This is a spoiler-free review for the Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (2025) movie

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (2025) is exactly the kind of correction that was necessary after the missteps of its predecessor. Fast, ferocious and fun, with some shortcomings, this video game adaptation is an absolute delight, and I felt utterly respected as a long-time fan.

‘One year has passed since the supernatural nightmare at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Former security guard Mike has kept the truth from his 11-year-old sister, Abby, concerning the fate of her animatronic friends. When Abby sneaks out to reconnect with Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy, she sets into motion a terrifying series of events that reveal dark secrets about the true origin of Freddy’s.’

Story wise, so many fans have been quick to jump on the story for being disjointed and disappointing, while being just as confusing as the first film. I could not disagree more. The most prevalent reason why this instalment was more enjoyable than the first was because less was left to the imagination. Supernatural concepts and large, important story blocks aren’t left purposefully undeveloped. Instead, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 explains what is happening and why in a way that still leaves surprises and deep-cut plot decisions that warmed my heart while also leaving it racing.

Matthew Lillard as William Afton continues to be the underutilised bedrock of the cinematic world. In this movie, Matthew’s former Scream co-star Skeet Ulrich was brought onboard to play Henry, a grieving father. When we first saw him in the trailer, his portrayal was solemn and heartbreaking. Although he gave a massively impressive performance on screen, disappointment set in when it quickly became clear that Henry’s appearances were confined to a single scene – save for a few lines. Despite the abundance of flashback sequences and a clear connection to William Afton, Skeet and Matthew are not seen on screen together. This is one of the few missed opportunities that had me asking ‘why’?

Accuracy to the source material was on a lot of people’s wishlist this time around, after the first movie proved it wasn’t afraid of straying and creating something new. Integral parts of the video game timeline – particularly around the Puppet – are as far from the game as you can get here, but I did not mind this at all, because the movie took time to explain itself and made the most of its new and exciting decisions, giving them worth and meaning. The most is being made of a brand new cinematic canon, and I am very happy to see that.

There are some elements where the film falls short. Fan-favourite characters known as the ‘withered animatronics’ were squandered, appearing for only minutes and hardly escaping the footage they had in the trailers. There are also some decisions that may seem like plot holes to begin with, which led to confusion in the cinema, but the joy came from piecing them together in my head on the way home. Intuitive gaps are few and far between.

A lot of the promotional material for the movie revolved around a new, in-universe ‘Fazfest’ event, inspired by the events of the previous movie. It was realistic to expect as a viewer that the continued mentioning of this event would ultimately lead up to something, but nothing comes from it.

Some of the biggest mysteries from the first instalment are drastically reduced or almost unmentioned. The location and fate of Garrett – the brother of main protagonist Mike (Josh Hutcherson) who went missing before the events of the first film – are not alluded to at all. Garrett is brought up in conversation twice, but only once by name, in the entirety of this film. It brings into question how cohesive a trilogy could be, or if certain elements are too disjointed for any eventual payoff to be worth it.

There is so much more that I could say, but I will leave it there for now.

Very creative cinematography, stunning set design, impressive props and costumes. The unfortunate thing is that I understand I am in the minority when it comes to my praise of this movie. I am unable to find another review online that has anything positive to say. It has me cautiously optimistic about which feedback will be taken onboard for a possible third instalment, and which comments are hating for the sake of hate.

I am left feeling slightly less confident about the next instalment, which we could see in full production as early as 2026. Should screenwriter and franchise-creator Scott Cawthon dissect fan feedback in a particular way, we could see him step back from the already-completed screenplay for a third instalment, leading to a possible rewrite. I hope not. I can’t wait to see what happens next.