Critics Rip Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 Apart: ‘Even Worse Than the First Film’

Critics are none too pleased with the horror sequel Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, which is slated to release nationwide on Friday, December 5. The majority of reviews have panned the follow-up to the original 2023 film. At the time of writing, this second FNAF film directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon stands at a frighteningly low 14% Tomatometer score based on 42 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s what the critics have to say about FNAF 2 so far.

FNAF 2 gets worse reviews than the original film on Rotten Tomatoes

Reviewer Owen Glieberman at Variety says that the video-game slasher movie isn’t even “dumb fun” and is “flat-out bad, maybe even worse than the first film.” He admits that the film is fan service and that while it’s a “slapdash product that never quite figures out what it’s doing,” he believes it is projected to make $60 million at the box office within its first week.

Among the most critical reviews for the sequel comes from Jacob Oller from AV Club who has given the film an ‘F.’ He describes the film as being “crushed to death by narrative add-ons, plot gimmicks, and heavy-duty incompetence” and places much of its problems on Cawthon as the sole writer of the movie. He says that it “obsesses over game props and Easter eggs” and ruins the tension that comes from the “stationary, claustrophobic setting of the games.”

That said, there are few bright spots among the overwhelming number of negative reviews. Cole Groth from FandomWire appreciates that the film “stays true to FNaF loyalists” and says it’s “one of the strongest PG-13 horror flicks recently.” Aidan Kelly for Collider agrees that this second installment will make fans happy and non-fans “satisfied with a solidly entertaining robot slasher.”

By comparison, the original FNAF movie received a 33% Tomatometer score from a total of 215 reviews, though the audience Popcornmeter score was much higher at 86%. Given the fan service of the sequel, it could receive similarly high scores from viewers.

Director Emma Tammi has said that she is not terribly concerned about critic reviews for FNAF 2 and that she cares more about audience scores anyway. “If it does great [with critics], that’ll be gravy,” she said. “But again, that’s not who this is for, and I think we’re very clear on who we wanted this movie to land with.”

Source: Comingsoon.net