Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 44 minutes, Director – Emma Tammi
A year after the events at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza the animatronics are back, upgraded and out for revenge on the adults of the nearby town, under the control of a force trapped in the original restaurant.
After almost immediate box office success a sequel to 2023’s Five Nights At Freddy’s was announced. Along with it mention that the follow-up would lean into the horror more, after responses to the first film said that it needed to be scarier. Indeed, whilst still maintaining a PG-13 rating in the US and a fitting 15 in the UK, it seems that these calls have been listened to as the quickly-turned-around sequel puts more emphasis into the creeps and doesn’t get distracted with attempts at tonally conflicting laughs as with before – although there are a couple of good chuckles here and there.
A year on from the first five nights spent at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza now-11-year-old Abby (Piper Rubio) is missing her animatronic friends, eventually travelling back to the abandoned restaurant. However, when discovering the original location where the Freddy’s chain started she discovers upgraded animatronics which need her help to leave the building. However, once free there may be something more in the restaurant controlling them, seeking revenge on parents in the nearby town.
The force in question is the new arrival of the Marionette. A figure which the more we see of it manages to become creepier with how it attacks those who come near it. Uncovered by a group of young paranormal investigators, led by McKenna Grace, with Abby’s brother, and former night guard, Mike (Josh Hutcherson), alongside Elisabeth Lail’s Vanessa, uncovering the truth and trying to fight back, and protect the town. Inside the restaurant, where it seems that certain instances involving Hutcherson’s character behind a desk may be leaning more into the style of the games (of which I still know very little about), there’s a sense of sustained threat and tension that manages to leak slightly into the events outside Freddy Fazbear’s.
Things may be narratively tangled with one too many plot strands piled on top of each other, alongside the ending feeling a bit too brief as an effect of focusing more on building up an inevitable sequel, but there’s still light amusement to be found in the events at hand. Events which while busy I’d be lying if I said they didn’t go by quickly, and in large part that’s likely down to the consistency in tone throughout. Upping the creepiness and making sure to draw it out in a couple of key scenes that play into the mechanics (not quite literally) of the animatronics the most. We see old iterations of the figures of Freddy, Bonnie, Foxy and Chica – worn out, torn apart and with multiple rows of teeth – they’re only lightly seen, but there’s something quite effective about them when they’re used to jump up in the darkness of office confines.
The end result of this sequel may not be perfect, especially as it almost seems to turn into a bridge film to an as-yet-unannounced third instalment, but it certainly shows the creatives (namely director Emma Tammi and writer Scott Cawthon – taking sole credit for the screenplay this time) have listened to the responses from last time and actually taken them on board. And it makes for a pacier, creepier time that leans into the antagonistic side of the animatronics, and the forces behind them, by maintaining the threat at hand, and slightly stretching that PG-13 limit.
While still narratively busy, Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 is a step up from the previous entry, focusing on the stretches of tension and creepiness thanks to a more consistent tone throughout, even as it starts to focus more on the next instalment rather than its own plot.
Just A Little Bit Random 