No one, literally no one, is calling Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (FNAF 2), released Dec. 5, a masterpiece. The plot is difficult to follow, the script is corny at times, and the jumpscares seem shoehorned in. But, for the fans who grew up playing the FNAF games on Steam, have spent hours decoding the series’ lore, and left the first FNAF movie yearning for more eerie animatronics, the film is well worth the price of admission.
FNAF 2 is based on Scott Cawthon’s 2014 indie horror video game by the same name. The player, inserted into the game as Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria’s new night guard, attempts to survive the killer sentient animatronics that roam the pizzeria after dark.
The game gained a devoted following over the years, inspiring fan music videos (see: The Living Tombstone), Tumblr fan art, the release of ten more FNAF games, and the first movie, which made an impressive $291,493,620 globally in 2023.
The sequel only loosely follows the game’s storyline, in which the night guard, Mike, must survive more murderous animatronics at the newly reopened Fazbear Pizzeria. The cast of animatronics expands in the second game with “withered” and “toy” variations of the main cast, while adding a new murderous antagonist in the Marionette animatronic.
The film opens with Mike (Josh Hutcherson) trying to return to a normal life after the traumatic pizzeria events in the first film, and with his younger sister, Abby (Piper Rubio) wanting to restore the animatronics, which she considers her “friends,” to life. When the vengeful Marionette animatronic starts conducting the other animatronics, Mike and town cop Vanessa Afton (Elizabeth Lail) race to stop the living machines from attacking townspeople.
Admittedly, the FNAF movies are not exactly known for top-tier writing. Unless you played the games, Cawthon’s plot feels convoluted, jumping between scenes quickly without explanation. Aside from appropriately atmospheric lighting and a suspenseful score by The Newton Brothers, there are few well-placed thrills or scares.
Also, despite the movie aiming to pay homage to the source material, the FNAF 2 universe becomes confusing with the introduction of new animatronics and a second pizzeria location. One of the main plot points — the Marionette’s ability to control some animatronics, yet not others — is poorly explained in a blink-or-you’ll-miss-it exchange between Vanessa and Mike. If not well-versed in the lore of the games, these changes to the film might leave viewers lost.
But for dedicated FNAF-lovers, the movie is an opportunity to cheer on their favorite animatronics. Fan-favorites from the second game, like Toy Chica and Mangle, enter the FNAF universe in the second film. At the Dec. 5 screening I attended, cheers erupted when Withered Bonnie and Withered Freddy, eerie and decayed, made their on-screen debut in the final act. Having such a high-quality and game-accurate display of well-loved characters (thanks to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop’s animatronics) is a thrilling experience for us FNAF Heads.
FNAF 2 also shines in its many homages to the beloved games, like when Mike wears a Freddy Fazbear mask in the pizzeria’s office to placate the animatronics, or when he uses a music box to calm the Marionette; both present in FNAF 2 gameplay.
For the die-hard FNAF fans willing to overlook some of the film’s plotting missteps, FNAF 2 is also worth it for the cultural experience of dressing up as Chica or Bonnie for the screenings. Across TikTok and Instagram, fans attending the movie posted their animatronic-inspired outfits, with some even filtering into the Brea Regal Theaters to fill the lobby with eye-patch-wearing foxes or top-hat-wearing bears.
The casual moviegoer unfamiliar with the FNAF franchise lore or its cultural impact across Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube will probably find FNAF 2 to be a time-waster. But for FNAF lovers nostalgic for the uncanny animatronics and imaginative plot, the movie offers a fun excuse to don bear ears and watch the decade-old franchise return to life on the big screen.
