After 2 not very long years, Blumhouse is back with their new franchise, Five Nights At Freddy’s. It’s no surprise that this film would make money and it did, with over $300M globally, one of the biggest horror films of all time. Emma Tammi and crew proved that you don’t need a good movie to make money, just a popular IP (well we’ve seen that happening many times in the movie industry). And now, with the sequel, did they learned with their mistakes? Was the sequel any better? Was it really worth it? Let’s talk about it and find out…
The premise for the film states “One year has passed 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 (Josh Hutcherson) and police officer Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) have kept the truth from Mike’s 11-year-old sister, Abby (Piper Rubio), 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.”
Let’s just be clear with some things, I’ll evaluate this as a film itself and criticize it in a fair way. It’s awful. They barely learned anything from what they did in that first film and delivered a same level film that tries to be something it just can’t be. The characters are just as bland and soulless as you can remember. But there’s a lot of things to point out in this film.
The film tries very hard to give you something people have been asking for: jumpscares. A lot of jumpscares — and some really, really bad ones at times. The plot? Awful. Toy Chica talks way too much; they’re really leaning into that Megan Fox casting. Toy Freddy and Toy Bonnie barely do anything the entire film. There are some cool scenes with Mike Schmidt in the old Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. I honestly think hardcore fans will thoroughly enjoy the film and have a great time with it. Plenty of references to dig through. But it’s undeniable how bad the pacing is — the plot never gets interesting or engaging. Sometimes you just want it to end…
The dialogue is extremely cringey. There’s one specific scene in this film that feels almost identical to one in the first movie. As I’m telling you, this film isn’t much different from the first. And man… I won’t spoil it, but that setup at the end was just… something. I respect and admire how faithful they are to the game’s lore, but I just don’t think Blumhouse is the right studio for this mission.
With very few good aspects to it, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is overall terrible. A highly derivative, bland plot packed with awful dialogue and some really weak jumpscares (a few good ones too). Not much to look forward to.
Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 releases in theaters on December 5.
