Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Movie Review: This childhood trauma horror spreads itself too thin

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Movie Review:

Perhaps it was the singular focus on Michael Schmidt/Mike's (Josh Hutcherson) guilt and trauma at not being able to protect his younger brother, and him trying to find closure with his past, that made Five Nights at Freddy's (2023) withstand all the negative critical reviews to become a box office success and manage to create a buzz about its sequel. Shockingly, the second film, despite having the same director and writer, fails to capitalise on its strengths and becomes too ambitious.

Set after a year following the rescue of Abby (Piper Rubio), Mike leaves his past where it belongs for good and is determined to take good care of his baby sister Abby, who still shares her scary adventure at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza or Pizzeria with her classmates. This exercise makes her look weird and unpopular in school, resulting in her being othered by both her classmates and staff. Mike's bid to start afresh gets disrupted as Abby's alienation gravitates her further to the abandoned pizzeria, where her 'friends' are trapped in the animatronics. Something Mike wants Abby to move on from and find new and real friends. As these stories should, Abby resists.

Like how Mike used to get visions in his dreams of that day when his younger brother Garrett went missing during a picnic, Vannessa Afton (Elizabeth Lail) tries hard to run away from her troubled childhood with her serial killer father, William Afton (a fantastic Matthew Lillard), still chasing her to carry his 'legacy' forward. A frenetic Emma Tammi chooses to sidestep what should have been the core and instead tries in vain to reconstruct the franchise as a supernatural horror.

The screenplay aimlessly strays into the subplot of a group of paranormal trackers getting trapped in Freddy's, only to introduce jump scares, which is uncharacteristic of this milieu. There are ghosts. The USP of Five Nights at Freddy's is that the ghosts of the kidnapped and murdered children are trapped inside the giant animatronics. The scares should have been developed through this device, and it is a sign of lazy writing to resort to an apparition lurking behind that vanishes on turning around. You tend to grudgingly concede that these scares were mostly effective, but they weren't the right fit for what the first film or Scott Cawthon's eponymous video game series offer.

Director: Emma Tammi

Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Matthew Lillard

While this is a bad writing choice, the scenes exploring Mike and Vanessa's relationship dynamics show the director's desire to have butter on both sides of the bread. Tammi tries to hold on to the necessary little things, but also doesn't want to let go of the flab that isn't. As we wait, like the spirits possessing the animatronics waiting for their freedom, for some substantiation of the new elements introduced in the film. We keep waiting, and the movie ends. The film’s hype train heads for a spectacular crash due to the convoluted storytelling. The reckless treatment given to Mike and Vanessa's interpersonal dynamics and their demons made it seem as though these portions were the weak link, when all the while it was the scares with Charlotte Emily's (Audrey Lynn Marie) ghost and the animatronics taking over the town.

What made us empathise with Mike in the first film was his being pulled by both his past guilt and his present responsibilities, which spanned both ends of the spectrum. He lost his brother as a child and was on the verge of losing his little sister in a legal battle for custody against his relative. It must have made him more responsible in the sequel, but it didn't. He shows no urgency in keeping Abby away from Freddy’s, which she visits as casually as a friend’s house. We can sympathise with his helplessness, but not with his negligence. Sadly, barring Matthew Lillard’s brief flair, the performances lack conviction.

The linchpin failure of the sequel is its departure from the motifs set in the first film. The film, which begins with the fateful day in 1982 on which Charlotte was killed, ideally needed to explore the psyche of Vanessa, who was a mute spectator on that day. It should have also studied the kind of beast her father, William Afton, became. It instead makes Charlotte look evil, draining the film of its purpose and the franchise of its continuity. Makers of the franchise need to be reminded that nothing like a dilapidated arcade—where once the sound of gizmos rent the air—and an empty food counter—once where the children overflowed for treats—are bleak and scary. With a premise built on the universality of the twin ghosts, irresponsible parenting, and exposing children to external threats, the film has reduced the franchise to just another ghost possession and a monster takeover story. In a nutshell, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 makes a bargain soured at both ends. The film neither manages to keep the first film's patrons engaged nor does it bring in new audiences with its grand plot devices.