Five Nights at Freddy's 2 review inept game-based horror is one of the year's worst

"The ghost-possessed family-restaurant animatronics of the Five Nights at Freddy's movies lumber around with such heavy-footed gaucherie that it's hard to figure out how they're physically able to move from place to place as quickly as they'd need to for a proper killing spree. In what could be mistaken for a case of form following function, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 moves the exact same way."

"For example, when faced with the need to isolate a mean science teacher (Wayne Knight) so that he can be vengefully murdered by one of the aforementioned animatronics, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 bafflingly cuts to him walking down a school hallway (during a science fair that has inexplicably run far into a Saturday evening), having a cell-phone conversation about how he needs to visit his office to retrieve his keys."

"They're just a jumble of elements that the film-makers grasp at, under the assumption that it will add up to something that looks and sounds like a movie should. That this grasping is performed with a daft serenity, rather than sweaty panic, can probably be owed to the first Five Nights at Freddy's becoming a massive youth-culture hit in 2023."

Heavy, unnatural movement of the ghost-possessed animatronics constantly draws attention to their impractical physicality and makes action feel implausible. The sequel repeats the original film's awkwardness, favoring ostentatious, inept imitations of cinematic movement and transitions. Scenes insert unrelated elements and gratuitous details that do not advance plot or character, such as a meandering hallway phone call about office keys that serves no purpose. The film's grasping at movie-like cues feels serene rather than urgent, reflecting confidence born from the predecessor's commercial success. Prior narrative elements include characters Mike, Abby, and Vanessa and the revelation of Vanessa's father William Afton.

Read at www.theguardian.com