Story and tone

The new film Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 mainly targets viewers who enjoyed the original as a charming horror with drama and atmosphere. But there’s a problem: the sequel Five Nights at Freddy’s looks like it was made on autopilot.

The animatronics are magnificent once again, and the nostalgia for the pizzeria works, but everything related to the plot and narrative falls apart before our eyes. The focus is once again on Mike Schmidt and his younger sister Abby. They are taken to Freddy Fazbear’s old restaurant, where William Affton began his bloody career.

The main new monster in Freddy’s 2 is The Doll. The soul of the bravest victim, Charlotte, is inside the tall black and white figure. The Doll can be a scary figure appearing in a dark hallway, like the animatronics in the first game. In the movie Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, it turns into a strange doll that is possessed and looks more like a cheap toy than a real threat in the FNAF universe.

Visual imagination

The animatronics are simply magnificent. Toy Freddy and the others look like they came straight out of the nightmares of children sleeping in a pizza restaurant with flashing lights. They are huge and very heavy you can feel their details and weight when they turn their heads. For this, we want to thank the special effects artists.

A separate issue is the visual processing of the image. When a doll controls a person, funny “demonic” distortions appear on their faces, as if it were a bad filter from an old app. This may be normal in a game, but on screen it ruins the mood.

Music and sound Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

The music is good, too. The Newton Brothers mix contains 8-bit sounds, kids songs and a dark backdrop. Sometimes it is like you are not in a movie theater; you are in the menu of a new Five Nights at Freddy’s game; you are about to press “New Game” and you screw up. This is one of the very few times where the film really shows how it felt originally.

Themes Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

However, there are big problems with the story. The script was written by Scott Cawthon himself and he stuck very closely to the original FNAF 2 game. He did not alter the story much for the film. As a result, the story is not clear, it is just a bunch of references.

Fans can choose what to see, but most people wonder about the weird behavior of the actors and what they are doing. The movie is not giving any hints, and just dumping a lot of information onto the audience.

The same is true about horror movies. The movie tries to be scarier with simple tricks – constant screams, sudden blackouts, and characters appearing behind others without warning. At a certain point you stop feeling scared and you start counting the seconds till the next loud bang breaks the silence.

When you compare games such as Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic, Outlast or Resident Evil the difference is obvious. In those games, the scream delivers the final hit after a long buildup. You press buttons, hide, and breathe into the mic in fear. Or in the movie, you just watch the characters, waiting for the next “boo!” and you hardly do anything.

The first movie attempted a true story of trauma, guilt and acceptance. The sequel assumes the viewers only care about legends and eggs at Easter. While the film mentions some serious topics like lost childhood, guilt and bad adults, it never really looks into them.

Final Verdict

The ending is confusing. There is hardly any definite ending. In one section of Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, instead of having a good ending, it just gives big teaser for another game. The tension really doesn’t build and there’s not a strong emotional impact.

The creators made Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 to expand the brand, introduce new animatronics fans will enjoy, and develop a stronger story. As a movie on its own it did not do very well and people were disappointed.

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