Blumhouse and director Emma Tammi bring Five Nights at Freddy’s fans back to the theatres with a sequel film to the animatronic-horror video game franchise, created by Scott Cawthorn. Without giving too much away, die-hard fans will have a lot to look forward to in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, while casual viewers will enjoy it as a cheesy yet entertaining watch. With an already-established world to play around in, this pizzeria has plenty of secrets to uncover.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 takes place one year after the supernatural nightmare at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The stories about what transpired there have been twisted into a campy local legend, inspiring the town’s first-ever Fazfest. Former security guard Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and police officer Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) have kept the truth from Mike’s 11-year-old sister, Abby (Piper Rubio), concerning the fate of her animatronic friends.
But when Abby sneaks out to reconnect with Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, it will set into motion a terrifying series of events, revealing dark secrets about the true origin of Freddy’s and unleashing a long-forgotten horror hidden away for decades. For those waiting to get to the Charlotte Emily and the Marionette storyline, this is the one to do it—and it is the stuff of nightmare fuel.
Cawthorn returns to pen this film’s story, expanding the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie universe. The great part about making sequel adaptations for this series is that there is a lot of lore from the video games and novels. As someone who knows more about the first game, I understood more of the references and Easter eggs in this one. Even for audiences who have never played any of the games or read the books, the sequence, almost directly taken from the first game, was cleverly executed for this film.
“…die-hard fans will have a lot to look forward to in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, while casual viewers will enjoy it as a cheesy yet entertaining watch.”
Like the first film, the most entertaining parts of Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 are the animatronic killings and the ridiculous lines some of the characters say, or certain actions people do. As this film introduces a ghost-hunting show squad, this is a cool nod to The Paranormal Investigatorz storyline that is prior to the Five Nights at Freddy’s Plus fan remake game. This attention to detail warrants appreciation to Blumhouse and Cawthorn, who acknowledge the fan lore, too.
The true star of this film has to go to Rubio’s Abby because she is so feisty, now that she has grown a year older in the cinematic world. Rubio was only about eight or nine years old in the first film, so it feels like now she is getting to that tween age where she brings more distinct personality to Abby. While Hutcherson and Lail do take up a good amount of screentime, Rubio’s screen presence is better than the other two leads with the lines and story beats she is given—and she executes it sharply and wittily.
Funny enough, in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, this film reunites actors Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich on-screen. What better way to do it than in another horror movie? The Scream alumni are important side characters in this overarching plot, with Ulrich playing this film’s antagonist’s father, Charlie Emily. Lillard reprises his role as William Afton, but more as a spectre that haunts Vanessa’s dreams.
Most importantly, the cheap jump scares throughout this film are atrocious, but that is what this universe is all about. With a PG-13 rating, the killings and fighting can only go so far. However, I have to credit the sound design and layout team, who can still sell the brutality of the kills. This is similar to how the recent movie, Predator: Badlands, got away with many brutal kills because it was CGI or Synthetics getting killed and not humans.
Between the nostalgia bait of the 1980s aesthetics of pizzerias and childhood fears, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is moving the franchise towards a tone that feels like the Scream franchise meets Stranger Things. I know the Five Nights at Freddy’s spans about a 100-year timeline, but the main story taking place in the early 2000s works so well for me, as someone who grew up in that era—that time right before everyone got cell phones.
The last few nods for Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 are how well it incorporates the game soundtrack into the movie as well. It played well for montage scenes, hitting home for the fans. Also, the production set and the costume design should get their laurels for bringing even more of these animatronics to life this time around.
By the time credits rolled, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 left me wanting to see the next film—more so than the way the first movie ended. Truly, this one was a sequel that had double the Freddy’s and double the horror fun. Now that general audiences know what Five Nights at Freddy’s is about, I feel that Cawthorn had a lot more fun crafting this cinematic story while keeping to the essence of what he created in the games. While still acknowledging Cawthorn’s controversial views as a person, as a creator, this movie shows how well his world-building skills are.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is a must-watch sequel that every horror person will appreciate, especially for those who grew up in this time period.
