Five Nights at Freddy's 2: A Sequel That Falters Even More Than Its Predecessor (Blu-ray)

The Film:

When the first two "Five Nights at Freddy's" games were released back in 2014, it's highly doubtful that anyone could've seen just how popular they would become, a popularity that would go on to spawn 11 main games and several spin-offs, with the most recent addition releasing just last year. This made it no surprise that an attempt would be made to develop the franchise into a feature film, which made its way into theaters just two years ago.

The reaction to it was pretty much a "good news, bad news" situation, with the bad news being that it received rather scathing reviews from both critics and the public (and indeed, the film was a rather bland concoction that tried its best to deliver scares with a nonsensical, half-baked storyline). However, the good news is that all of the negativity didn't prevent it from being a rather massive success at the box office that grossed nearly 15 times its modest $20 million production budget. Naturally, a sequel was put into development right away, which brings us to "Five Nights at Freddy's 2." After the poor reaction to the first film, will the filmmakers learn from their mistakes and deliver something that fans will enjoy, or will this merely be another rushed outing looking to make another quick buck from a popular franchise?

The sequel begins with a brief flashback to 1982, where a young girl named Charlotte Emily (Audrey Lynn Marie) is murdered by William Afton (Matthew Lillard) after she sees him attempt to abduct a boy at the original Freddy Fazbear restaurant location. The incident eventually leads to the restaurant getting shut down, but as we learned previously, William would go on to murder more children at another location.

Jumping forward to two years after the events of the first film, Abby (Piper Rubio) finds herself missing her animatronic friends and continually asks her brother Mike (Josh Hutcherson), who's now sort of dating Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), to fix them. When Mike continues to make excuses, Abby goes there herself and discovers that her friends are no longer around, leading her brother to apologize and offer up her choice of a prize from the restaurant. Meanwhile, a trio of ghost hunters, led by Lisa (Mckenna Grace), tour the original restaurant with its security guard. While poking around the old place, Lisa turns off a music box, which inadvertently awakens an animatronic known as "The Marionette," a machine that happens to be inhabited by Charlotte's vengeful spirit. Finally free, she sets out on a quest for revenge against the parents that refused to help her that fateful night, a quest that will once again put Mike, Abby, and Vanessa in great danger.

When it came to the first "Five Nights at Freddy" film, it was clear that a lot of mistakes had been made in its attempt to tell a rather silly, nonsensical tale about the spirits of murdered kids possessing animatronic machines, leading to a strangely dull outing that left both critics & fans unsatisfied with the instantly forgettable result. This meant that there was clearly room for improvement, and given the extreme popularity of the games, there had to be something there that the filmmakers could tap into to deliver a better adaptation, right? Naturally, it was hoped that they would take their time with the sequel and see where they had gone wrong, but sadly, it was not to be, as the follow-up was released just over two years later, and as those same critics & fans would soon find out, they hadn't learned a thing from their previous mistakes.

"Five Nights at Freddy's 2" basically takes the nonsensicality of the first film and merely builds upon it, delivering a film that leaves its audience scratching their heads from beginning to end as they constantly question bizarre story elements & idiotic character motivations. It eventually comes to a point where one swears that the screenplay must have been generated by an AI prompt that asked it to churn out the most ridiculous story it could with this material, which merely leads to another dull, forgettable outing that even fans of the games couldn't get behind. That said, there is a small group who say that knowing "The Lore" of the games can be helpful with enjoying these films a little more, but in all honesty, if said lore is anything like these films, it seems highly doubtful that it would do anything but make you question why they were made at all.

In the end, it's easily said that this latest entry is worse than the original film. The first outing at least kept itself contained so it didn't get too out of hand, whereas the sequel just goes completely off the rails and never comes back. If a third film does end up getting made (which is a possibility given this one's smaller, but still successful run at the box office), should we expect the filmmakers to actually review the notes this time to see where they went oh-so-very wrong? It would certainly be nice to think so, but given their clear lack of enthusiasm with these two films, it would probably be best to expect a similar level of disappointment.

Video/Audio:

"Five Nights at Freddy's 2" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.00:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of excellent quality, featuring a sharp & clear picture throughout its entire 104-minute duration, even in the darkest of scenes. Likewise, the DVS Dolby Atmos audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in outstanding quality. Overall, Universal has done a fantastic job in both areas for the film's physical debut.

Special Features:

Employees of the Month: The Cast (13 Minutes): A featurette that focuses on the ensemble and their characters.

Bringing Freddy & Friends to Life (10 Minutes): A featurette that explores the film's animatronics.

Mangle Mayhem (5 Minutes): A featurette that takes a look at the "Mangle" puppet/machine.

High-Strung: Hanging with the Marionette (7 Minutes): A featurette focusing on the film's main villain.

Sensory Overload: Exploring the Set (10 Minutes): A featurette that explores the film's production design.

Conclusion:

"Five Nights at Freddy's 2" is sadly an even bigger disappointment than its predecessor, one that merely builds upon the first film's nonsensicality to deliver another dull, forgettable outing that will leave audiences scratching their heads throughout at its bizarre story elements & idiotic character motivations, ultimately leaving us with a sequel that even fans of the games found it difficult to get behind.

Score: 1.5/5

Now available on Blu-ray.

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