Since the first “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie was released, I have been eagerly awaiting the sequel. The sequel’s release date, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, was announced in May 2024, and it has been in my calendar since then.
I have enjoyed the games for as long as I can remember, even though they gave me a fair number of nightmares in my younger years. I was more than excited to see the first one and even more excited to see this series hitting the big screen for a second time.
The first movie received mixed reviews; critics hated it, but fans of the series loved it. I was in the latter group — I thought it was a fun movie that adapted the original material well to the broader audience of moviegoers.
It is hard to recreate the terror of being in that office in gameplay. The biggest gripe from many was the film’s lack of scares, despite being based on a horror game.
The sequel, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” was much more divisive. Fans enjoyed it more than the original, while critics were even harsher than before. This time, I agreed more with the critics and wasn’t as fond of this sequel as I was of the first.
Don’t get me wrong — I still enjoyed the movie. It was a fun watch and much stronger in the horror department. The creators clearly took note of the fanbase’s desire for more scares, while still keeping the film accessible to younger audiences. As a certified bubble-blowing baby, I was still able to make it through the movie without screaming or crying.
The main problem lies in the film’s plot. The first movie had a fine-enough plot that made some sense and kept me interested through its 110-minute runtime.
Without spoiling too much, the main character, Mike Schmidt, tries to come to terms with a tragedy in his life. The plot follows this, and over the course of the movie, he finally manages to get some closure.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” focuses on a different character, Vanessa Shelly, as she deals with her own trauma. It mostly makes sense within the lore of the games and is an interesting direction for the movie series to take, but there was no resolution to this issue. Not only that, but the plot pivots away from that and essentially ignores the point that it’s been leading up to.
The ending of the movie also felt weird. Animatronics that were presumably dead in the first movie randomly come back and save the day. They also attack the other animatronics, which again does not make sense given the situation.
It doesn’t fit what the audience has seen in the two movies, and it ignores previous events and their consequences to achieve a feel-good ending rather than one that makes sense.
The end-credit scene was what sold it for me personally. Characters we haven’t yet seen are going through the main restaurant, presumably after some time.
This was a really cool scene, as it plays perfectly into events at the beginning of the third game. However, it made me realize how little actually happened in this movie. Since the main conflict goes unresolved, and the movie ends on a cliffhanger, it really felt more like filler until the third movie is inevitably released.
It felt like this movie expanded the universe just so sequels could go in any direction they wanted them to, but Blumhouse doesn’t give satisfactory endings to any of the problems that have already been introduced. As someone who likes answers and tied ends, it leaves a lot to be desired.
While I’m excited for more movies because I love the characters, and the actors do well with the given material, I also realize that this one in particular was a shallow cash grab that moves the story along just enough to be its own movie and force a third one.
I’m hoping that future movies will begin to give some of the answers I’ve been deprived of, but I’m not getting my hopes up. Blumhouse isn’t exactly known for giving fans high-quality movies — they’re good at producing decent movies for cheap, making their returns astronomical.
The bright side for them is that I’m a consumer and they keep shoveling content into my insatiable maw.
Degear can be reached at [email protected].
