“Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” earned $9.1 million at the box office during its opening weekend in March, over $1 million more than the original “Ready or Not” that was released in 2019.

Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin directed both films. The sequel picks up exactly where the first one left off while expanding the dusk-until-dawn horror in creative ways.

Samara Weaving (“The Babysitter,” “Eenie Meanie”) returns as Grace Le Domas, who again must stay alive until dawn, but in a much larger and deadlier game–fighting against four rival families to claim the high seat of a powerful council.

In an interview on Collider, Weaving was asked: “Did you ever imagine a sequel would happen since the first one ended so perfectly?” Her response, “No one did. We thought we were making such a weird, one-off movie that not many people would see because it’s so weird, even though we had such fun. It was such a surprise, it got the response that it did.”

The deadly game that served as the premise to the first movie continues with more powerful families and new characters such as Ursula and Titus Danforth, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer”) and Shawn Hatosy (“Animal Kingdom,” “The Pit”), respectively.

This time, Grace isn’t playing alone. Her sister, Faith MacCaullay (Kathryn Newton, “Lisa Frankenstein,” “Abigail”), shows up, and they are handcuffed together for the first part of the film, constantly bickering, and the source of much of the comedy relief.

In the same Collider interview with Weaving, Newton was asked: “How did being attached [to Weaving] impact the screen partnership?“ Newton responded, “It was a good excuse to be around her. No one thought it was weird because we had to be next to each other. It just made me watch her and definitely pick up a lot from her.”

The graphic and gory kills are still messy and chaotic and satirical, making fun of rich people and their traditions. Unlike the first movie, where the deaths were sloppy and accidental, the sequel involves more calculated and bloodthirsty murders. Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin use a larger cannon for blood bursts, which create more exaggerated explosions than in the first film. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett said, “We have over the course of our careers exploded many people on camera.”

One of the film’s highlights is that the audience gets to experience three scream queens: Samara Weaving, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Kathryn Newton. Weaving shows a great balance between horror and dark comedy, making the scenes more enjoyable. She also does an amazing job showing the fear, determination, and anger Grace feels in those scenes.

Newton introduces a more expressive and energetic presence. Newton’s character does hold her sister back, which detracts from how Grace grew into her own in the first movie. Newton’s portrayal feels more intense and unpredictable, contributing to the sequel’s tone and making the film feel more fast-paced than the original.

Playing against her previous scream-queen roles, Sarah Michelle Gellar is a calculating villain, adding tension to the story.

“Ready or Not 2” has an incredible armory that the rival families could use. When Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett tried to impress Gellar by showing the armory has a rocket launcher, Gellar said, “There’s a very famous ‘Buffy’ scene where she shoots a full rocket launcher, and they were like ‘we give up.’”

“Ready or Not 2” builds on the original by making the story feel bigger, especially with its more exaggerated effects. The performances are strong, with Weaving’s grounded performance and Newton’s energetic personality playing off Gellar’s cold stares.

One drawback is that in trying to do more, the film loses focus and the subtle satire that made the first film stand out. The stylized violence and faster pace detracted from the more streamlined narrative that helped build better tension in the original “Ready or Not.”

Overall, the sequel is a worthy expansion of the story, but the original stands out as a much better comedy horror film.

“Ready or Not 2” is rated R for strong bloody violence, gore, pervasive language and brief drug use. It is currently playing in theaters and will be available for streaming in May.