There have been some pretty good sequels this year, such as Zootopia 2, and then bad, like Wicked: For Good, and Five Nights at Freddy's 2 falls towards the latter end of that scale of movies.
Even as someone who has played very little of the OG games, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 clearly pays homage to the source material and tries to garner the goodwill of longtime fans of the franchise.
As its own movie, it's not shocking that this is a sequel to a movie simultaneously released in theaters and on Peacock. In fairness, if Universal had only released Five Nights at Freddy's in theaters, it would've made more than its already impressive $291 million haul, and three sequels probably would've immediately been green-lit. For now, it appears to be a one-at-a-time process.
Once again, Five Nights at Freddy's creator Scott Cawthon returns as the screenwriter (receiving the lone writing credit of the sequel) and producer of the sequel movie. His presence makes it even more of a puzzling blunder. It's hard to imagine being on set and realizing the video game's concept doesn't lend itself well to a movie, at least one too scared to take risks.
This scare-devoid movie removes anything remotely scary about the games, opting for something made for kids in their pre-teen phase. Nowadays, it feels like most mainstream horror movies decide between making something way too complex or something completely simple and devoid of any nuance.
At one point, Abby (Piper Rubio) calls her older brother Mike's (Josh Hutcherson) comment “cheesy,” and it almost felt as if the character was speaking to us, the viewer.
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 review: What's it about?
A year after the events of Five Nights at Freddy's, Abby is still missing her friends, Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie. She frequently reminisces about them, and Mike doesn't know how to reveal the truth about them to his younger sister.
He's also starting a romance with Vanessa Shelly (Elizabeth Lail) from the first movie. She is still dealing with her childhood trauma and her father, William Afton (Matthew Lillard). Her father created the animatronics.
The sequel delves deeper into the origins of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, including a murder that was covered up and still impacts Vanessa in the present day.
Dealing with trauma
Cawthon attempts to bring some real emotions into his script, namely with Vanessa's trauma arc. This is not anything new to the horror genre, as recent blockbusters like Scream (2022) did it.
Sam Carpenter's (Melissa Barrera) father, who is ironically played by Skeet Ulrich, who also appears in Five Nights at Freddy's 2, haunts her in her adulthood. Like Scream (2022) or not, it did attempt to explore family lineage and trauma in an interesting way. As did Smile, which, for all of its flaws, had the right intentions with its story.
However, Five Nights at Freddy's lacks such nuance. Lail tries to do her best, but her performance comes off like something Dakota Johnson would do in anything other than Materialists or a select few other projects.
While Cawthon deserves credit for creating the Five Nights at Freddy's universe, he may not be cut out for screenwriting. His script in the sequel over relies on horror tropes seen a thousand times before. There are ways to spice it up and subvert expectations.
Maybe he was limited by the PG-13 rating, but it's likely fair to assume that it wouldn't have been much better with an R rating, at least with this crew behind it.
Does Five Nights at Freddy's need an R rating to be good?
Not every horror project has to be rated R, but horror movies do struggle with PG-13 ratings. Offhand, the only recent standouts would be Lights Out, Happy Death Day, and Split. Otherwise, most feel too soft to be considered horror.
In the case of Five Nights at Freddy's 2, the jump scares are just obnoxiously loud. Most of the deaths occur off-screen, but they don't give the audience anything to chew on.
They say love is blind, and perhaps Cawthon's love for his creation is his ultimate downfall. Watching Five Nights at Freddy's 2 makes you realize that this video game may not translate well to the big screen.
On paper, there's something to work with. Most of the gameplay is spent watching through the perspective of CCTV footage, which can be scary. However, even in the games, there is an occasional jump scare every few minutes. That's not enough material to warrant a near-two-hour movie.
To make a movie out of that concept, there has to be an interesting story in place. Unfortunately, that's what Five Nights at Freddy's lacks.
There's something inherently scary about abandoned spaces, and a Chuck E. Cheese-like environment is perfect. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 doesn't take advantage of that setting. Yes, the buildings are abandoned, but the animatronics are scarier in their native environment, not the real world.
Josh Hutcherson and Elizabeth Lail's relationship is messy
Even the relationship between Mike and Vanessa feels misguided. There's a particular line said by Hutcherson to the effect of someone needing to get their s**t together that felt especially weird.
There appears to be a general misunderstanding of relational dynamics in Five Nights at Freddy's 2. The only one that even somewhat resembles something genuine is the one between Mike and Abby. Even then, that's mostly because Mike is the much older brother, and he has to take care of his pre-teen sister. Perhaps Mike and Jeremiah's (Theodus Crane) friendship is another standout, even with the latter's minimal screentime.
How do you misuse Mckenna Grace?
The biggest crime Five Nights at Freddy's 2 commits is misusing Mckenna Grace. Grace is a rapidly growing star, and she recently showed her dramatic acting chops in the somewhat messy Regretting You.
In Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Grace plays Lisa, a ghost hunter. Her crew is given a tour of the original Freddy Fazbear's Pizza location by a security guard played by Teo Briones, who, for better or worse, looks and acts like Colin Cowherd in the role.
The idea of ghost hunters investigating Freddy Fazbear's Pizza sounds good on the surface. Their roles are way too small, considering they are associated with Grace.
Luckily for her fans, they will only have to wait a few months before seeing her in Scream 7. Hopefully, that horror project can right the wrongs of her role in Five Nights at Freddy's 2.
Having a once-notable actor like Hutcherson — who has gone from Hunger Games fame to The Beekeeper just like that — in the lead of the Five Nights at Freddy's series should be a positive thing.
His acting chops haven't improved much since the Hunger Games series ended. He and Rubio have okay chemistry, but the situations they find themselves in make them a more believable brother-sister combination than anything.
At times, Hutcherson's performance reminds you that he was once up for the role of Spider-Man. The thing is, he's now 33, and playing a character like a teenage superhero isn't the best choice in an already doomed project like Five Nights at Freddy's 2.
Should you watch Five Nights at Freddy's 2?
It's clear that Five Nights at Freddy's 2 isn't a movie that studios are watching critics' reactions to determine their next steps. More than likely, the people will determine if a third movie is given the green light.
There are clear homages to the game series sprinkled in by Cawthon. While there was an attempt to make the sequel resemble the gameplay of the OG video games, it just doesn't translate well.
Emma Tammi once again directs Five Nights at Freddy's 2. While she has experience in the horror genre, the Five Nights at Freddy's series may not be for her. It's too watered down to give her any chance to make it scary.
Not that she's completely innocent in the sequel's failures. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 has some of the most telegraphed jump scares that are all bark and no bite. The direction is uninspiring, even by a PG-13 studio horror movie's standards.
Even Chuck E. Cheese knew when to pull the plug on its animatronics. Perhaps it is time for Universal to do the same on the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise.
Grade: D+
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 will be released on Dec. 5.
