Before I begin, I will put it on record that I have never played any of the Five Nights at Freddy's games, and thus I really don't care about the lore behind this. That doesn't necessarily mean I won't enjoy a movie, I didn't know anything about Robbie Williams before seeing Better Man and that was one of my favourite movies of last year, and despite barely playing The Last of Us I've been locked in with each season of that show. Suffice to say, if something is made well enough or hits the rights notes it isn't too hard to rope me in, something that two movies in Five Nights at Freddy's has failed to do.
Set one year after the first film, this second instalment follows Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and Abby (Piper Rubio) as they try to navigate life after everything that went down at the terrifying pizza place. Their transition is seemingly going more smoothly than that of Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), who struggles with nightmares and visions of her father that are stopping her from moving on. The past once again catches up with everyone though, as a new animatronic ghost from the original Freddy's location uses Abby to help with their sinister plans.
I have no idea if this actually does justice to the video game, based on the barrage of clapping I'm assuming fans are pleased, but this just did very little for me. Admittedly I really enjoy the dynamic between Hutcherson and Lail, their complicated attempt at a relationship making for some of the most interesting parts of the movie. The brother-sister dynamic of Mike and Abby worked pretty well for me in the first film, but in this one Abby just feels a bit too immature and started to get on my nerves. The supporting cast has some strengths, but they're pretty much all wasted. McKenna Grace gets to be creepy but doesn't spend much time actually on screen. Matthew Lillard has some great moments but not enough. Meanwhile, Skeet Ulirch and Wayne Knight mark two exciting additions to the cast that both have barely anything to do. Maybe the real draw for people will be the cast of animatronics, but for the most part they were all the same as the first film.
As a horror movie this goes pretty far for PG-13, not necessarily showing insane gore but teasing some brutal stuff. One new animatronic "The Marionette" is genuinely pretty terrifying, and there are moments where she is used for some good scares, but outside of that the film is pretty formulaic in the scare department. If there's one thing I did appreciate a lot though, it's the set design. Getting another, and in this case bigger, retro pizza place filled with fun little details was a delight, and that setting is actually used pretty well for creepiness.
At the end of the day I'm sure this will make a bunch of money, and I'm glad it'll bring people to the theatre. My only hope is that if we keep getting these movies that more effort will be put in to deliver a good movie. 2/5
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