By John Corrado
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is the sequel to Blumhouse’s 2023 horror hit, which was itself the long-awaited film adaptation of the popular video game series. And the best thing that can be said about these movies, which are both directed by Emma Tammi, is that they really are made for fans of the games.
This is reflected in the fact that both films have performed well at the box office, despite receiving critical drubbings. If viewers who haven’t played the games might feel lost or struggle to keep up, these movies are for FNAF acolytes. Both films are packed with Easter Eggs, with game creator Scott Cawthon serving as writer and producer.
For those that don’t know, Five Nights at Freddy’s refers to Freddy Fazzbear’s Pizza, which in the world of the games is a nostalgic family pizza joint from the 1980s known for its animatronic animal mascots, that shut down for very dark reasons. Without getting too much into spoiler territory, the lore behind it is basically like Chuck E. Cheese crossed over with Satanic Panic and QAnon conspiracy theories
This sequel sees the return of Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson), the night security guard who was hired in the first film to oversee the abandoned restaurant, and his little sister Abby (Piper Rubio), who bonded with the animatronic creatures. Abby wants to reunite with her friends; bear Freddy, bunny Bonnie, fox Foxy and duck Chica, but this poses significant safety risks. Also back is police officer Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), who has a family connection to the restaurant through her father (Matthew Lillard). Lillard is now joined in this sequel by his former Scream co-star Skeet Ulrich.
If the writing and human characters remain underwhelming, the real stars of the show are these animatronics, brought to life through some admittedly impressive work from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. This was the best part of the first film as well, and 2 introduces a number of new characters, including the shiny plastic “toy” variants of the animatronic animals, as opposed to the flocked versions we saw in the original.
There’s also a spindly-armed new character named The Marionette, a possessive villain right out of a Slenderman nightmare, who is brought to the screen through some cool puppetry tricks and practical effects. These films also boast some solid production design, recreating the interiors of a weathered restaurant from the 1980s, including creepy backrooms.
But these technical elements can only go so far in papering over a largely lacklustre plot, even if Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 actually feels a little more streamlined than the first film, which dragged more in places. Blumhouse has set these up to be homages to the “kid horror” movies of the 1980s, and I can see them playing well to their adolescent target audience, but there was also potential for them to be a lot stronger than what essentially feels like pretty basic fan service for the games.
On its own, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is more of the same, and it basically feels like a setup for the (inevitable) third film, including an overly abrupt ending; each movie follows one of the games, and there are currently five games, so expect at least three more movies. Still, fans of the games should have a pretty good time with it. Everyone else will likely find it to be a mildly diverting but mostly bland and never particularly scary horror flick, with some cool animatronics and puppetry work.
Film Rating: ★★ (out of 4)
Bonus Features (Blu-ray):
The Blu-ray includes five featurettes on the production, mainly focused on the animatronics. For a film that I found to be just okay, I really enjoyed seeing how they pulled off some of this stuff, and it gave me a newfound appreciation for the amount of work that went into it. The package ships with a slipcover.
• Employees of the Month: The Cast (12 minutes, 31 seconds): The cast talks about reprising their roles from the first film, building upon the lore of the games, and working with the animatronics.
• Bringing Freddy & Friends to Life (9 minutes, 46 seconds): A closer look at the truly impressive animatronics and puppetry work that was done to bring these video game characters to life onscreen, including stunt actors in costumes.
• Mangle Mayhem (4 minutes, 39 seconds): Looks at bringing the character of Mangle, essentially a giant metal spider, to the screen through some elaborate puppeteering.
• High-Strung: Hanging With The Marionette (7 minutes, 2 seconds): A closer look at bringing The Marionette to the screen, with multiple puppeteers controlling her slender arms and legs.
• Sensory Overload: Exploring the Sets (10 minutes, 15 seconds): Takes us through the elaborate sets and production design, which meticulously recreates locations from the games, including the first pizzeria complete with a water-filled river ride.
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