The Movie ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ is a Sequel to the First ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Movie, Now Here’s My Review

December 4, 2025

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Da Bear (CREDIT: Universal Pictures)

Starring: Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Matthew Lillard, Theodus Crane, McKenna Grace, Teo Briones, Freddy Carter, Wayne Knight, Audrey Lynn-Marie, Skeet Ulrich

Director: Emma Tammi

Running Time: 104 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Violence That Feels Like It Should Look Bloodier

Release Date: December 5, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Have you ever had to deal with your younger sibling pining for her ghost friends inside murderous animatronics? That’s the very common dilemma that Mike Schmidt is dealing with while looking after his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) in the wake of the massacre at the end of the first Five Nights at Freddy’s flick that resulted in the death of serial killer William Afton (Matthew Lillard). Mike and Afton’s daughter Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) are doing their best to look out for each other, but the spirits at the shuttered entertainment pizza joint are restless and still calling out to whomever they can lure into their clutches to escape their containment. Meanwhile, Abby is doing her best to make a good impression at her school’s robotics contest, but her teacher (Wayne Knight) is kind of a jerk.

What Made an Impression?: Land of the Rising Dead Kids: The primary antagonist this time around is the spirit of a little girl named Charlotte (Audrey Lynn-Marie), a victim of Afton’s who blames all the clueless parents at Freddy’s for her demise, since they just sat around and did nothing. That blame is now extended to all parents in her afterlife. This is kind of reminiscent of J-horror ghost stories, wherein the curse of a murdered child eternally reaches its coils into anyone who comes into contact with its presence. FnaF 2 is nowhere near as good as the classics of that genre, like The Ring or its Japanese original. But there was also a fair deal of schlock in that trend, so FnaF 2 surely isn’t the worst example, either.
Bang, Clank, Sizzle: When the monsters in your movie are lumbering animatronic animals, the sound mix tends to be filled with crashing metal, twisting gears, and crackling electricity. Unfortunately, these aren’t exactly the most pleasant sounds, though they’re certainly true to the situation. It’s not as bad as the worst Transformers sequels, which were incomprehensible in their garble of machinery. Considering that FnaF 2 is ostensibly a horror movie, this arrangement is horrifying in the sense that it tested my patience. But I’m not sure that was the intention.
Where’s the Edge?: Maybe if I were more well-versed in the lore of the FnaF video games and their various spinoffs, then perhaps these movies would hit harder for me. But I don’t really feel like I’m missing anything. The plots are straightforward and easy to follow, character motivations are clearly spelled out, and the visual language is sensible. There’s just no verve or pizzazz. Freddy and his crew may be ostensibly let loose, but the reality is that they’re still on a tight leash. But at least Wayne Knight gives a bizarrely great performance, so you might laugh a few times!

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is Recommended If You Like: Cold pepperoni

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Animatronics

‘The Life of Chuck’ Reveals All the Lives Within That Life of Chuck

June 4, 2025

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The Spontaneous Choreography of Chuck (CREDIT: NEON)

Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay, Chiwetel Ejifor, Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill, Annalise Basso, Mia Sara, Matthew Lillard, Carl Lumbly, Samantha Sloyan, Harvey Guillén, Kate Siegel, Nick Offerman, Q’Orianka Kilcher, David Dastmalchian, Rahul Kohli, Heather Langenkamp, Violet McGraw

Director: Mike Flanagan

Running Time: 110 Minutes

Rating: R for Language, Apparently (Nothing Overly Outrageous)

Release Date: June 6, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Told in three acts unfolding in reverse order, Act Three of The Life of Chuck opens on a future on the verge of apocalypse: the internet is becoming ever more unreliable, natural disasters are an everyday occurrence, and soon enough the stars are being wiped from the sky. Everyone is despairing, and the only sign of hope are literal signs popping up all around town thanking some guy named Chuck Krantz for his 39 years of service. But nobody has any idea who Chuck is! But then we step back to Act Two, taking place on one of the most memorable days of Chuck’s (Tom Hiddleston) life, when he spontaneously decides to start dancing in front of a busking drummer and quickly draws an enraptured crowd. And finally, Act One introduces us to a middle school-age Chuck (Benjamin Pajak), who’s living with his grandparents (Mark Hamill and Mia Sara) following the tragic death of his mom and dad.

What Made an Impression?: The King’s English: Mike Flanagan is currently our foremost adapter of Stephen King, with The Life of Chuck based on a novella that was published in 2020. I’ve never read a single story written by King, but it’s impossible to avoid him if you’ve been watching movies for the past 50 years. While I’ve enjoyed plenty of those big screen versions, they’ve never made me want to dive into the source. There’s something that’s just a little bit uncanny about the worlds that King weaves. It’s like he’s speaking a language that’s ever so slightly different from the one I’m speaking. And when that language is filtered through the lens of someone who’s clearly as much of a fan as Flanagan is, that uncanniness is a rather strong flavor.
Voice Overlord: I’ve enjoyed the narration in plenty of movies that feature it, and I’ve also enjoyed Nick Offerman in pretty much everything he’s ever done. But the narration narrated by Nick Offerman in The Life of Chuck? Well, that had me going “Huh.” It’s blunt, literal, and near-constant. But it also felt completely necessary if this movie was going to be the movie that it wants to be. Does that make sense?
One Life: The whole idea underlying The Life of Chuck seems to be that there’s an entire universe living within Chuck’s brain (and by extension, everyone else’s brain). To get mildly spoiler-y, he’s dying of cancer, and that universe is dimming in his final moments. Is Chuck truly worthy of this biographical treatment? Yes, insofar as every single individual is worthy of such treatment. If The Life of Chuck didn’t fully work for any of us, well, then perhaps we could respond by crafting our own The Life of (Whoever the Hell We Want).
All He Wants to Do Is…: Despite all my misgivings, I’ve got to give it up for that dance scene. Actually, there are multiple dance scenes, but I’m talking about that busking one right in the middle. Damn, Hiddleston-as-Chuck gives it his all. And you know what else this scene underscored me? I really love drumming. Taylor Gordon just pounds away on the skins, and it goes straight to my core. And then Annalise Basso plays Chuck’s impromptu partner, who’s wearing the perfect dress to accentuate all of their spins and dips. It’s one of the best scenes of the year.

The Life of Chuck is Recommended If You Like: Hanging upside-down while reading a book all day until the sun sets

Grade: 3 out of 5 Chucks

Are These Robot Animals Our Friends? Let’s Find Out During ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’

October 26, 2023

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5, 5, Freddy’s coming for you (CREDIT: Patti Perret/Universal Pictures)

Starring: Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Matthew Lillard, Mary Stuart Masterson, Kat Conner Sterling, Christian Stokes, Joseph Poliquin, Lucas Grant

Director: Emma Tammi

Running Time: 109 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Slicing and Dicing

Release Date: October 27, 2023 (Theaters and Peacock)

What’s It About?: Ever since his younger brother was kidnapped when they were kids, Mike Schmidt has been irrevocably haunted to the point that he can’t hold down a job without his barely hidden anger bubbling up to the surface. With his spotty employment record, the only gig that he can find is overnight security at the long-closed children’s entertainment center Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.  He pretty much has to accept it, especially since he’s the legal guardian of his sister Abby (Piper Rubio), and neither of them wants him to give up custody to their awful Aunt Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson). But there are strange things afoot at Freddy’s: a police officer named Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) randomly arrives to show Mike the ropes, the career counselor who got him the job (Matthew Lillard) sure seems to be hiding something, and oh yeah, the place’s signature animatronic animals apparently come alive on their own.

What Made an Impression?: Showing Their Hand: Five Nights at Freddy’s is based on a series of video games that is just filled to the brim with lore and backstory that’s only hinted at in the actual gameplay. I’m no FNaF expert, though I’ve done some research, so I came in with suspicions about which characters had more going on than initially meets the eye. But even if you’re a total newbie, it shouldn’t be hard to have some sense of what’s going on. Vanessa’s police work seems to exclusively revolve around Freddy’s, and the career counselor is both spooked and excited when he realizes who his new client is. Not to mention that Lillard’s performance is pretty much a redux of his career-making turn as Scream‘s sniveling Stu Macher. So it’s no spoiler to say that these two probably have some idea about why dead bodies keep piling up. Despite that lack of surprise, the explanation is sufficiently twisted to feel the gut punch.
How Supernatural Is It?!: The truth about Freddy and his fellow robot animals is both prosaic and ghastly. The logical side provides the skeletal structure for the story to rest upon, while the supernatural elements are ultimately the main attraction, and how you cotton to them will most likely determine how much you do or don’t appreciate this movie. Every night, Mike dreams about the day his brother was abducted, as his subconscious begins to be invaded by a group of kids who might just be the youngsters who disappeared decades ago at Freddy’s. We never get a full explanation of these supernatural processes, and that’s certainly not necessarily, as a hallmark of the supernatural is that it exists beyond logic. But if those aspects aren’t viscerally grabbing you by the collar, you might feel compelled to let your mind wander to figure out their origins instead, and that was pretty much how it went for me. However, if you’ve been permanently scarred by childhood trips to Chuck E. Cheese (Freddy’s obvious inspiration), then maybe FNaF is exactly the sort of exposure therapy you need to resolve your trauma.

Five Nights at Freddy’s is Recommended If You Like: Whatever the love child of The Shining and Goosebumps would be

Grade: 3 out of 5 Fazbears