A few years ago, I watched the film adaptation of the indie video game that blew up in popularity and went on to have multiple spin-offs and sequels, Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF). I didn’t care for the movie. I felt it was a rather boring affair with a plot that was overly complicated for what it needed to be, stuffed with exposition to help people like me (a non-FNAF fan) keep up with the lore. I was in the minority when it came to my opinions, however, as the movie was a big success at the box office, despite releasing on streaming services at the same time. There are lots of FNAF fans out there who were very satisfied with what they got in the first installment, so, of course, a sequel was fast-tracked into production to make Five Nights at Freddy’s the next big horror film franchise.

Pros

Makeup and effects are decent
Animatronics still look good
While there is still plenty of it, far less clunky exposition than last time
Less than 2 hours long

Cons

Irrational or dumb characters doing irrational or dumb things, so the movie can happen
Clunky exposition still required for those unfamiliar with the lore of the franchise
A very PG-13 horror movie that has no teeth in its bite
Sudden cliffhanger ending that is absurdly bad

Plot & Thoughts

Mike (Josh Hutcherson) is still living with his sister, Abby (Piper Rubio), after the events of the first film, which included the death of their aunt, who was trying to get custody of Abby to profit off the child support system somehow—a line of dialogue in this movie suggests she managed to survive an attack from the animatronics, but who cares? They’re still living in the town that is relatively close to the broken-down kids’ pizza restaurant that is haunted by ghosts and murderous animatronics. You’d think they’d do whatever they could to get out of town and away from the area after what happened, but maybe Mike has to repair his aunt’s home before he can sell it and leave town. Or maybe his budding relationship with the exposition cop from the last film, Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), is keeping him there. Regardless of the reason, Mike seems to have gotten over the issues he had in the previous movie, while Vanessa’s guilt over being the daughter of the child-murdering William Afton (Matthew Lillard) is causing her to see horrific visions. Abby is also struggling to find friends at school that she likes as much as the ghosts who were inhabiting the robots at the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. She’s able to make some friends at school, and she’s not bullied by anyone, but she’s still considered a little weird.

One day, Abby decides that she should just go to the pizzeria again on her own to visit her friends, because the movie needs to happen. In addition, a small group of ghost-hunting influencers visits the infamous pizzeria around the same time, being led by their tour guide, a cop named Michael (Freddie Carter), who has probably the most suspiciously sinister face of anyone that you shouldn’t trust or believe is a real cop. One thing leads to another, and an evil spirit that has been trapped at the pizzeria since the tragedies that took place in the ‘80s finds a way to make the plot happen, seeking revenge.

While I still have plenty of gripes with this movie, I will acknowledge that the complications surrounding its story are more suitable to the plot than the whole thing that Mike’s needless character arc was doing in the first movie. It doesn’t feel like someone’s first draft film script was then crammed into a FNAF movie’s script; it’s more like this is tied to the game’s lore. Again, I am no fan of the games, and I am unfamiliar with their extensive lore, so this movie may be screwing that all up, for all I know.

The animatronics that were the star of the show last time around are still great to look at in this movie, as the puppeteering and costumes are still visually impressive. They get a little bit more to do in the third act, as well. Even some of the makeup and visual effects on a particular character at the end look better than I would have expected for a movie like this.

And with all the praise out of the way, I still think FNAF2 is garbage. It’s better than the first one because Mike no longer has an arc that doesn’t work, but he also has a downgraded role in this movie, as the story focuses almost entirely on Abby and a little on Vanessa. Abby is the dumb character who makes dumb decisions in order to move the plot along. I don’t care if she’s “just a kid.” She should know what happened in the last movie and realize that not only is the pizzeria dangerous for a number of reasons, but her selfishly going there to hang out with ghosts just makes things hard for everyone else. The movie needs her to cause all the problems of the final act by going to the place without permission, so why should I sympathize with a dumb character who inevitably gets people killed?

As for Vanessa, it’s difficult for me to care about her, too. She’s more of a character this time and less of an exposition plot device, but that doesn’t make me like her. Vanessa suddenly having these guilt visions—after years of doing nothing about her murderous father—feels like a forced story beat to make the character more interesting and sympathetic. It doesn’t help that this movie also features scenes in which she clashes with Mike over things she probably should have told him about in some exposition dumps prior to this movie, but chose not to for the sake of the surprise.

It’s another clunky script that feels like there probably should have been a few more rewrites before going into production. Come up with better reasons as to why the characters are still around the haunted pizzeria, why anyone would ever go there again, why the place would not be demolished by this point, and why I should care about any of them. If you can’t do that, at least kill people in creative ways—oh wait! They can’t because this is a PG-13 movie, and it shows. Even though the rating is lower, that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative with the kills without being overly violent. The deaths in this movie are lame, to say the least, most of which consist of abrupt cuts to blood on the wall. They’re almost as abrupt as the ending is, which just happens as a cliffhanger, expecting you to care. It’s such a crappy ending that comes out of nowhere, I was shocked. It completely ignores the aftermath of a character getting knocked to the ground, or where some of the characters are going, and just does a close-up on a villainous face. Cut to credits. God, this franchise is lame!

TL;DR

At under two hours, FNAF2 is trying to do a lot with very little by trying to build up the antagonist of this movie and the next, while also trying to better establish characters that should have already been established. It’s not bogged down by a tacked-on character arc this time around, but it’s still stuck with a clunky script that doesn’t try hard enough to make the plot work without causing issues. The best thing about it continues to be the puppets, costumes, and animatronics from last time. Unless you are a fan of the games and you don’t care if lore is changed, I continue to recommend you not watch the Five Nights at Freddy’s movies.

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