Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is undeniably one of the most anticipated horror releases of the year, especially for fans of the video game franchise these films are based on. Between the success of the first movie and the huge presence this IP had at Halloween Horror Nights this year, a lot of people have been eager to see where the film series would go next.
Once again directed by Emma Tammi and this time solely written by Scott Cawthon, the creator of the games, the film stars Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Matthew Lillard, and more, while also bringing in new faces like Skeet Ulrich, McKenna Grace, Megan Fox, MatPat, and others.
Full transparency, while I have played the first few Five Nights at Freddy’s games, I am by no means deeply invested in the franchise lore. I have played the first three, so I understand the basics, but I would be lying if I said I knew all the deeper story beats, spin-offs, sequels, and books. I know there is a lot more to this world that longtime fans are hyped for that I am simply not caught up on. So this is coming from the perspective of a movie fan who has played the games but is not a lore expert.
When it comes to the first film, I was a little lukewarm on it. I thought it was well made, well acted, and I really liked the production value around the animatronics. The atmosphere and tone were strong, but narratively it felt pretty hollow. It leaned heavily on repetitive dream sequences, and from what I heard from super fan friends, it did not stick particularly well to the established lore, which rubbed some people the wrong way. Despite that, the first movie was a huge box office success, even with the day-and-date streaming release, so a sequel was inevitable.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 picks up about a year after the first film. The nightmare at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza has turned into a local legend and even inspired a new town festival called FazFest. Mike is trying to hold his life together, while he and Vanessa are still keeping the truth about the animatronics from Abby. Abby remains obsessed with her “friends,” and sneaks away to find Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy again. In the process, she crosses paths with a new lineup of toy animatronics. Her decision triggers a fresh wave of hauntings that push beyond the pizzeria walls and force Mike and Vanessa to confront long buried secrets about the real origins of Freddy’s and William Afton’s evil.
Unfortunately, I kind of have to start the reaction portion of this the same way I did with the first movie. I landed in a very similar place, although I will say I enjoyed this one a bit more. There are still elements on a filmmaking and story level that really hold it back from being a genuinely strong installment, but there are positives worth highlighting.
If you like the atmosphere of this world, the animatronics, and the tongue-in-cheek nature of this franchise, I think you will at least appreciate how the film looks and feels. In terms of tone, design, animatronic work, and practical effects, the movie definitely captures the vibe of the games. Just like the games, it is absolutely jam-packed with jump scares that feel very true to the source material.
The performances are solid again. Josh Hutcherson does a good job, Elizabeth Lail is solid, Piper Rubio brings a nice sense of innocence to Abby, and Matthew Lillard is once again great as William Afton. Even though his appearances here are mostly flashbacks or dream sequences, he still shows up ready to chew the scenery in all the right ways.
Among the newcomers, the one I was most excited for going in was Skeet Ulrich as Henry, a former business partner of William Afton who is tied to the original history and dark secrets of Freddy’s. As a fan of the Scream franchise, seeing him and Matthew Lillard share a film again is just cool, especially with their characters having that shared history in this story. Ulrich does not get a ton of screen time, but I still enjoyed seeing him in the mix.
The big headline casting for a lot of people was Megan Fox as Toy Chica. Honestly, while it is fun in theory to have her in the movie, I would be lying if I said she does anything particularly special here. Her voice is heavily processed to sound robotic, and pretty much any voice actor could have done the role. The novelty is mostly just that it is Megan Fox. The same goes for MatPat as Toy Bonnie. It is fun for YouTube and game fans to know he is there, but if they never announced it, I am not sure many people would have figured it out just from watching.
McKenna Grace is also in the film, and I found her role disappointing from a usage standpoint. She is a talented young actress who has built a real name for herself with roles in things like the newer Ghostbusters films, but here she feels like a bit of a nothing character. She is in the trailers, in promo stills, and gets prominent credit placement, but the movie does not really give her much to do beyond being another recognizable face.
One big positive I do want to give the film is that it finally leans into what it is like to actually play Five Nights at Freddy’s. One of my biggest disappointments with the first movie was that it never really captured the game’s mechanics in a meaningful way. Most of the “security guard” moments were just Josh Hutcherson seeing something creepy, falling asleep, and waking up in another dream sequence. In this sequel, there is at least one sequence that genuinely embraces the point-and-click, camera-checking, tool-juggling experience of the games. It pokes fun at how ridiculous it is while also honoring what the gameplay feels like, and I thought that was easily one of the best moments in the film.
Now for the negatives. Narratively, this does not feel like a complete story. I am not talking about the existence of a cliffhanger or leaving doors open for sequels. I am talking about the way this specific film introduces a threat and a dilemma and then does not really bring them to a satisfying conclusion. For me, the movie only starts to get genuinely good in its final stretch, and just when it is really ramping up, it kind of slams on the brakes to set up the next chapter.
If I look at the film as a whole, by the time the credits rolled, I could not really say that the characters had grown in any substantial way. Things happen, there is definitely plot, but there is not much real character development. It feels like a movie that relies heavily on Easter eggs and references to the games. Those moments clearly landed for the super fans in my screening, but on their own they feel hollow. There is one character introduced who clearly exists as fan service. The crowd around me reacted loudly to him, but for those of us who are not deep in the lore, he just feels like a nothing character who barely does anything. Maybe there is a bigger plan for him down the line, but in this movie he is just a tease that does not really function as a meaningful part of the story.
There is also a potentially interesting villain element involving the Marionette, an entity that can control the other animatronics. I liked the idea, but it is not explored deeply enough. The sequences with the Marionette feel thin, and some of the biggest threats in the film end up being resolved very conveniently. It leaves you with that “things happened, but nothing really changed” feeling.
All of that makes the movie feel narratively hollow. I had fun in certain moments, and I appreciated the attempt to honor the games visually and mechanically, but I do not think this sequel does much to pull in new fans or make anyone fall in love with the franchise if they are not already invested in the games. It feels designed more as a reward for existing superfans than as a strong, standalone horror film.
On the horror side, this is very much “horror light.” The jump scares are there, aligning with the game design, but it is not a particularly scary film. It feels targeted more toward a younger horror audience and teens than adults who are looking for something genuinely intense. If you are a gorehound hoping this sequel would push the envelope more than the first one, it does not. Most of the kills happen off camera, and you might get a little blood splatter here and there, but nothing particularly graphic.
So, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is a movie I did not love, but I also did not hate. I had fun at times, I was bored at others, and I cannot say I am itching to revisit it. It is a solid enough time if you are already a fan of the franchise or you just want to see more of these animatronics on screen, but as a piece of storytelling, it feels pretty thin and forgettable.
One last note: there is a mid-credits scene and some audio at the very end of the credits that will definitely get superfans talking. Even for me, someone who is not deeply entrenched in the lore, those teases did genuinely intrigue me about where they might go next. I just hope that, moving forward, the creative team finds a way to combine the fan service and lore with stronger character arcs and more satisfying stories, instead of relying mostly on recognition and Easter eggs to carry the weight.
Rating: 5.5/10