Over the past couple months, the Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 movie was hyped up and many were excited for the movie and the prospect at a fun sequel to a popular gaming franchise turned film. But, after watching it twice in theaters and as a fan of FNAF for a few years, I must say the critics were right to say that the movie was not good and didn’t hold up to the hype.
(STOP READING NOW if you want to avoid spoilers.)
It honestly only held the horror aspects in the scenes of Professor Berg, Alex, Lisa and Rob. Three of these deaths, (Lisa, Rob, and Alex) were shown later on. Charlotte’s death in the start was more for plot purposes, but if you knew the theories and facts of the game, you knew she was going to die, so her death wasn’t as scary or exactly startling.
The movie lacked the feeling of the first one, making the need for a sequel a money grab and more than for fans, although many fans still said they liked the movie, and I personally did like some parts.
There were many references to the game and some popular memes that caught me off guard. There were references to shadow bonnie, the game when Micheal is in the office keeping track of the animatronics. The “har har har” from the plushie, I must admit, was funny and gave the audience a few laughs, but my opinion still stands that the movie could have done better.
The movies and the FNAF games have completely different lore from each other. I do enjoy the plot lines, but I wish to see more of Cassidy if she is key in the movies, because her motive and revenge arc carried the original story.
The motive that Charlotte wants revenge on parents for not listening to her because she is a “weird” or “dumb kid” is not far off from teen real-life experiences which gives a nod to the franchise’s audience.
The death of Professor Berg was something that shocked the theater and made an impact. It brought the sense of fear and shock that people expected in the theaters, but some deaths were more fearful, unlike Bob who was killed by the toy marionettes.
Many online critics and some fans I talked to said that it wasn’t as good as they hoped and it could have been better if they had listened more to the public’s opinions or maybe redone the story to make it more game-like. The ending was cliché with its dumb, fight-video parody format, and I hope that if a third movie were to come out, that the creators and script writers would listen to the public’s opinions to bring back that fear element the games had.
