FNAF 2 Movie Review
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is a movie that will only be watchable to somebody who has been following this franchise for the past decade. To the average moviegoer, this film is nigh-incomprehensible, with utterly bizarre plot points and nonsensical character choices. The only saving grace to them are the stunning practical effects by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, and maybe the performances of Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich. On the whole, however, this movie is not for the everyday person and is generally a “bad movie”. If you are not intimately familiar with the world of FNAF, then save yourself the time and sit this movie out, as there won’t be much to gain from it for you.
To a fan, however, this movie is the greatest single thing ever put to screen. I have genuinely never had such a good time watching a film before as with this movie. If you are a fan of the world of FNAF, then this is a must-watch film. Grab a friend and experience an hour and a half of fan service and point-at-the-screen moments, with the occasional genuinely good quality moment of horror or suspense thrown in here or there.
In exchange for a well-written story, we get incredible practical effects, live-action renditions of all the mainstay characters of the FNAF universe, and a refreshing remix of the established lore that we have come to know and love. This movie does not even attempt to tap into any of the psychological and uncanny horror of the early days of this franchise (save for perhaps one or two sequences), but I personally don’t mind it all that much. I think this movie was an amazing watch, one of my personal favorite movies of all time. If you want to see a fun movie that doesn’t need to be taken too seriously, then give this one a watch. It’s not a cinematic masterpiece, but if you were expecting one then I think that’s really your own fault. It’s the FNAF 2 movie, live a little.
SPOILERS BEGIN HERE
FNAF 2 is a fan service movie. There is no way around that fact. I do not think that is a bad thing, but it is certainly true. The fanverse references, Circus Baby, RXQ, all these moments were included solely to make the audience go “I know that guy!!!” and it's WONDERFUL. I have never been as floored by a movie moment as I was when Baby showed up. I think I had my mouth open for about five straight minutes after that scene.
These moments really do go to show how “for the fans” this film is. For example, a FNAF fan would be so preoccupied with seeing Michael freaking Afton on screen that they disregard the inherent absurdity of having both the protagonist and antagonist of the story be named Michael. They’d also ignore the fact that, despite the fact Michael is so desperate for his father’s approval, he never once showed up to help him in the original movie. No, those things are not important, what is important is that it’s MICHAEL FREAKING AFTON THAT’S MICHAEL DUDE!
I am not saying this to try and make myself seem above these types of people, because this is literally the exact type of person I am. I have that exact thought process, that’s literally my opinion right there. I adored Michael’s inclusion in the film because we now have more Michael content which is all I can really ask for honestly.
The same thing goes for Henry Emily. Henry is seemingly important (played by Skeet freaking Ulrich of course he’s important), and yet he only has one scene in the entire film and is also only mentioned by name a single time in PASSING by Mike. However, this doesn’t matter to a FNAF fan, as we already KNOW who this person is and what he’s all about. The knowledge required to have any kind of clue about what’s going on in this film is VAST, but if you have that knowledge then this movie is genuinely an incredible watch.
Something that I adored about this movie was the sound design. It was a major step up from the original in just about every single way. The mechanical ratcheting of the Springbonnie costume, the heavy metallic thudding footsteps of the toys, the slithering of the Puppet’s fabric, the gargling and roaring of the withereds, it was all genuinely fantastic. My favorite scene in the movie is when the withereds were being activated, the sound design in that scene was absolutely delicious. I really think this movie was a major improvement on the original; everything feels much weightier and more real than before.
We must not forget to discuss the incredible work that Jim Henson’s creature shop has put in. The animatronics look even better than they did in the first movie. The toys looked like they were ripped straight out of the game, Mangle looking especially good, the Puppet was incredible, and the withereds were stunning and surprisingly spooky. Overall, they knocked it out of the park with this film, and I cannot wait to see what they do for the third installment; that Springtrap at the end was an incredible tease.
Now, this movie is by no means perfect. Even as a diehard FNAF fan, I have some gripes with it. First of all, the animatronic screentime was a little lackluster. The withered animatronics are some of the most popular characters in the entire series, and they only show up for a single sequence. They don’t even do much really, Withered Bonnie especially getting shafted, which was a great shame considering how unbelievable the suits looked. I wish they had done a bit more with the withereds, even if I did thoroughly enjoy their little sequence.
Now, as a massive FNAF fan, I absolutely loved this film. However, one thing does stick out above the rest when I give it my final rating.
I watched this movie with my girlfriend, and she was very excited for it. During the Mangle car sequence, I looked over and she had her hand over her mouth, with eyes wide and clutching my arm very tightly for the entire scene. All the other big moments of the film elicited similarly excited reactions, which really made my day to see. This movie made my girlfriend very happy, and because of that, it gets 1 million gold stars out of five. Best movie ever made.