Just a day before one of this year's most anticipated upcoming video game movies hits the big screen, the reviews are in for Five Nights at Freddy's 2, and it's safe to say that critics did not have the best time on their return to Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria.
Directed by Emma Tammi, the sequel welcomes back Josh Hutcherson as ex-Fazbear security guard Mike as he, his little sister Abby, and Vanessa try to move on from the events of the first film, but are eventually pulled back into the world of Freddy's.
The general consensus is that, much like the first movie, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 contains plenty of easter eggs and lore from the game series, but that isn't enough to make up for the movie's poor storytelling. Jason Pirodsky from Prague Reporter says it "doesn’t know when to stop delivering exposition, and is still laying on the lore as the film comes to its stunted conclusion. Devoted fans of the series might get a lot out of the thick (back)storytelling, but anyone else will find this stuff pretty tepid."
Similarly, SlashFilm reviewer BJ Colangelo says the movie "delivers about 15 minutes of genuinely terrific thrills that feel ripped straight from the games, but they're flanked by baffling plot threads that are somehow even more tangled than the source material." Screen Daily's Tim Grierson adds, "Jim Henson’s Creature Shop remains the franchise’s star attraction… unfortunately, this horror sequel is otherwise as inanimate as its predecessor, failing to be sufficiently frightening or dramatic."
In terms of the level of horror, one big concern from going into the sequel was that it might not be scary enough. Well, it looks like that may be the case. "Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 has the energy of a full movie constructed from those boring scenes where the final girl goes to the library to do research," says AV Club reviewer Jacob Oller. Variety writer Owen Gleiberman echoes, "Emma Tammi stages the violence in such an innocuous way that you feel like you’re watching some bowdlerized network-TV version of a horror film, with the good parts cut out."
Our Five Nights at Freddy's 2 review reads, "Despite Five Nights at Freddy's 2 slightly bettering its predecessor in terms of scares and impressive animatronics, the sequel fails to understand that less is more. By stuffing as many storylines and characters as possible into its relatively brief runtime, the sequel feels messy and inconclusive, leaving FNaF fans shortchanged."
Aside from critics' screenings and the premiere, Universal did not hold further fan screenings, meaning we will have to wait a little longer to see what general audiences think. An official Rotten Tomatoes score is also not available at this time.
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is out in theaters on December 5. For more, check out our list of the best video game movies, and keep up with upcoming horror movies.
