Five Nights at Freddy’s 2: Is It Worth Another Night Shift?

Chase Chiong '26

The Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise has only grown enormously in popularity over the past decade, generating a lot of buzz amongst the FNAF community. With the release of the second movie, thousands of viewers online have engaged in all kinds of debates regarding, leaving the reviews and ratings completely scattered. 

Five Nights at Freddy’s originally began as a video game, created by developer Scott Cawthon, in a final attempt to generate revenue and make it big as a video game developer. The franchise has come a long way since then, expanding from games and comics, to finally producing its own movies. 

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 contained stunningly designed animatronics and jumpscares that made the movie come alive. The intricate set design perfectly encapsulates the creepy, eerie, uncanny visuals of the games, setting the scene almost perfectly. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 was written with the intention of satisfying both preexisting fans as well as newcomers to the franchise. 

The movie follows former security guard, Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and police officer, Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), one year after the first movie.  They discover that Mike’s younger sister, Abby (Piper Rubio), snuck out in desperation to find her animatronic friends, uncovering dark secrets about the true origins of Freddy’s and releasing the long-forgotten horrors back into their world. 

As much as I love the games and the story generated within, the movie felt poorly written. It was as if Cawthon just dumped in a bunch of random game-lore and sneak peaks about the next movie. If you enjoyed the first Five Nights at Freddy’s movie, I might stray away from watching the second. 

I would say that Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is worth another night shift, just maybe not all five.