FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2 Is “Full Of Big, Horror Movie Scares”
If there’s any video game franchise that’s dominated fan spaces both in the gaming world and on the big screen, it’s Five Nights at Freddy’s. Adapting such a successful game is no easy thing, but the folks at Blumhouse seemed to hit the jackpot, taking an uncanny valley concept and turning it into an uber-successful film, with its sequel bringing Freddy and his haunted friends back for more when it hits theaters this week.
Five Nights at Freddy’s began its journey to cult success in 2014, when creator Scott Cawthon released the first game in the series on PC in 2014, followed quickly by a sequel mere months later. Two more sequels followed the next year, and if you’re anything like me, you remember how quickly the zeitgeist built around the games, with popular streamers like Markiplier attempting to play the games and scaring the pants off themselves (and their audiences) in the process.
Seven more games, multiple spin-offs, and numerous tie-in novels later, and the series is beloved the world over, not only by video game fans, but moviegoers as well, as the first installment, starring Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lillard, hit theaters in 2023 and terrified everyone with its haunting animatronics, created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. (Are they Gen Alpha’s version of the Dark Crystal skeksis puppets? Who’s to say.)
Hutcherson took to the screen as Mike, a version of the player character from the first game, a security guard tasked with overseeing nighttime operations at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a job that very quickly takes a turn into the supernatural. According to producer Jason Blum, Cawthon’s involvement in the franchise, including writing both films and serving as producer, was the key to its success, which they hope to continue with the release of the sequel.
“Scott Cawthon is one of the most thoughtful creators I have ever worked with,” Blum says. “He is deeply involved in every part of Five Nights at Freddy’s—the strategy, the business and the creative decisions. What really sets him apart is how connected he is to the fan community. He is constantly thinking about what will surprise them, what will make them happy, and how to honor what they love about the franchise.”
In the sequel, things kick up a notch, with Hutcherson and Lillard returning, alongside new faces in the form of Freddy Carter, Wayne Knight, rising scream queen Mckenna Grace, and Lillard’s Scream co-star Skeet Ulrich. Also returning is director Emma Tammi, who also credits Cawthon’s vision with giving the sequel exactly what it needed to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump.
“Scott always envisioned that if there were multiple films, each would connect to its corresponding game: the first film to game one, the second to game two, and so on,” she says. “So, we already had a clear blueprint of what needed to be included, from the setting to the animatronics. Beyond that, it was about blending those game elements with our ongoing story and figuring out how our characters’ arcs would evolve alongside them. It was a balance between honoring the game and deepening the emotional journey of the characters.”
And while our favorite security guards are returning to the scene of the crime a year and a half after the events of the first film, there’s plenty more to be explored in this film. Terrifying new animatronics, Mangle and The Marionette, make their debut in the sequel, the most technically complex pieces produced by the Creature Shop — requiring over twenty-six weeks of work to bring to life! Also created were full-sizes, interconnected sets, mirroring the layout players experience while playing the video game.
“We return to familiar places, but we also uncover new parts of this universe,” executive producer Bea Sequeira says. “There is a second pizzeria, and this time the animatronics step out into the real world. That shift allowed this story to build suspense in exciting new ways.”
That expansion includes a full-scale, working version of the games’ iconic carousel, alongside River Freddy’s, which features a working, 200-foot long riverboat ride with 30,000 gallons of water and a 150-foot cave system, all built practically — talk about It’s A Small World on steroids. Of course, this was a boon for Tammi, who used the opportunity not only for new scares, but to build on what people loved about the first film.
“It was only a matter of time before the animatronics had to leave the pizzeria,” she says. “In the sequel, we meet them in a new location, which is exciting on its own, but then gets even more thrilling when they break out into the real world. Seeing them in everyday settings is both hilarious and terrifying. Staging those moments was one of my favorite parts of making this film.”
The entire team hopes that audiences will see exactly what they love about the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise reflected in the sequel, only bigger and better, as Tammi says:
The balance between being scary and still appealing to a wide audience is something the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise has always done well. The games and books both found that perfect tonal blend, so our challenge was translating it to film and keeping that same spirit alive. I think we struck that balance in the first movie, but this new film really pushes it further. The scares are bigger, and we go to darker places. But the fun factor is dialed up, too.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 hits theaters on December 5. Get your tickets now.
