Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 review by Bobby Blakey
For decades kids’ pizza places like Chuck E Cheese and the way better Showbiz Pizza were stable for kids’ entertainment complete with animatronic character shows. Sadly, over the years this aspect mostly died off, but that didn’t mean they were gone for good. Since then, numerous films, games and comics have focused on this side of our youth in the horror genre. In 2023 the video game Five Nights of Freddy’s made its way to the big screen and did well enough to spawn the new sequel aptly titled Five Nights At Freddy’s 2. Could this latest chapter find a way to bring the show back alive, or should it say deactivated?
Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 follows one year since the supernatural nightmare at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The stories about what transpired there have been twisted into a campy local legend, inspiring the town’s first ever Fazfest. Former security guard Mike and police officer Vanessa have kept the truth from Mike’s 11-year-old sister, Abby, concerning the fate of her animatronic friends. But when Abby sneaks out to reconnect with Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, it will set into motion a terrifying series of events, revealing dark secrets about the true origin of Freddy’s, and unleashing a long-forgotten horror hidden away for decades.
I have never played the games this franchise is based on, so all my thoughts are strictly based on the films themselves. I love this idea and think it was well handled in the Willy’s Wonderland so couldn’t wait to see a bigger franchise dealing with the same ideas. I wasn’t a big fan of the first film sadly as I felt it played too safely but understood why, for the audience it was trying to appeal too. With this next outing I figured now that I knew that we were getting into maybe it could do something fresh and bigger to pull me in like I had hoped the first film did. In reality though it is more of the same, albeit a little better in my opinion.
To be fair it kept with the formula that worked for those that loved the first film. Getting out of the pizzeria and diving more into the lore this time made it feel like something bigger even though it still kept everything close to home. There are some substories like the robotics teacher and club that serves a point for them to use the animatronics but also seems forced in for that same purpose. The teacher played by Wayne Knight is fine but just seems to be hateful for no reason other than to hope he gets killed.
The film doesn’t do much to stand apart from the previous film other than take some direction from films like Terminator 2 in hopes of doing something different. If there is a connection to the game lore here maybe it makes it work more but for me, it was just another generic film that while entertaining to watch isn’t one that brings anything new to make me want to stay for the next performance. The final scene and mid-credit scene are clearly hoping to set things up for another film so we shall see if it happens as I am sure hardcore fans are all for it.
Decide for yourself and check out Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 available now on digital, 4K, Blu-ray and DVD from Universal Home Entertainment.