FNAF Around And Find Out
Directed by Emma Tammi
Starring Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Mckenna Grace
Released December 5th, 2025
Rated PG-13
Five Nights at Freddy’s is a popular video game franchise based on jump scares. The player takes a job as an overnight security guard for a Chuck E. Cheese type of place, and you’ve got to survive your shift as animatronic mascot characters attempt to violently murder you. Since its debut in 2014, the series has birthed a pop culture empire including video game sequels, tie-in books, stuffed animals, and a big screen adaptation from Blumhouse in 2023. How does one go about adapting a jump scare video game into a full-length feature film? Not very well, it turns out. As my colleague Jim Tudor pointed out in his insightful review, that first film was buried under the weight of its own lore. Add in the fact that the murderous animatronics are animated by the souls of murdered children, and you’re left with a surprisingly dour film that just didn’t work for anyone not already connected to the franchise. Yet there were enough FNAF fans that showed up for that film to ensure that a sequel would follow, which brings us to the clumsily titled Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.
I admit I’m still a bit confused by the story that’s unfolding across these films. It was revealed in the first one that the creator of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, William Afton (Matthew Lillard), murdered a bunch of children. The souls of these unfortunates were locked inside his animatronic animal entertainers. Years later, a young girl named Abby (Piper Rubio) befriends the animatronics when her older brother Mike (Josh Hutcherson) becomes a security guard at the pizza joint. Mike meets local cop Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) who is revealed to be the daughter of William Afton, who shows up in a yellow bunny outfit wielding a knife. Abby somehow helps the dead kids defeat the evil Afton, and the animatronics go dormant. I think I have all of that correct, but it’s been a year since I’ve seen the movie, and I’m going strictly off of my hazy memory.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike and Vanessa going on an awkward dinner date, as Abby prepares for a science fair project. There’s also some sort of Freddy Fazbear festival about to take place in town, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why any town would be ok with holding a festival revolving around a pizza joint that closed down because kids were murdered on its premises. We see a flashback to the murder of Charlotte (Audrey Lynn Marie), perhaps the first of Afton’s victims. She was killed at another location of the pizza place, the original in fact. She’s not too happy about being dead, and when she’s given the chance, you better believe she’s going to use the animatronics at her disposal to exact her revenge.
Hutcherson, Lail, and Rubio all fully commit to their roles, never winking at the camera even when the story gets goofy. Wayne Knight makes an appearance as a despicable schoolteacher who you know is cannon fodder the moment he is introduced, and the talented Mckenna Grace plays a paranormal hunter who ends up finding more than she bargained for. Skeet Ulrich shows up for a cameo but sadly does not share any scenes with his Scream co-star Matthew Lillard, who is once again underutilized here, as he was in the first film. This one ends on a cliffhanger that promises the return of certain characters in surprising ways -if the box office is strong enough. I think it will be, since this is a better film than the first installment.
Director Emma Tammi (who also helmed the original) said they listened to feedback from fans who said they wanted more scares in the follow up, and it’s clear there is an emphasis here to give fans what they want – albeit within PG-13 limitations. The creepy score courtesy of The Newton Brothers helps with this objective. Serious horror fans will have to look elsewhere for worthwhile scares. But if you have a young person in your life who is excited to see animatronics go wild, they will most likely be happy with this flick. Just be prepared to leave the nightlight on for them. The massive animatronics are once again brought to life by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, and they look as impressive as you’d expect.
While the first film’s screenplay, co-written by Tammi, Seth Cuddeback and Scott Cawthon, felt like it was trying to cram in as much lore as possible, the sequel’s script, written solely by Cawthon, is streamlined into a more easily digestible story. There are still a ton of nods to the larger FNAF universe, but series creator Cawton being the sole writer has led to a more confident film that’s not as unwieldly as the first. If, like me, you have a hard time following the deep and sometimes confusing FNAF backstory, my advice is to watch these adaptations with your kids and have them explain it all to you.