Spoilers ahead!
Last night, I went to an early screening of “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” at the Cinemark Theatre in Willowbrook Mall.
I went into this movie with high expectations, for it is based on my favorite game in the franchise. The director of the film, Emma Tammi, also said it would be bigger and scarier than the first. After seeing the movie, my expectations were met.
The Story
To start, the movie had amazing storytelling. They did a good job choosing which pieces of lore from the games to incorporate and what they wanted to change to create their own unique story. It was nice how they subtly added an explanation of the lore of the second game in the movie for people who may not know it.
Given that the second game in the series is a prequel, I enjoyed that a lot of this movie focused on the story of William Afton, played by Matthew Lillard, Henry Emily, played by Skeet Ulrich, and how their obsession with work affected their kids. Their story is what starts it all, especially since Afton killing Emily’s daughter, Charlotte, is the origin story of the main antagonist, Marionette. This plot in the movie, being almost identical to the lore of the games, was exciting. I also really liked the detail of having Skeet Ulrich play Henry Emily. Having Lillard and Ulrich play another duo, even if their characters were not currently partners at the time of the movie, was a nice surprise for fans of the iconic “Scream” film.
Additionally, opening the scene with a flashback to Charlotte’s death really set the tone of the film and showed right off the bat that it is not going to have the same friendly feel that many people disliked about the first one. It also explained why she wants to hurt everyone as the Marionette. It had me more eager to see what was in store.
Throughout the film, we see Vanessa’s internal battle to let go of her father, William Afton, and how his actions still haunt her. The scene where we are in her dream (which I thought was interesting for them to do, because in the first movie, we see this with Mike Schmidt) showed the constant fear she had. Afton and his family are a big part of the lore in the games, so even though it is not the exact story, I liked that they are still making it very important to the movie series.
Speaking of Afton’s family, I was really shocked to see Michael Afton, his son, in the film. As a fan, when he first introduced himself as “Michael” when going to give a tour of the original Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza to the kids, I immediately knew. It was still really cool to have the official reveal that he was Afton’s son and Vanessa’s brother.
Everything we learn about these two families throughout the movie brings us to what is nearly the end of the movie. When Charlotte possesses Abby, Mike’s younger sister, she is very close to killing Vanessa. Mike stopped her, though, by playing a music box. Charlotte leaves Abby’s body and is forced back into the box. This is a detail from the game that I really enjoyed they added, because it is the main premise of Marionette. I also like the story they added behind it, and that when Charlotte was a child, the music box always helped her sleep. It is another reminder that these angry animatronics that want to kill everyone are just hurt kids. There is a very important detail in the movie, though, where after Charlotte “leaves,” Mike turns off the music box. As a fan, I knew that meant she was eventually going to come back.
For the ending of the movie, I was a little unsatisfied at first, until I got the full picture. Everything is set up for a potential third movie. Having that in mind, they did a great job.
After Charlotte leaves, Michael Afton and the toy animatronics come back, and he tries to tell Vanessa that they need to continue their dad’s work. This, to me, is Tammi’s way of setting up the story of Michael Afton also becoming “Purple Guy”, as he does in the games. Once Vanessa says no, Michael tells the toy animatronics to kill her, Abby, and Mike Schmidt. As tension is rising, not knowing how they are going to get out of it, the animatronics from the first movie come in and kill all the toys. The original animatronics then died soon after because they were away from Freddy Fazbear’s. Before dying, one of the dead children says that once they go, they can no longer hold “him” back, but doesn’t say who. When I realized this was the ending, I was thinking to myself, “That’s it?” I kept thinking that Charlotte was going to come back, and there was going to be another scene where they learn to keep the music box playing. Instead, all of the animatronics died, and they all started to leave the house. They leave Vanessa behind because they are mad at her for all she has kept from them. Their doing that, though, resulted in Charlotte possessing Vanessa, and the movie is over. That alone changed my thoughts on the ending immediately. Of course, that was not all of it.
There is an after-credit scene and teaser that hints at a third movie. You can tell Tammi is going to do a great job with the story if that is the case.
The first after-credit scene has two people going into the Freddy Fazbear franchise location from the first movie, getting props for a new horror attraction. When looking for scary props, they run into something that they immediately decide to bring because of how scary it looks. They wait until the end of the scene to show what it is. When they do, it is the decaying Springtrap. The scene ends with one of his eyes glowing, showing that he is, in fact, back. After seeing this scene, I understood why all of the animatronics’ deaths felt so sudden. It is dramatic irony for Mike and Abby, for they now think that everything is finally over. It is also to make everything accurate to the third game, where the only animatronic is Springtrap. If there is a third movie, I am really excited to see how they incorporate features of the third game, such as the system restart menu and the phantom animatronics.
The last teaser is a phone call from Henry Emily to Mike Schmidt, in which he tries to warn him that Charlotte is not gone. In the third FNAF game, Marionette is only a threat as her phantom self, so I wonder how they are going to add her to this story.
The New Animatronics
Not only was there good storytelling, but the movie was pretty scary because of the new animatronics. The Marionette was hands down the scariest part of the movie. She moves a lot more smoothly compared to the other animatronics, which helps her be a lot quicker, adding to the horror. There was also her soft and eerie voice, and the fact that they added Charlotte being able to possess people, making them like the Marionette.
There are also the three main toy animatronics: Toy Freddy, Toy Bonnie, and Toy Chica. I thought they all looked excellent, and they achieved the unique kind of fear that they do in the games. Initially, they do not look intimidating at all, but there is just something about them that makes you feel uneasy. The voice acting for the toy animatronics was also spot on. First, there is Toy Freddy, voiced by Kellen Goff. Goff has voiced different variants of Freddy in FNAF games, so it was no surprise that his performance would be phenomenal. He perfectly embodied the deep and intimidating voice that fits the animatronic. Next, there is Matthew Patrick, also known as Mat Pat from Game Theory, who voiced Toy Bonnie. I was honestly expecting to have a hard time not hearing Patrick in his voice acting, but he was able to transform his voice into the high-pitched voice that is commonly tied to Toy Bonnie. Lastly, there was Megan Fox, who voiced Toy Chica. When it was first revealed that Fox would be voicing Toy Chica, fans did not seem to be pleased. I have to say, though, I think she nailed it.
All of the designs for the animatronics were done really well. I especially liked Withered Bonnie and Withered Chica. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, the company that designed all of the animatronics, perfectly replicated all of the animatronics as they were in the games.
References to the Games
What I loved most was the references they added for the fans. It felt like you were inside the game, being able to see a live replica of the different rooms you would see: Kid’s Cove, the carousel, the office, etc. They did add new parts to the building for the movie, like the river, but I was glad to see that those iconic locations had not changed.
A small reference that I was really shocked by was when a young Vanessa sees Circus Baby from “Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location” in her dream. When I saw her, I thought she was going to be a bigger part of the movie, but there was only one appearance. Now having watched the movie, I wonder if this means they are going to do a movie regarding the sister location in the future, and if there is going to be something about Vanessa being Circus Baby, similar to how William Afton’s daughter in the game becomes Circus Baby. Either way, it was a nice detail for the fans.
My favorite part was seeing a reenactment of gameplay from the second game when Mike is in the office. Seeing a perspective from the animatronics on why the mask works for everyone except Foxy, the comments on the fact that there is no door, getting your batteries taken from Balloon Boy, etc., I loved it all.
A final gift to the fans was when the second “Five Nights at Freddy’s” song by The Living Tombstone played during the credits of the movie. After using the first song from The Living Tombstone for the credits of the first movie, I was expecting them to make it a tradition of using all of their iconic music, and I am happy to have been right. Hearing the song start playing after everything that had unfolded was perfect.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this movie was amazing. I think everything was done exactly how it was supposed to, and they did an incredible job setting up the story for a possible third movie.
I liked that the film is not just for one audience. It is not an “if you know, you know” film. Whether you know all of the lore of the franchise or not, it is a movie you will enjoy. Fans will enjoy seeing the shocking stories that have been revealed throughout the years being adapted into a film, and those who do not know the story will be in for a lot of surprises, lore, and entertainment.
