August 8th, 2014, millions of children became enamoured, terrified, and addicted to Scott Cawthon’s new and experimental children’s horror video game Five Nights At Freddy’s. Cawthon’s game introduced a new element to the realm of fanatical children’s games: horror.
Notorious horror video games like Resident Evil have dominated the horror worlds of video games and in film, as movies were soon made in replication of Resident Evil’s countless and horrifying worlds of horror. With the focus of horror games being geared towards young adult and mature audiences, younger audiences were left to envy what adrenaline-coursing fun their older siblings and friends were playing. Seeing this untapped audience of young thrillseekers, Scott Cawthon decided to take a beloved childhood place similar to that of a Chuck E. Cheese, and twist its nostalgia into horrifying nightmare fuel.
Needless to say, the video game series was an astounding success, giving way to more FNAF game variants, merchandise, and on October 27th, 2023, the video game came to life in film.
With the franchise starring Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lillard, FNAF fans entered anticipating a movie full of extensive FNAF lore and horror, and with a notable cast with actors like Josh Hutcherson as Mike, the night guard and Matthew Lillard as William Afton, the antagonist of the whole FNAF franchise.
Spilling out of the theater, fans raved about the lore of FNAF and the additional easter eggs that excited and satisfied many, encouraging Cawthon to create a sequel to his film.
Two years of promising, more gore, expanded lore, and more discrete easter eggs and references, as claimed by Matthew Lillard in interviews, FNAF 2 premiered in theaters December 5th.
Unlike the first movie, there was more extensive backstory regarding infamous characters like the Marionette, more jumpscares and interactions between characters and the animatronics, and a surplus of “blink and you’ll miss it” easter eggs and references to extensive and complex lore. Audiences, consisting mainly of teens and young adults, were ecstatic that Cawthon snuck in the infamous Freddy Fazbear “har har har har” meme, leaving audiences cackling in their seats at this pop culture reference.
Overall, audiences were more than happy with Cawthon’s sequel and are anxious for the third FNAF movie, with production planned to start in the summer of 2026. However, critics were not as kind with their commentary regarding FNAF and its overall plot.
With the biggest review divide ever seen on rotten tomatoes between audiences and critics, with a 15% critics score and an 87% audience score, making the difference between the two a whopping 72% previous record holder The Boondock Saints (1999), with its standing 65% critic and audience score difference. With critics like Kiko Martinez going as far to claim that, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is the movie equivalent of what the kids today call brainrot”.
But when the intended audience primarily consists of teenagers and young adults, it makes sense that FNAF lore and pop culture references would not appease more mature audiences. With long term fans revering Scott Cawthon for his sequel and expanding on the FNAF lore whilst appealing the fan suggestions of more jumpscares and and action, as applauded by Rami C, who summed up the FNAF franchises indeed audience perfectly, “I think the best way to enjoy it is if you are between 15 and 30 years old.”
If you are well versed in the lore of FNAF and grew up playing video games, then you are most likely to enjoy the film, as I certainly did. Unlike the critics, I give Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 about 4.5/5 stars as someone who remembers being terrified with eyes stuck on the security cameras at the age of 6, and who appreciates the twisted turn of childhood nostalgia it has in my heart and in the hearts of many other FNAF fans.
