Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Review: A Noisy, Soulless Sequel That Forgets to Be a Movie

★☆☆☆☆ (1 out of 5)

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

Directed by Emma Tammi

Written by Scott Cawthorn

Starring Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, McKenna Grace

Release Date December 5th, 2025

I Barely Remember the First Movie — and That’s Not Helping

I was astonished how little memory I retained of 2023’s hit adaptation, Five Nights at Freddy’s. The movie seemed to evaporate from my mind as soon as I finished my review. Rereading that old piece, I was reminded why: I called it a witless exercise in I.P. mining, more brand recognition than filmmaking.

That made the task of watching Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 more of a chore. The sequel leans heavily on lore from a movie I—apparently—stored in the same part of my brain that keeps expired coupons. I could barely remember relationship dynamics: Was Josh Hutcherson’s character a father? A brother? A babysitter? (He’s the older brother. Good to know, two years later.)

I also forgot whatever was going on between Hutcherson and Elizabeth Lail’s Vanessa. When they reunite, there is almost no emotional context. They are estranged because… reasons? The movie expects me to care without giving me anything to care about.

Surprise! The First Movie Location Wasn’t the Main Attraction

This time, we learn the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza from the first film was not the flagship location. No, the “real” place was bigger, grander, and located just across town. Somehow no one in this tiny community knew that a giant Freddy Fazbear’s existed a short bike ride away.

This would be baffling if the movie weren’t already deeply committed to baffling.

Enter The Marionette

The star attraction at this location isn’t Freddy but The Marionette, a Slenderman-adjacent conductor who rises from a trapdoor to lead the animatronic band. A young girl named Charlotte adores this nightmare puppet until she witnesses a boy being kidnapped by Freddy.

Charlotte rescues the boy but is stabbed repeatedly. She tumbles down the trapdoor, only to be raised up again—her spirit now one with The Marionette.

Witnessing all this: Vanessa, as a child. Her father was Freddy all along. William Afton (Matthew Lillard) murdered children in a giant bear suit. The memory is now haunting her after the events of the first movie.

Abby Tries to Rescue Her Animatronic Friends

Vanessa is hiding from the world, exhausted and traumatized. Still, she agrees to dinner with Mike. While they’re out, Abby decides to fix her old animatronic pals: Freddy, Chica, Foxy, and Bonnie. These machines contain the spirits of murdered kids who cared about Abby. She fails to revive them—until she uncovers old tech that reconnects her.

Messages lead her to the other Freddy location. There, Charlotte/The Marionette has been waiting, furious that no one saved her. She wants revenge. But first she must escape her digital prison. The movie invents a nonsense computer-security system to explain why the animatronics can’t leave.

Plot Convenience: The Movie!

The Plot Twists Get Dumber as We Go

Charlotte manipulates Abby, uses the animatronics, and sets the stage for a killing spree. The targets include:

• those who watched her die

• Vanessa

• Abby

• Mike

We build toward confrontation. I won’t spoil the ending, but I can tell you this: you’re not going to like it. It is so abrupt the audience may experience whiplash.

How Do These Enormous Things Sneak Up on People?

One of the more maddening elements: the animatronics sound like metal dumpsters being repeatedly dropped, yet they sneak up on characters like ninjas. They weigh as much as a mid-sized sedan, but can appear anywhere with stealth.

If you love the videogame, maybe this doesn’t bother you. But I watch movies for a living. The lack of internal logic is lazy and irritating. If the game or first film explains this, I do not care. The movie needs to make it plausible. It does not.

It’s All Just I.P. Exploitation

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 exists to capitalize on the success of the original and to create demand for another sequel. This is not a work of art. It barely qualifies as work. The cast is disengaged. The effects are competent but never used well enough to be memorable.

The film is:

• sloppy

• flimsy

• lazy

• careless

Most of all, it feels soulless—like a $36 million commercial for itself.

Final Thoughts

I loathe Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 because it provides nothing of value. It’s not frightening. It’s not entertaining. Effort seems to have been avoided rather than applied. The movie wants the money of young audiences without rewarding them with anything in return. Not horror. Not fun. Not even a memorable bad time.

It is a hollow product wearing a movie’s skin.

Tags

• Movie Review

• Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

• Horror Movies

• Josh Hutcherson

• Emma Tammi

• Movie Sequel

• New Releases 2025

• Film Criticism

• Haunted Animatronics

• Video Game Movies