Tag: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026) | REVIEW

Kathryn Newton and Samara Weaving in READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME. Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2026 Searchlight Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Scream; Abigail) — Screenplay by Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s Ready or Not 2: Here I Come kicks off right where the popular first film left off. Grace (played by Samara Weaving) has just survived a crazy ordeal moments after getting married. Her new family — the Le Domas’, who were secretly satanists — tried to kill her before sunrise, as they believed they would all die if they didn’t. Grace, now in a bloodied wedding dress, survived the night, while her in-laws and her new husband all exploded at dawn for not fulfilling their satanic bargain. But things aren’t over for our bloodsoaked heroine. When she meets up with her sister Faith (played by Kathryn Newton), with whom she hasn’t spoken in years, at a hospital, they’re both incapacitated and taken to the manor of a wealthy and influential family known as the Danforths. The Danforths are one of multiple families with a seat on a council of elite families, who all owe their successes to their supernatural satanic lord known as Le Bail. Because Grace survived the night, the families must compete in another game of diabolical hide-and-seek to determine who will have the ‘high seat’ on the council and, essentially, control the world. To survive, Grace, now alongside her sister, must again overcome the odds and hold out until dawn.

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Abigail (2024) | REVIEW

(L-R) Melissa Barrera and Dan Stevens in ABIGAIL — PHOTO: Bernard Walsh / Universal Pictures.

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett — Screenplay by Stephen Shields and Guy Busick.

Ever since Radio Silence (a filmmaking group that also includes producer Chad Villella) directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett broke through with their sophomore feature, 2019’s Ready or Not, the directing duo has only risen through the ranks when it comes to horror filmmaking. After their bloody wedding horror film in 2019, they were hired to take over from the late, great Wes Craven in the Scream franchise, and they did so with their Scream (2022) and Scream VI. How do you follow up three genuine horror hits in a row? Well, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett decided that they should take on a different kind of horror subgenre that holds a special place in the hearts of horror aficionados with Abigail.

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REVIEW: Scream VI (2023)

Sam Carpenter (right, played by Melissa Barrera) surrounded by Ghostface killer costumes in SCREAM VI — PHOTO: Paramount Pictures.

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett — Screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick.

The latest film in my favorite horror film franchise, Scream VI, was released late in my region, so even before I sat down to watch it, it was already a massive success at the box office. It is the sixth film in the series, which also includes a television series, and it is thus the kind of continuation that may make cynics compare it to the horror franchise trend that Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson (the original creators of Scream) lampooned in the opening of Scream 4. In that film, characters discuss how, by films 6 and 7, the Stab film series (the in-universe film series based on the events of Scream) has run out of steam. That is a real possibility for any franchise, whether horror or not, once it gets big enough. It can become the same movie over and over again, and it may end up in the difficult cycle of having to top itself again and again. In the hands of Radio Silence (the directing duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett), the franchise was rebooted in a clever way that honored the legacy of the franchise with 2022’s Scream. Only a single year after that film was released, Radio Silence has already put out a sequel. In spite of an inventive new location, Scream VI doesn’t ever feel as clever or fresh as the best films in the series, but it is still a solid slasher sequel that should satisfy long-time fans. Thankfully, the franchise doesn’t feel as stale as one might’ve feared at this point. The old tricks still work, even if they aren’t as fresh or sharply defined as they once were. 

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