The film “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” gave a new and refreshing plotline to the franchise. It combined ideas from Scott Cawthon’s games and books to bring original characters into a new light. The sequel surpassed the first movie with its cinematography and scare factor. Despite critics calling the film a “trainwreck”, it has been largely adored by fans.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” continued the story of Mike and Abby Schmidt, a brother-sister duo that had a run-in with the haunted animatronics at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The movie followed young Abby who felt lost and alone without her robot friends. The film showed the ups and downs Mike faced while raising his little sister and Abby’s struggle to fit in without her “real” friends.
As a long time “Five Nights at Freddy’s” fan, I have played the original games and read the books. I was excited to experience the movie adaptations. The film “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” kept the audience hooked by including suspenseful and scary scenes but also showing the progression in the characters return to normalcy after their terrifying encounter in “Five Nights at Freddy’s 1”. While Mike worked to help Abby fit in, Vanessa Shelly, a local police officer that helped fight off her malicious dad in the first movie, tried to confront her past and move on from her father’s wrongdoings.
The cast of the film was carefully picked as each member portrayed their character thoughtfully. Casting directors combined descriptions from the games and books to truly bring the characters to life. Despite the dialogue being cheesy at times, the cast acted with what felt like raw and authentic emotion. This made the trials and tribulations of the characters more believable. Actor, Matthew Lillard, perfectly portrayed William Afton, Vanessa’s father, as he evoked a sense of fear on the audience during the scene in which he terrorized young Vanessa. Because of his past roles in horror movies like, “Scream”, Lillard was a perfect fit for the main antagonist of the story.
The movie is cleverly connected with the already established fan base by adding Easter eggs and popular culture references. Fans were ecstatic to see the inclusion of Shadow Bonnie, a rare animatronic that has a slim chance of appearing in the second and third “Five Nights at Freddy’s” games. The film also included Circus Baby, an animatronic that is introduced in the game, “Sister Location”. The appearance of these characters sets up for future movies to be made. The cast included popular YouTubers that have played important roles in popularizing the games. CoryxKenshin made a cameo as a taxi driver and MatPat, from The Game Theorists, voiced Toy Bonnie.
The plot included aspects from both the games and books which created a new story for the movies but also left gaps in the original lore. Throughout the film, the animatronic known as “The Puppet” possessed multiple humans which is something that does not occur in the games or books. This concept received backlash and was widely frowned upon. Michael Afton, the protagonist of most of the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” games appeared as the night guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza and as Vanessa’s brother. In the movie, he is portrayed as an evil and deranged man that hoped to continue his father’s heinous murdering spree. This left fans with many questions because Michael Afton is set on destroying his father throughout the games.
As someone who has been immersed in the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise since a young age, I recommend “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” to other fans. Despite crushing reviews from critics, the movie added a new, exciting and frightening perspective to the ever-growing story of the haunted animatronics.
