathryn Newton, a welcome addition), a reunion that quickly descends into bickering over old resentments.

This sibling quarrel and the criminal investigation into Grace are cut short when Faith and Grace are abducted from the hospital.

It turns out that the Le Domases' deaths have created a power vacuum that a whole host of other wealthy families are competing to fill. They can only do this, however, by partaking in the same 'hide and seek' game with Grace, killing her once and for all.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come Review

If you like Ready or Not, chances are you'll get some pleasure out of the sequel, which retains the original's winning lead performance by Weaving, its dark humour and its gory, visceral action, while also expanding the scope of its world.

If the first movie was a sly self-contained satire about class and the horrors of meeting the in-laws, the sequel is much broader in theme. It uses conspiracy theories as it's jumping off point. In the world of Ready or Not, there is a shadowy evil cabal running the world, and they also gather in robes to worship Satan and sacrifice the innocent.

On top of this, the sequel contains ideas about sibling relationships - two of the people hunting Faith and Grace are a rich brother-sister duo (played by Shawn Hatosy and Sarah Michelle Gellar) - and weak men dominating and underestimating women.

Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better, however. Occasionally, some of Ready or Not 2's world-building undercuts the sequel's simple pleasures. You might find yourself overthinking the many rules of the devil's bargain when you just want to watch Kathryn Newton and Samara Weaving fight back against Satanists. You also have to watch the pair's characters suffer quite a bit before this happens.

Yet, there's still good dark fun to be had here. The cast is great, particularly Elijah Wood as the wealthy families' lawyer, whose prim and proper persona masks a coy and dryly comic quality.

The set-pieces are also very well-staged, the high point being an extended ballroom-set fight between Weaving and newcomer Mai Jae. Plus, the finale, when it comes, is immensely satisfying.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come Interviews:

JOE spoke to horror legends Elijah Wood (The Faculty) and Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) about joining the cast of the sequel.

Speaking about what made the pair want to be part of the franchise, Gellar said:

"Everything! We were both fans of the original… We both thought it was so creative. You see a lot of movies, and a lot of them have similarities, and this was so unique, and it just had such a particular voice behind it.

"Sam was so incredible. These movies do not work without her commitment to the character of Grace. Then six years later, you get this phone call that they're making a sequel. You're like: 'What? I'm going to get the chance to play in the sandbox. Great.'

"And then you meet [directors] Radio Silence and they're everything you hope for as directors. They're collaborative. They're so creative.

"They get excited, you know? You could hear them clap and giggle behind [the monitor]. You would just always try to get those reactions from them.

"On every level, it was just one of those 'I wouldn't change a thing experiences'.

"Maybe make Toronto a little warmer. That would be about the only thing I could think to change," she joked.

As we said above, Ready or Not 2 has a great cast of newcomers to the franchise, including Kevin Durand, Nestor Carbonell, as well as legendary horror filmmaker David Cronenberg (The Dead Zone, The Fly and Videodrome) in a rare acting role. He plays the father of Gellar and Hatosy's siblings.

On working with the legendary filmmaker, Elijah Wood - a horror producer in his own right - said: "So incredible.

"I'll never forget when I found out. I was in a wardrobe with Avery, our costume designer, and I was having our first costume fitting.

"She was like: 'You know who's gonna be the patriarch. It's Cronenberg.' Absolutely thrilling.

"I'd met him very briefly before, but not properly, and was super nervous to spend time around him just because he is such an unbelievable icon, but he's so disarming."

Gellar agreed, adding: 'He's so charming and disarming... We would, both Shawn and I, after every take be like: 'Do you have any notes?'

"He's like: 'I'm not the director. I'm just an actor," she recounts, laughing.

" He was just so game to play and was so happy to be a part of it."

Wood summed up: "Yeah, he was amazing, and like quite willing to talk about his work. It was awesome."

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is in cinemas on Friday, 20 March.