Growing up, I can’t say I wasn’t a huge nerd. I had a love for all things weird, which stemmed greatly from my random obsessions on the internet. One of my favorite weird obsessions while growing up was “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” also known as “FNAF,” which was created by Scott Cawthon. It was a simple point and click game, but with a unique twist; the bad guys were scary animatronics.
The game itself was inspired by the game “Chipper & Sons Lumber Co.,” also made by Scott Cawthon. Many players of the game criticized it because of the graphics, which, according to them, looked like “animatronics.” Cawthon may have possibly used that criticism to make “Five Nights at Freddy’s.”
I also can’t say that I was brave enough to personally play any of the games. I would usually just watch playthroughs made by Youtubers and consume the story behind it instead. I couldn’t have been more elated when I found out that a movie was being made about the game.
The excitement lasted for months, and I made sure to reserve tickets and go with my friends as soon as it was released in theaters. My reaction to the movie itself, though, was a mix of many emotions.
At first I was really excited. Then the nostalgia of hearing music from the game and seeing the characters made me more excited. By the time that this nostalgia wore off, I was so horrified with how bad it was I genuinely tried to avoid any reviews or comments about it online, positive or not.
It seriously was upsetting to see how a good majority of the movie was clearly lazily done, focusing more on what might please a wider audience than the people that truly loved and grew up with the game.
While some depth and fun was definitely put into it, specifically for fans of the game, it still felt like it was lacking depth. Noting this past experience, I tried my best to go into the sequel with an open mind. Again, I was met with disappointment.
While I was definitely disappointed again, as expected, the scares in the movie were actually better than I had anticipated. They were clearly heavily leaning towards the idea of the movie being actually scary, which was pretty entertaining. While this was fun, the characters took me so far out of the movie that i kind of just wanted to get a refund and watch it at home on my tv so I could skip the cringey parts.
“FNAF 2” takes the trope of bad decision making made by the characters and shoves it in your face. It honestly makes it hard to watch at some points.
The writing feels rushed and lazy, which ultimately reflects on the film and makes it a rough watch.
