Five Nights at Freddy's Review

Five Nights at Freddy's Review

by Sofia Monge and Alex Giovanni

SOFIA:

On December 5th of last year, the Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 movie was released, and my dearest writer friend Alex and I were lucky (or unlucky) enough to get to see it in theaters with our friends. As a longtime fan of the Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF) franchise I was super excited to see it, and after watching we wanted to give our readers here at the Talon a little review of what we thought. This movie is, of course, an adaptation of a popular video game franchise called Five Nights at Freddy’s made by Scott Cawthorn, and I have to say that I personally believe it was pretty good as far as adaptations go. 

The story revolved around some of the same characters as the first movie, but the really interesting part that I want to talk about is the animatronics that were included. In this movie we got the toy animatronics! That includes Toy Freddy, Toy Bonnie, and Toy Chica, as well as Mangled, Marionette, and Balloon Boy. The designs for all these characters were honestly great, especially Toy Chica. In the movie she took off her beak and her eyes when she started to get violent, which is very similar to how she does the same at nighttime in the FNAF 2 game. I also much preferred the design for Balloon Boy in the second movie than the first, as it seemed a lot more game accurate and a lot less scary. I mean, did you see the FNAF 1 Balloon Boy design? Yikes. 

Speaking of game accuracy, this movie had me really confused as to what was going on with the animatronic Marionette. As it is in the games, Marionette in the movie was possessed by the spirit of a little girl named Charlotte Emily who had died at one of the Fazbear’s Pizzeria locations. However, while Marionette in the games was a spirit set on protecting children and stopping the murderous William Afton, her character in the FNAF 2 movie was a hateful spirit set on getting revenge on all adults who had ignored her before her death. It was very different from what I was expecting, and many people online were pretty upset with this drastic change to such a beloved character.

The classic “har har har” Freddy meme that is very popular within the FNAF fandom was featured, with Mike Schmidt picking up one of those cute Freddy plushes that made that noise. There were even some visual references to other games in the FNAF franchise, with Circus Baby, Shadow Bonnie, and even Ballora making quick “blink and you’ll miss it” appearances that got the entire movie theater excited. As far as I’m concerned the FNAF 2 movie was a decent adaptation and an enjoyable movie, though I did have pretty low expectations going in and am easily entertained. 

ALEX: 

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a new release, has faced harsh disapproval from critics and positive reviews from fans. I saw it opening night, and as someone with very little past knowledge of the FNAF video game series, I have my own opinion. Firstly, there’s the plot. It’s not bad and is quite entertaining, although it was somewhat flimsy at times. There were lots of references that didn’t make much sense to me as a non-fan, and since they were pretty integral to the plot, it was a bit confusing. I was lucky to have watched the movie with friends who could explain parts of it to me; but still, the script could have fleshed out these points better so that I and other non-fnaf fans weren't confused by some aspects. However if you are a fan of the franchise and have an understanding of the lore, this isn’t much of a problem. 

Secondly, there’s the quality of the acting, which admittedly isn’t stellar. There were many cast members who had ties to the FNAF fan community, and made cameos that were another hit for those who have experience as a fan, though they don’t serve much purpose otherwise to the story and only provide more inadequate acting. At times, the acting quality even weakened the intensity of serious scenes, making them laughable instead.

And lastly, you can tell while watching that it was really setting up for another sequel. Because of this, a lot of plot points were introduced and rushed over, left to be tackled in a third movie, which wasn’t very satisfying. The ending lacks closure that a lot of watchers felt was missing, and the pacing was inconsistent and rough. 

However, with all of these cons, I still enjoyed the movie. The CGI was great for all of the animatronics. They packed in many jumpscares that hit the mark every time for me and my friends—although if you’re a hardcore horror fan, you might be disappointed. When viewed critically, the film isn’t a masterpiece, and definitely caters more towards fans than outsiders. But if you’re looking to enjoy it, it can easily be a very fun, entertaining watch. If you’re a fan, then I’d certainly advise seeing it for a fun trip down nostalgia lane. If not, you can still enjoy it as I did, especially if you watch with friends (and if you know not to take it seriously).