Brianna DeWert

With a cast list featuring well-known actors and a fanbase of millions, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” had big shoes to fill. Fans who followed the games since their release expected to see the movie follow the long and complicated lore that had been amassed over the many games. Others who were interested due to the cinematography of the first movie hoped it would carry over into this movie. With all these expectations, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” fell just short of fans’ hopes.

The movie takes place a year after the first, but immediately starts with a flashback. The movie uses this gimmick a few times to build context for the history of the “new” location introduced in this movie. Whereas the first movie focused on the franchise location of Freddy Fazbear, this movie focuses on Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza restaurant. The main difference between the two is The Marionette, which is a puppet themed animatronic that controls the main character animatronics through a wireless connection. The Marionette is only featured in this movie, and is the main plot device of “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2”. I, like many fans, was excited to see the Marionette and the “toy” animatronics. The graphics of the animatronics were well done, yet deserved more screentime. A big complaint from most fans is the unfair distribution of screentime within the animatronics, the majority going to toy chica. 

After the movie establishes the background, we are reminded of the lead actors and their conflicts. The security guard, Mike, struggles with a romantic connection to Vanessa, another security guard. Vanessa continues to cope through her childhood trauma. Abby, Mike’s younger sister, struggles with blending in at school and loneliness. Meanwhile, we are introduced to Lisa and her crew, who run a show that tours haunted places. They arrive at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Restaurant, where Lisa ultimately ends up freeing and getting possessed by The Marionette. Once The Marionette is free, it takes control of the “toy” animatronics, which are newer and remodeled versions of the original animatronics.

The Marionette frees the toy animatronics and once they are free, they begin to target parents to harm. Vanessa and Mike work together to stop them, which leads to the final fight scene of the movie, which feels incredibly rushed. 

Overall, there was a lot of content in this movie. Certain aspects, like the realistic feel to the animatronics, the calls to gameplay and the featured actors such as Matthew Patrick — more commonly known as Youtube personality MatPat — made the movie an easy watch. The visuals were generally amazing, my only complaint being that The Marionette, despite being the main plot device, received such little actual screentime was a letdown. Although the movie was marketed as a horror movie, there weren’t many aspects of horror. There were a few jumpscares, and little gore. In my opinion, the lack of gore is a non-issue, as a scary movie should not need tons of it to be scary. However, the few jumpscares and constant ominous music took away from the moments that were actually meant to be scary. 

However, the pacing was terrible. The movie spent so much time setting the scene that all of the action was in the last 30 minutes. Some of the acting was mediocre as well; some scenes just felt like the actors talking to each other for five minutes. I also feel like this movie bit off more than it could chew. There were so many references to other games that at times it got a bit confusing. For example, an animatronic referred to as Circus Baby was featured in this movie, despite not being in the referenced game. While this could have been an easter egg for the next movie, it was confusing. Many fans who know the original lore were also frustrated in the lack of sticking to the story. The contract confirmed that there would be three total movies, and with the pacing of this movie and all of the easter eggs for the next movie, there is no way they can do the story justice.

Despite my critiques, independently this movie was a good watch. Like any good movie, there were moments that had the theater laughing, crying and a few jumpscares that had viewers on the edge of their seats. References to the games kept old fans engaged, and the intricate nature of the visuals definitely kept the first movie fans interested. Although this movie had some issues, it left me and other fans anticipating the third movie.