This article contains minor spoilers of Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
Let’s get one thing straight: I am not a fan of horror or thrillers. It’s very rare when I bring myself to go see them, and always under very special circumstances. I had heard of the Five Nights at Freddy’s games, and while I vaguely knew what they were about, I knew enough to know that I would be terrified. While I’m not a fan of the horror genre, jump scares are enough to get my blood pumping. Five Nights at Freddy’s is full of them.
When the first movie came out, I decided it wouldn’t be as nightmare-inducing as other films. The PG-13 rating also helped ease some of my fears. With that in mind, I did my research on the lore and went to go see it. Of course, there were times I averted my eyes in anticipation of what was going to come, but, overall, I was enthralled, which leads us to the second movie.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 takes place at least one year after the first film. While I liked the pace of the movie, I do think it would’ve benefitted from being longer. It is roughly the same length as the first Five Nights and even offers an end credit scene; however, there were just a few more things I was expecting to see.
Starting with Henry Emily, played by Scream icon Skeet Ulrich. It seemed to be a huge deal when he was announced to be playing a pivotal character. I thought perhaps he’d get a smidge more screen time than what we saw. Imagine my surprise when he was only there to talk to Mike! As there are more films to come out of the franchise, I understand not utilizing Henry Emily’s history to its full extent at the moment. Though, I would’ve liked to see Vanessa go with Mike to talk to him about Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
The next thing that really bothered me was Mike. He’s played by Josh Hutcherson, whose face card was only getting him so far with how he was acting. Mike has a lot on his plate with being the sole caretaker of his sister and working on their house, amongst other responsibilities, which I get. What I don’t get is how he switched up on Vanessa entirely. Having gone through the events of the first film with her, I would’ve thought he’d at least try to put himself in her shoes. She’s not perfect, and she’s definitely traumatized. They all are. He feels betrayed that she withheld certain information from him, but she’s also still working through her trauma. Though that doesn’t stop her from always being concerned about him and his sister! She risks her life for them in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and he doesn’t seem to care. Instead, Mike blames her for the animatronics being in their lives.
Given that the movie takes place a while from the previous movie’s events, it didn’t make sense to me that he would do that to her. At this point, Vanessa is someone he’s taken the time to get to know, and even grown to like romantically. Blaming her didn’t sit right with me. In case he forgot, he took the security guard job before he met her. He brought his sister with him and Vanessa warned him against it. In her defense, how do you even begin to explain that your dad was a serial killer, killing children you were friends with, and killing them at a beloved family business? Yeah, I thought so.
Onto what I enjoyed, I did like that the jump scare factor was brought up a little more this time. I know during the first go around, a lot of fans stated that they thought the film would be scarier, some even stating it should be rated R. I think the second film did a good job in its scare progression, as we will see the lengths it can get to with each new film. I don’t think it’s something that should be rushed. McKenna Grace crawling on the floor, disjointed, was enough for me.
Of course a big thing to be excited about were the animatronics that were introduced! Having the movie open up in a flashback meant being able to see the original location. As Henry Emily’s daughter, Charlotte, died, she was held by her favorite character, the Marionette. At the original location, there was a small boat ride where tiny Marionette’s lined the walls. In this film, the Marionette plays an important role as a victim of William Afton. When Charlotte died in the arms of the Marionette, her soul possessed it. Vanessa was able to keep her asleep using a music box. Awoken twenty years later, she has control of the Toy and Withered animatronics. This paired with the Classic animatronics seen at the end, tripled the variety of Freddy’s, Bonnie’s, Chica’s, and Foxy’s. In addition, during Vanessa’s dreamscape we saw Circus Baby and Balloon Boy, animatronics from the other FNAF games, make a few appearances at the original location.
Since I didn’t play the games, I am very interested in seeing how they’ll continue unfolding the storyline. At the end of the movie, Vanessa gets possessed by the Marionette after Mike closes the music box! The moment he closed it, I was up in arms. Henry Emily and Vanessa had previously told him it’s used to help her sleep. Be for real now.
In the post credits scene, Springtrap, the antagonist of the first film and overarching game saga, is reviving now that all the Classic animatronics systems have failed. Where will Mike and his sister go? How unstoppable will Charlotte be in Vanessa’s body? Will Henry be able to speak with his daughter through Vanessa? And those are just surface level questions.
Regardless, I will be seated, with my eyes slightly covered, at the next Five Nights at Freddy’s.