Film Review: Five Nights At Freddy’s 2
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INTRODUCTION
This is a quick review of the newly released film Five Nights At Freddy’s 2. Please note that this is just one of the many movies I will have watched each year, and my initial grade for this film may change over time, for better or worse. To stay up to date on my thoughts about other movies and any potential changes in my opinion on this one, follow me on Letterboxd.
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PLOT
Via Letterboxd: One year since 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. With the truth about what transpired kept from her, Abby sneaks out to reconnect with Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, setting into motion a terrifying series of events that will reveal dark secrets about the true origin of Freddy’s, and unleash a long-forgotten horror hidden away for decades.
REVIEW
Video game adaptations have been a rough nut for Hollywood to crack. Translating an interactive, hands-on virtual experience into a traditional narrative film is tricky enough, but most attempts have landed somewhere between mixed and outright forgettable with critics. If I had to pick the best video game adaptations I’ve personally seen, I’d point to the three live-action Sonic films and the Pokémon: Detective Pikachu movie; and even then, I know some fellow critics might raise an eyebrow, considering those movies don’t exactly carry the kind of glowing critical scores that make them universally well received.
The Five Nights at Freddy’s series was such a massive phenomenon that it was only a matter of time before Hollywood took a swing at it. One early, unsuccessful attempt even led to the serviceable-but-middling Willy’s Wonderland movie starring Nicolas Cage, back in 2021.
Eventually, a proper studio adaptation finally materialized in 2023, a film that got a col critical reception but connected well enough with audiences to become one of the surprise box office hits of the year.
On my end, I can admit I was among those dissenters. In fact, until I caught up on a handful of late-year releases, it was legitimately in the running for my least-favorite film of 2023. My biggest issue? The pacing felt borderline comatose, trading the thrilling tension of the games for exposition-heavy lore dumps that didn’t come close to recreating the actual experience of playing said game.
But clearly, enough people disagreed with me and my fellow critics, because here we are with a sequel incoming; one that, in a strange bit of release-season logic, is dropping during the holidays instead of spooky season, where it honestly belongs.
Let me level with you, readers, because transparency is how I roll. I did not walk into my press screening for Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 brimming with excitement. I honestly came into this film dreading it. I gave the first movie a D-tier grade on my Letterboxd and didn’t even bother writing a review for it at the time. So yeah… expectations were… down. But regardless, I did my best to go in fair-minded, cross my fingers, and hope for improvement.
And to its credit, I do think this is the better and more watchable film of the two. Is part of that due to those aforementioned low expectations? Yeah. Could the warmer audience reaction this time versus my sitting with the previous film have softened the edges for me a little more than watching it in critic-mode isolation? Also possible.
But I genuinely found this one to be quicker on its feet. The pacing was noticeably sharper. The scares were a bit more creative than just parking us in foggy dream fields for Josh Hutcherson to get haunted by ghost children on loop. The movie even lands a couple of crowd-friendly gags, and admittedly I chuckled once or twice. The Easter eggs are integrated more naturally into the plot. And most notably, there’s one scene that finally commits to replicating the gameplay experience the first film mostly dodged. So no, it wasn’t as miserable a slog as the first one was for me to sit through.
Now, does any of that mean I actually liked the movie overall? Nope. The core issues didn’t evaporate. The screenplay is still a cluttered mess, loaded with questionable story structure and clunky dialogue. The acting is hit-or-miss, and even calling it that might be me being generous to the ensemble. The scares aren’t exactly going to rattle anyone who’s spent time deep in the horror film genre. And by the time the credits hit, it’s already fading from your memory aside from a very cheap hint for a third film.
So sure, it’s a step up, but when the first movie set the bar so low, “a little better” still only gets you to “mediocre.” I landed at a C+ with this one; higher than part one, yes, but still not a grade that means I can call it a good movie.
“TL;DR”
Pros: Unlike the previous film, this one’s pacing isn’t as torturous or hard to sit through; I found this to be much less boring than its predecessor; has more fun audience moments; Wayne Knight is in this
Cons: The screenplay is a mess with bad dialogue and story structure; the acting is very hit and miss at best; goes for a cheap cliffhanger to hint at future films
GRADING
I just feel like the FNAF are a perfect setup for a lean and mean 90 minute horror movie. I really don’t like all the meme and lore references.