‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ Review
There are so many nonsensical occurrences in the story that there are laughs where there should be scares.
Emma Tammi returns at the helm of Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but Scott Cawthon, the creator of the game, is the sole writer this time, and it seems like he still might be more comfortable with video game writing. Where the first film had some genuine scares because the story was focused and atmospheric, this one relies too heavily on jump scares and dead space.
Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) neglected to tell Mike (Josh Hucherson) that her good friend Charlotte (Audrey Lynn-Marie) was William Afton’s first victim and she still haunts the original Freddy Fazbear location. Charlotte’s filled with rage because she feels the parents could have prevented her demise.
Abby (Piper Rubio) hears from her pal Chica, so she goes to visit her because she misses her animatronic friends. All appears normal at first until Abby’s mean science teacher Mr. Berg (Wayne Knight) destroys her science project, which is a model of one of the animatronics. Chica says she’s willing to talk to Mr. Berg if she and the others are allowed to leave Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Abby agrees to help them get out. From this point on, the Charlotte-controlled animatronics are on a murder spree until Abby’s old friends show up to aid her.
In the games, Charlotte Emily isn’t a main character. She shows up in the minigame Take Cake to the Children, which is part of the Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 game. She’s murdered by William Afton and possesses the Puppet/Marionette. She’s a major character in two other minigames in the series and is a major character in the book Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes. She has the potential to be a scary creature, but it feels like her character is shoe-horned into the story instead of being developed.
Two things that really hurt the film are plot holes and bad dialogue. Why wouldn’t Vanessa tell Mike about Charlotte and her surprise friend at the end, which is a nice nod to Scream? Why wouldn’t Mike heed Vanessa’s warning about Abby talking to the animatronics again after what they’ve been through? Josh Hucherson isn’t given a lot to do in this film and he’s a much stronger lead than Elizabeth Lail, whose lines are sometimes too wooden. Also, the dialogue sounds hollow at times. It feels like we’re on a set, which makes it difficult to get immersed in the film. It’s also not clear why Vanessa would think she could confront Charlotte alone while looking for Abby.
There are so many nonsensical occurrences in the story that there are laughs where there should be scares. Tammi’s directing is fine, but it’s like she’s operating on autopilot instead infusing the film with tension and genuine scares. Cawthon seems unsure of the tone to take with this one, whereas with the first one, it was clear it was trying to be a serious horror film. What makes the original game suspenseful is that the animatronics aren’t predictable. Unfortunately, the story and characters of this film are too predictable.
Matthew Lillard, Freddy Carter, and Skeet Ulrich round out the cast.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a Blumhouse Production and Universal Pictures release, will be in theaters nationwide on December 5.
Sonya Alexander started off her career training to be a talent agent. She eventually realized she was meant to be on the creative end and has been writing ever since. As a freelance writer she’s written screenplays, covered film, television, music and video games and done academic writing. She’s also been a script reader for over twenty years. She's a member of the African American Film Critics Association and currently resides in Los Angeles.
