SXSW 2026: Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come & Hokum

It ain’t SXSW if we’re not getting our horror and action comedies. In the Paramount Theater of Austin, TX, nothing brings the house down better than blood splatter and nonsensical humor. This year is no different, as we get some of the most unhinged headliners to date.

Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come (Matt Bettinellli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett)

Fans of cultists exploding left and right will find much to love in this sequel to 2019’s Ready Or Not. Beginning immediately where the last film left off, we find Grace (Samara Weaving), having just survived the Le Domas family. Now resting at a nearby hospital, she reunites with her estranged sister Faith (Kathryn Newton), who she abandoned years ago (strangely a plot point shared with They Will Kill You, also at this year’s SXSW).

What she doesn’t know is that her survival has triggered a series of events. News of the Le Domas family massacre spread across the globe, notifying six elite families of the Council, as they are prompted to convene and start another game. This John Wick-esque world expansion does wonders for Radio Silence members Matt Bettinellli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The Council oozes the same kind of impression as the High Table, especially when the film follows a similar dynamic of having to fight for “the High Seat.”

As the Lawyer (a hysterically funny Elijah Wood) explains, Grace (and unfortunately her sister too) must participate in a double-or-nothing game, where she must once again survive until dawn. The fun catch this time is the families and their bloodlines must participate in some way shape or form – a particularly fun rule is if the elder participating member of the family dies during the game, then the next descendant in line must continue the game in their place.

These rules make room for a bigger ensemble cast, with new dynamics that couldn’t really play out in the first film’s limitations. More deaths can come early, and the script also allows opportunities to show how even though these families all believe in the same satanic spirit Le Bail, they don’t get along at all, maybe even rooting for each other’s death so they can come out on top.

The detachment is hilarious when contrasted with Grace, who cannot believe she has to play again and is so over this shit. Meanwhile, Faith, in classic sisterly fashion, gets to complain about how the hell she got roped into all this nonsense. While Weaving was more than capable of carrying the first film all on her shoulders, this sequel gives her a companion and co-star to banter with, which saves this sequel from feeling repetitive or overly linear.

With plenty of action set pieces, some fun loophole exploits, and a dynamite chemistry between Weaving and Newton, Ready Or Not 2 is that surprisingly satisfying sequel that acts as the proper DLC expansion you would hope for in a game you love.

Hokum (Damian McCarthy)

There’s a sequence near the middle of Damian McCarthy’s newest horror film Hokum, where it is just Adam Scott trying to get out of a predicament he’s in, and it’s some of the most nail-biting, suspenseful sequences you’ll see in a horror movie this year. At a time when horror movies feel a pressure to have to “be about something,” it’s a breath of fresh air to see something this minimalist and low-budget executed with skill.

Scott’s writer protagonist Ohm Bauman is written with Stephen King in mind – a tortured artist who writes bad endings to his stories, much to the chagrin of average ordinary folks. He has traveled back to a remote part of Ireland to spread the ashes of his dead parents. Remote is the nicest way to describe the inn that he’s staying at, which his parents once stayed in. The locals are eccentric, even a little bizarre. People speak of folktales that they claim are real. But the weirdest one of all is the inn’s honeymoon suite on the top floor. It’s locked off from access, as it’s said to be haunted by a witch.

In classic 1408 fashion, Ohm is drawn to the room and wants to see what it’s like up there. But unlike the overly familiar trope of the protagonist being a skeptic, McCarthy’s script finds some pretty effective ways to set up that particular situation. During his stay, Ohm meets Fiona (Florence Ordesh), one of the hotel’s staff members, and due to an interaction between them that I won’t give away, Ohm feels compelled to find and help her when she goes missing. Eventually, as we all expect and deeply want, Ohn ends up in the honeymoon suite, and from that point on, McCarthy keeps you at the edge of your seat.

Smart camerawork and careful lighting already contributes to the atmosphere, but a real strength in Hokum is the sense of dread and pace, largely due to its editing. Whether it’s because the film messes with our anticipation of something in the background moving or because the film would intentionally make us stare at something multiple times, McCarthy finds the perfect way to make us uncomfortable. The dread and tension is palpable, and though there are plenty of jump scares (one particular one got a scream in the theater), the film never fully releases the suspense.

While the script doesn’t exactly explain the folklore aspects of the narrative, to the point where it’s a bit vague, the technical delivery at a singular location is wonderfully realized. Scott gives a tremendous performance, playing an unlikeable character who punishes himself, as he walks that delicate balance where we may be watching an asshole but we also feel bad for him. Though Scott definitely has his share of dialogue, he’s at his best when his character is attempting to internalize and make sense of his surroundings. How he connects the physical threats to the skeletons in his closet makes him a riveting screen presence.

There’s something to be appreciated about Hokum’s old-fashioned approach to ghost stories. The supernatural threat looms not just as an evil force that kills, but also like a traumatic memory that cannot be shaken. Even though there is definitely a lot of fun to be had when horror movies champion ghost or creature designs, sometimes it’s the simplest shadowy presence that lingers. Hokum builds on its traditional tropes because it knows what can truly haunt a person.