Summary
- Five Nights At Freddy’s movie was a commercial success but failed to meet the scare factor of the game.
- The animatronics befriending Abby messed with the tone of the movie, affecting its potential.
- Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 should enhance horror, center on Springtrap, and correct the first movie’s tone.
Five Nights At Freddy’s was a fun adaptation of the video game of the same name, and while it’s not bad, I hope the sequel will fix the biggest problem I have with the first movie. The horror genre has greatly benefited from adaptations of other works in recent years, and among the most anticipated projects was Five Nights At Freddy’s. Based on the 2014 video game of the same name developed by Scott Cawthon, Five Nights At Freddy’s was directed by Emma Tammi and released in 2023, and though it was a commercial success, it wasn’t a hit with critics.
Five Nights At Freddy’s follows Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson), a struggling young man and guardian of his younger sister, Abby. After being fired from his job as a mall security guard, Mike takes a job as a night guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, mostly so social services won’t take Abby’s custody and pass it to their estranged aunt. However, Mike soon discovers sinister things happen at night at the pizzeria, and the seemingly friendly animatronic mascots hide a dark secret. Five Nights At Freddy’s is officially getting a sequel, and I hope it will solve one big problem I have with the first movie.
Related
Every Five Nights At Freddy’s Animatronic Explained
The Five Nights at Freddy’s movie brought eight of the video game characters to the big screen, and here’s each one who appears in the movie.
Five Nights At Freddy’s Wasn’t As Scary As The Games
The Five Nights At Freddy’s Movie Failed The Games
The
Five Nights At Freddy’s
game delivers in terms of scares and tension, and I expected the movie to do the same.
Five Nights At Freddy’s is a supernatural horror movie, and it lives up to those labels, but as an adaptation of the games, it didn’t live up to its scare levels. Though I’m not into video games aside from some very classic ones, when I was told about Five Nights At Freddy’s I was instantly hooked as it had a very original premise. Not only that, but the whole atmosphere of the game creates the necessary suspense and tension to keep one aware of every corner of the screen and carefully think about the next move, as you definitely don’t want to encounter Freddy and his friends.
What completely messed with the tone of
Five Nights At Freddy’s
for me was the animatronics befriending Abby.
Simply put, the Five Nights At Freddy’s game delivers in terms of scares and tension, and I expected the movie to do the same. Five Nights At Freddy’s brought the plot of the games to life with Mike taking the job and serial killer William Afton (Matthew Lillard) hiding the bodies of his victims inside the animatronics, which is why they come to life at night. However, the movie couldn’t replicate the scare factor of the games, and when it seemed like it was about to get close to it with the animatronics murdering a group of intruders, the tension was cut short.
What completely messed with the tone of Five Nights At Freddy’s for me was the animatronics befriending Abby and seeing them dancing and having a good time at the pizzeria. Although this later took a turn as they wanted to take Abby, the movie’s tone never recovered for me, and, in short, Five Nights At Freddy’s didn’t reach its full potential when it comes to scares.
Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 Needs To Increase The Horror
Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 Can Fix The First Movie’s Tone
Afton’s fate at the end of
Five Nights At Freddy’s
set up his transformation into Springtrap, the games’ main antagonist.
Plot details about Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 are currently unknown, but what needs to happen in it is an increase in horror, which shouldn’t be hard to do. Matthew Lillard has confirmed his return in the sequel, despite Afton’s (supposed) death after the animatronics triggered the internal springlock mechanisms in his “yellow rabbit” suit and the pizzeria collapsed. Afton’s fate at the end of Five Nights At Freddy’s set up his transformation into Springtrap, the games’ main antagonist and the only one who can give a “game over” to the player.
Through Springtrap, Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 can successfully increase the horror and thus fix the uneven (and disappointing) tone of the first movie, while also giving the movies their real villain. There’s a lot to explore with Springtrap as a villain thanks to the games, and the sequel no longer needs to humanize Freddy and company as the first movie already explored their origins, so Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 can go full-on horror with Springtrap and his revenge.
Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 Can Still Be PG-13 & Make Me Happy
Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 Doesn’t Have To Be R-Rated
Five Nights At Freddy’s got a PG-13 rating, which is a stronger caution for parents that the content may not be appropriate for children under 13, which makes sense given that the games’ audience is mostly preteens and teenagers. Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 doesn’t have to get a different rating or even be R-rated to be scarier (and make me happy) – it just has to have a more defined and consistent tone, story, and focus more on what made the games and characters so scary, rather than on backstories and drama.
Now that the truth behind the animatronics and Afton’s crimes has been revealed, Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 can focus on being scary and on the main characters’ survival and leave backstories behind, which, along with Springtrap’s presence, should fix the lack of scares in Five Nights At Freddy’s.
