Photo of Mangle looking into Vanessa’s (Elizabeth Lail) car.
*Disclaimer: minor spoilers*
On December 5th, the popular horror game series, Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF), released its second movie to an opening of mixed reviews, similar to the first movie back in 2023.
The movie takes place a year after the events of the first film, focusing on Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) and the sinister past of the original Freddy Fazbear’s location. There is more worldbuilding as well as bringing in elements of its video game counterpart.
Also, we can’t forget the notable cameos of people who are well known in the FNAF community such as Matpat (GameTheory, Toy Bonnie) and Kellen Goff (FNAF voice actor, Toy Freddy), with surprising guest Megan Fox (Toy Chica).
As a fan of the franchise, I thought the movie was pretty good; I’d say it was better than the first. It has many more jump scares that had me jumping from my seat, and more worldbuilding for the universe – to avoid confusion, this is a separate universe from the games and books. There were a few awkward moments, and the ending felt rushed, but it was overall enjoyable and easy to follow.
The set design for the original Freddy Fazbear’s location was amazing, a place that would have kids begging their parents to go. We see two unique additions to the location you wouldn’t commonly see at a children’s establishment: a sea themed ball pit in Kids Cove and a kiddie river boat ride. In addition to these, we see the iconic carousel from the game.
Jim Henson’s Creature Shop once again did a fantastic job with the animatronics. The mix of puppeteer and robotics work is wonderful, especially Mangle (the white and pink fox animatronic), who has a very complex design due to its unique take apart put back together feature mentioned in the movie and game.
This new take on Charlotte Emily (Audrey Lynn-Marie) was very interesting. Instead of just only trying to go after her killer, William Afton (Matthew Lillard), she also wants to take revenge on the parents who didn’t help her save the boy Afton was about to kill. Charlotte is also able to possess people in the film.
After finally being freed of her slumber she takes over a ghost hunter (Mckenna Grace) in order to finally start enacting her revenge by luring Abby (Piper Rubio) with the false hope of her friends’ spirits are still on earth and shutting off the security measures so Charlotte can wander freely via the animatronics.
Despite very limited screen time, I thought Skeet Ulrich did a fantastic job as Henry Emily. We see the pain and grief of losing his daughter, Charlotte, and also the frustration about the sudden popularity of Freddy Fazbear’s after Mike’s (Josh Hutcherson) aunt tried spewing stories in an attempt to gain custody of Abby.
Overall, the movie is definitely worth a watch, whether in theaters or on streaming, is up to you.
Sources:
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (2025) – IMDb (cast list and photos)
