Director: Emma Tammi
Starring: Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Freddy Carter, Theodus Crane, Wayne Knight, Teo Briones, Mckenna Grace, Skeet Ulrich, and Matthew Lillard
Movie Length: 1 hour 44 minutes
What Michael thought: As a warning, this will be an unusual review. In a year of providing movie reviews to The Convention Collective, I’ve never felt prompted to insert myself so prominently into my piece. Having said that, my primary takeaway from watching Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is “what the hell did I just watch?”
Let me couch this largely negative review by taking responsibility for some of the elements that detracted from my enjoyment. First of all, although I saw the first film, it was some time ago and there are details which are fuzzy to me. Secondly, I have no exposure to the video games for which this franchise is based upon. Now, let me defend those handicaps.
If you are producing a sequel, whether or not the viewer has seen the introductory film, there is an incumbent responsibility to bring spectators up to speed. The rules should be established so as not to alienate your audience. Next, the material produced can’t be slavishly based on the world of the video game.
Based on the audience’s cheering reaction to the appearance of certain animatronic characters at the sneak preview I attended, I can only assume these were hardcore fans. Because otherwise, there was nothing especially exciting about what was taking place on the screen.
Not since I watched the first ten minutes of Skinamrink did I feel so out of touch with a film. But not to worry, we did get a couple of hallmark horror movie tropes such as the scary object appearing after the refrigerator door closes. Let’s not forget the constant tripping and falling so that the aggressor has plenty of time to catch their victims.
If you’re a massive fan of the video game and you watch the first movie before you enter the theater, then this movie is made for you.
Michael’s rating: From my perspective, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is not the film for me, earning my lowest rating of the year with a 5.0.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is now in theaters.
Are you going to see the movie? Have you already? Feel free to leave a comment below or chat with us on Threads at @theconventioncollective, or Bluesky at @theconcollective.bsky.social
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