Five Nights at Freddy's 2 - The Sequel to the Hit Movie Adapted from Popular Video Game Series

When this movie was released in early December, my wife and I were not in Indonesia. After we returned, the film only played in several studios of the biggest cinema chain but sadly they were all a bit challenging to go to. Yesterday we just realized that it actually was playing in a studio of different cinema chain located quite near our home, so we decided to go there while it's still available. OK then, I'll get right with it.

Brief Story Line

After the events of the first movie, Mike (Josh Hutcherson - The Beekeeper, Journey to the Center of the Earth 2008 version etc) and his younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio) were living a normal life while Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail - Countdown, Ordinary Joe TV series etc) was still traumatized and having a bit difficulty getting back to work as police. However their peaceful life was disrupted when Abby started getting messages from the animatronics whom she referred to as friends, while Mike read some announcements posted on Freddy Fazbear's Pizza by Henry (Skeet Ulrich - Riverdale TV series, Supercell etc), the father of a murder victim happened 20 years before.

Things became worse when the animatronics somehow were able to be free from the restaurant and wreaking havoc in the small town.

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

It was quite funny that when the first film was released back in 2023, my wife and I were not able to see it due to our holiday travel. Seems like these movies were released during one of our favorite vacation time. Before seeing this sequel, my wife watched the original that was available on Netflix while I decided to just go ahead and see it directly. I kind of regretted not rewatching that first cause apparently I did not remember a lot of the things. Probably I was not concentrating enough when watching the original. Anyway the horror in here was still similar to the original, i.e. using jump scares but the killings were not that brutal/violent. I think it's due to the fact of the PG-13 rating which meant it was not gore at all. In this case I got to agree with critics who view it to be lacking horrific scenes, but in a way it might be the reason why both of us were still able to enjoy it compared to the truly frightening supernatural horror movies.

In case you are not aware, the film was adapted from popular video game of the same title which my wife and I were not familiar with at all. That is why when seeing the movies, there was no sense of excitement or delight during the times characters from the games appeared. Understandably though, fans of the game (apparently there were a lot of them) were very happy and satisfied which explained the huge box office performance. And looking at the sucess, there is strong chance of having a third movie which was hinted clearly by the end of film. Yes there was a mid end credit scene and some brief messages played in the background in the closing credits, no doubt to provide teaser of what to expect in the sequel.

This movie was directed by Emma Tammi who also made the original which was only her 2nd feature film experience. The writer was Scott Cawthon who was the creator of the video game and also wrote novels related to the games. However, both movies were poorly received by critics as could be seen by the very low ratings, though audience were way more ecstatic, likely because they have lots of references to the games. The special effects of the animatronics characters were pretty decent. There were plenty of other cast in here such as Wayne Knight (Jurassic Park etc) as Abby's science teacher Mr. Berg, Freddy Carter (Shadow & Bone TV series etc) as security guard Michael, Teo Briones (Final Destination: Bloodlines etc), McKenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire etc) & David Andrew Calvillo as the ghost hunters Alex, Lisa & Rob respectively. There were even Matthew Lilard (He's All That etc) reprising his role as William Afton, Megan Fox (Expendables 4 etc) voicing Toy Chica and several others.  

Overall this is an OK enough horror movie. It is definitely not the scariest one we have ever seen but the jump scares were sufficient, supported by good enough sound & special effects, although it was a bit too dark at times making it rather difficult to see everything clearly. So if you are fans of the video games and if you like the original film, I think you are going to enjoy this sequel as well. But if you prefer a much scarier supernatural kind or a more gore type, then this might not be to your liking. The choice is yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars