Five Nights at Freddy's 2

I expected this film to be very different. I was expecting a sequel, but instead I found myself faced with a film that says little and concludes nothing. It's not a bad film, but let's just say they managed the timing poorly, leaving you with an indescribable sadness at the end. The soundtrack is almost the same as the first but still very beautiful, the animatronics are fantastic, and the characters don't act haphazardly. All in all, it's not a bad film, but it could have been much better.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is the kind of sequel that arrives with exciting potential... and stumbles precisely where it needed to get it right. The lore grows, the animatronics shine, and fan service explodes on screen, but all of this is tied to a narrative that always seems one step behind itself. It explains too much to those who already know everything and at the same time doesn't help those who are just arriving.

The horror tries to make itself present, and sometimes even appears, but it is soon sabotaged by random jump scares that are more annoying than scary. The feeling is that the franchise is so concerned with pleasing the most hardcore fans that it forgot to tell a story that works on its own.

Still, it's impossible to deny: when the animatronics come on the scene, the film finally comes to life. Visually, it's the best this adaptation has ever delivered. Too bad the rest doesn't follow suit.

In the end, FNAF 2 is the typical movie that makes you think, "I wanted to like it... but it's hard."

I was not overly impressed with the 2023 movie "Five Nights At Freddy's", but still opted to check out this sequel, solely because I had the chance and because it was a movie that I hadn't already seen.

I can't really claim that writer Scott Cawthon penned down a particularly enjoyable or entertaining script. Sure, it was about as enjoyable as the 2023 movie in my opinion. Which is good news if you enjoyed the first movie. But if you're looking for a proper horror experience, your time is better spent elsewhere. I suppose the movie fell short of entertaining me, as I simply am beyond the target audience for the whole "Five Nights at Freddy's" concept. But I am sure that fans of the franchise will enjoy the movie.

The movie does have a couple of familiar talents on the cast list, with the likes of Josh Hutcherson, Matthew Lillard and Wayne Knight. The acting performances in the movie were fair.

Visually, then the movie was quite good. I did like the CGI and special effects. And they did add a lot to the general enjoyment of the movie.

Hardly a movie that I will return to watch a second time. It is a rather forgettable movie for me.

My rating of director Emma Tammi's 2025 movie "Five Nights at Freddy's 2" movie lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

I'm definitely not the biggest Five Nights at Freddy's fan alive. I watched the first movie, didn't like it, but I could at least understand why some people enjoyed it.

With the second one? Man... I genuinely have no idea how anyone walks out of this thinking, "Yeah, that was good."

This thing is basically a fan-service piñata that someone slapped together with the energy of a dying WiFi router. Sure, the animatronics look great (honestly the only part of the production where it feels like effort was involved). Marionette in particular could've been genuinely creepy... if they didn't spend most of the movie turning her into a goofy possession gimmick with cartoon eyes and wet-noodle arms. Completely wasted potential at this point...

Yes, the movie is bigger than the first one. More robots, more locations, more noise. Great.

But it doesn't matter when the whole script collapses like a folding table at a frat party.

Now the rest... and this is where the mountain of issues starts:

The writing is awful.

Characters talk like they were written on a crumpled napkin. The plot relies entirely on braindead coincidences...

Example: A car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, in the dead of night... and suddenly a friend just happens to drive by, doesn't question anything, and gives a ride. Sure. Totally normal.

People appear out of nowhere like they mastered instant transmission, and a supposedly abandoned, forgotten-for-decades location apparently sits right next door to everyone. Nobody in this world seems to need more than 90 seconds to travel miles.

And the story: Just as bad.

The villain's motivation could have been good, but it's executed so bizarrely that you can't take it seriously. No adult on earth would react that dismissively to a kid shouting about a kidnapping. In this movie, the parents treat her like she said aliens stole her homework. It's absurd and breaks the whole setup.

Then there's the big, hyped-up Fazbear Festival. Posters everywhere, constant mentions, obvious build-up toward some big showdown... And then it amounts to absolutely nothing. It never matters. At all.

The final battle happens in a single cramped room like they ran out of money halfway through shooting. Why even include the festival if it's not going to matter? Feels like a huge missed opportunity, maybe a budget problem, who knows.

The horror is basically just loud noises and jump-cuts with zero buildup. No tension, no atmosphere, nothing memorable. It's kiddie horror - which would be fine if the rest of the movie could carry the weight... It doesn't.

The dynamic between Mike and Vanessa is also baffling. Vanessa carries the whole movie, protects his sister, does all the heavy lifting, and Mike reacts like she personally keyed his car. Zero emotional logic.

And the biggest problem of all: This isn't a movie. It's a two-hour setup for the third one.

Nothing gets resolved.

There's no real climax.

No sense of completion.

It's like reading a book where the author ends chapter eight with "To be continued..." and just walks away.

FNaF fans will probably love this movie anyway, because it shows them the stuff they already adore from the games. And hey, that's fine, the fanservice is overflowing.

But as a standalone film? It's weak. Really weak.

It feels like a two-hour trailer for Part 3 with some cool animatronics sprinkled in.

If you're expecting an ACTUAL film with pacing, logic, or coherent writing...

Yeah, this ain't it. Not even close.

Rating: 6/10 (For General Audiences) / 10/10 (For the Fandom) The Premise Set one year after the events of the first film, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 attempts to expand the lore rather than just retread it. The story picks up with Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and Abby (Piper Rubio) trying to navigate a world where the horrors of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza are becoming a local legend-spawning a kitschy "Fazfest" celebration. But when a new location opens featuring the shiny, plastic "Toy" animatronics, old ghosts (quite literally) come back to haunt the main cast.

The Good: Jim Henson's Creature Shop Does It Again If you thought the animatronics in the first movie were impressive, the sequel doubles down. The introduction of the Toy Animatronics (Toy Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica) provides a stark, unsettling contrast to the "Withered" originals. The pristine, shiny plastic look of the new bots translates perfectly to the screen, capturing that uncanny valley feeling from the second game.

The standout performance, however, isn't human. The Marionette (The Puppet) is the true star of this film. Without spoiling its role, the character's movement and design are genuinely unnerving and provide the film's most atmospheric scares.