Convoluted Lore Is The Sequel’s Scariest Villain

When the movie adaptation of “5 Nights at Freddy’s” was first introduced, I used to be completely elated. The well-liked online game collection created by Scott Cawthon had develop into an absolute sensation, and did so with out the help of any main studio assist. Enjoying the sport (or, extra truthfully, watching YouTubers scream by it) cracked open the horror style for a complete technology, and I’ve lengthy defended its place in horror historical past towards the outdated guard who merely “did not get it.” The primary movie was a rousing success for Blumhouse and Common, and solidified to any naysayers that Freddy Fazbear and the gang have been right here to remain, whether or not they “bought it” or not.

Director Emma Tammi labored wonders with the needlessly difficult lore that’s sadly very important to appeasing the passionately vocal fandom within the first movie, carving out a brand new canon with new human characters and among the most gobsmackingly spectacular animatronics to ever come out of Jim Henson’s Creature Store. A sequel was inevitable, and on paper, it sounded promising. Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich have been having a mini “Scream” reunion as William Afton and Henry Emily! They’re introducing the Toy fashions of the animatronics, they usually discuss! The Marionette, Balloon Boy, and Circus Child are being correctly launched! And “FNaF” superfan, actress Mckenna Grace, discovered her means into the franchise!

Fortuitously, “5 Nights at Freddy’s 2” delivers about quarter-hour of genuinely terrific thrills that really feel ripped straight from the video games, however they’re flanked by baffling plot threads which might be someway much more tangled than the supply materials. Unapologetic fan service masquerades as exposition, setups go nowhere, and but the fandom will undoubtedly devour all of it with out hesitation. 

Children, you deserve better-tasting slop.

“5 Nights at Freddy’s 2” kicks off in 1982 with Charlotte (Audrey Lynn-Marie), a lonely lady who insists she has some religious reference to The Marionette — a legitimately creepy animatronic that has by no means aesthetically match on the earth of “FNaF.” She spots Spring Bonnie (Matthew Lillard as William Afton inside a swimsuit) dragging off a boy and saves him earlier than he turns into Afton’s newest sufferer. Alas, no good deed goes unpunished, and she or he is murdered onstage on the pizzeria. Her corpse collapses into the arms of the Marionette, her soul fuses with it, giving us the origin story of the movie’s huge unhealthy. The truth that she “felt related” to the puppet earlier than she died does not make a lick of sense, however with something from the pen of Scott Cawthon, logic is non-compulsory.

Bounce to 2002. Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and Abby (Piper Rubio) are doing their finest to maneuver on from the occasions of the final movie. Abby’s into robotics, which might be cool if her instructor, Mr. Berg (Wayne Knight), did not deal with her like a cartoon villain substitute with the identical subtlety George Lopez delivered to “Sharkboy and Lavagirl.” In the meantime, Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) is making an attempt to course of the entire “my dad was a serial killer” factor by confronting him in her desires. Or therapeutic? Or… one thing? The film does not hassle to elucidate. No less than Lillard made essentially the most of his restricted display screen time. Abby’s actual mission is to reconnect together with her outdated buddies, aka the kid ghosts contained in the animatronics from the primary movie. She’s prepared to do something to have them again in her life, making her a goal for the Marionette, who’s able to wi-fi management over each animatronic because of handy plot expertise.

Cawthon, who single-handedly penned this stopgap slog, is poisoning his personal creation. Tammi’s path is swallowed up by baked-in pacing points and storytelling logic on the identical stage as a 2nd grader attempting to improvise an evidence for why they did not deliver their homework. However that is precisely what made the video games so well-liked within the first place, as a result of the ludicrous lore allowed for followers to fill within the blanks and construct neighborhood within the course of. “5 Nights at Freddy’s 2” performs out like a film written by Reddit fan theories that can solely make sense to individuals who have been cast within the discourse mines. “FNaF 2” fails to ship on something cool promised within the trailer (FazFest is proven for like, 5 minutes max), and well-placed Easter eggs, cameos, and one-liners doesn’t a great film make.

It is a disgrace that “5 Nights at Freddy’s 2” is such a bloated mess, as a result of it has all the parts to be a very particular gateway horror movie franchise. The brand new animatronics are genuinely jaw-dropping, Megan Fox voicing Chica is an actual delight, the bounce scares are efficient, the Easter eggs are well-placed, and for a quick second, after we lastly get Mike within the safety workplace (basically bringing the online game into beat-by-beat reside motion), the film completely soars. However Cawthon’s script is a catastrophe, and it is one which I can not in good conscience defend, at the same time as somebody who shockingly might make sense of it, having consumed hours of fan theories through the years. The fandom was proper when they pushed him out of his personal sport the primary time, and if Blumhouse has any sense, they’re going to do the identical and rent an precise screenwriter for the inevitable third installment.

/Movie Ranking: 4 out of 10

“5 Nights at Freddy’s 2” hits theaters on December 5, 2025.