Since Scott Cawthorn’s horror survival game Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNaF) released in 2011, a fan base has arisen around the murderous animatronics and the new security guards whom try to make it through their shifts. Including the initial outing, there are nine titles bearing the FNAF name, with several game spin-offs, novels (graphic and other), and, of course, quite a bit of merch. In 2023, director Emma Tammi (The Wind) helmed the first live-action FNaF movie, delighting audiences with its tale of heartbreak, murder, and redemption and bringing front-and-center the serial killer William Afton, who is behind the horrors of Fazbear Entertainment. It makes sense, then, that a sequel would follow, expanding on the lore and the danger in the process. Unfortunately, the subsequent film, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, once more directed by Tammi and scripted by series creator Cawthorn, is strangely dull and languid, suffering from trying to build upon the events of the first film while setting up the next. At least the 44-minutes of bonus features demonstrate that, despite the outcome, there’s an amount of joyous work that went into crafting the tale that will delight long-time FNaF fans.
In the aftermath of surviving William Afton’s (Matthew Lillard) attempts to kill his sister, Abby (Piper Rubio), and having gained some peace in solving the mystery of his brother’s long-ago disappearance, Mike (Josh Hutcherson) is ready to move on with his life and leave everything having to do with Fazbear Entertainment behind him. However, Abby misses her friends, the spirits that existed within the animatronics at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and dislikes how Mike keeps dismissing her desire to fix up the machines to see if her friends will return. Simultaneously, Vanessa Afton (Elizabeth Lail) is suffering from extreme PTSD from having to face her father’s actions and the upbringing she endured. All three are unaware that, in the background, something from the past has awoken, and if they don’t come together to face it, more murder is on the menu.
L-R: Director Emma Tammi with Toy Chica on the set of FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S. Photo Credit: Ryan Green / Universal Pictures. © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
The following home release review is based on a 4K UHD retail review copy provided by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Since the film released in December and the film has been out on home video in digital and physical formats for a while, the following home review is not going to dodge specific details. Consider the night shift having begun, should you keep reading.
There’s this strange delineation that happens with some films wherein it’s labeled as “not for critics; only fans.” More often than not, this is meant as protection, a defense mechanism that occurs when critics (such as myself) don’t align either with public consensus or the targeted base for a project. When it comes to adapting a work, this argument frequently comes up as those aware of the microscopic callbacks and/or easter eggs are undoubtedly going to have a very different time than someone who’s not. To that end, there’s going to be a big difference in response to projects like A Minecraft Movie and FNaF 2, both 2025 titles, wherein those who played the games loved the experiences, whereas critics mostly panned them. As a critic, it’s important to acknowledge that film’s that aren’t “made for me” can still be an incredibly experience, but it’s also significant to acknowledge that a bad movie with reference points for fans to enjoy is still, at the end of the day, a bad movie. In the case of FNaF 2, its crime is that, rather than being treated as its own project, it’s more often treated as the middle child, with all the stereotypical absolutely forgettable elements that go along with it. The first film was tight and engaging, a story of loss and grief, with a bit of justice in the death of Afton and release of the murdered souls of the kids he killed. The second shifts the focus from Mike and Abby to the Afton family, which is important to the overall narrative of the film adaptations; but, in doing so, it makes a series of choices that seem counter-intuitive to the story itself.
For instance, Mike knows that Vanessa is Afton’s daughter from the events of the first film and still tries to woo her (no problem here, she’s an innocent in things), yet he continually turns his back on her despite having been in her shoes dealing with PTSD symptoms. Instead of trying to help her, he closes ranks around Abby. Meanwhile, Abby is both clever enough to understand that spirits can be helpful or malevolent, yet too eagerly helps Toy Chica (voiced by Megan Fox) remove the safety protocols that keep the animatronics in place. It can be explained as Abby desperate to be with her friends again or that she’s 11 and feeling isolated, but it mostly feels like a necessity in order for the film to have the ability to have some kills outside of the original Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The story of Vanessa is an intriguing one and deserved to be at the center of the film, except it’s treated more often as the means by which to introduce Marionette and Charlotte (Audrey Lynn-Marie), Vanessa’s childhood friend and victim of her father’s, and all the other spinning discs from which the tension of the film derives. Considering the film introduces an Afton sibling and Marionette’s possession of Vanessa, a third film seems to be on the way that will see a massive confrontation for the legacy of the Afton family, but where do Mike and Abby fit in? Where do this film’s conflicts matter within the scope of the story being told within the run-time which somehow is both hard to engage with (even having seen and enjoyed the first FNaF adaptation) and root for. Even the inclusion of Scream’s Skeet Ulrich as Charlotte’s aggrieved father feels at odds with the logic of the film as each time Mike puts Abby second (even going back to the first film), something terrible happens, and his absence from the engineering event is what opens the door for Abby to be fooled by Toy Chica. This meeting, however, does two things: it awkwardly introduces the music box-as-control for Charlotte’s Marionette and creates the voicemail easter eggs for the credits, which don’t really do anything except tickle FNaF fan brains. As a fan of the six Scream films made, it’s great to see a film featuring Lillard and Ulrich, even if they never share the screen, but the choices often feel as if they are serving the fandom instead of the narrative, resulting in some exhaustion waiting for the plot to get to its inevitable conclusion.
If, however, you’re part of the audience who loves FNaF or merely enjoys the cinematic adaptations, the bonus features are not going to disappoint. Across five featurettes and over 40 minutes of materials, you can learn all about the making of the film from the stunts, the puppeteering from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, behind-the-scenes secrets, and, of course, easter eggs and game inspirations. One of the best things about the FNaF films is the reliance on practical effects for the animatronics and their scene work. This doesn’t mean that they don’t use computers to enhance things, it means that Tammi works with the Creature Shop team, her stunt crew, and cast to figure out the best way to structure a sequence so that it doesn’t look cheap or ineffectual. Sometimes this is as simple as the organization of the scene in which all we see as Charlotte runs toward the camera surrounded by darkness are the two glowing eyes of Afton in his Spring Bonnie suit, known in the series as Springtrap, trailing her. Other times, this is a complicated arrangement such as the Mangle sequence involving an attack on the roadway as Vanessa is driving (which get its own featurette, “Mangle Mayhem”). Even as a non-player, learning how the film was made and the ways in which cast members Mckenna Grace (Ghostbusters franchise) and Rubio geeked out being on set is truly an enjoyable experience, even if it doesn’t alleviate any of the frustrations of the watch.
Along these lines, it’s quite surprising to report that the 4K UHD edition impresses. Ordinarily of late, 4K UHD editions that include bonus features on the 4K disc often suffer from low bitrates, making the on-disc presentation fine to observe, even if the bitrate is barely above the highest quality of a Blu-ray (40 Mbps). Here, however, likely owing to Tammi’s use of practical effects when possible (from the animatronics to the floating pool water at the original pizza place), the bitrate of FNaF 2 primarily hovers in the 80 Mbps range with dips into the 50s and peaks in the 90s. There’s no visible shift in presentation, either in the audio or video components when shifts in the bitrate occur; however, the fact that the film maintains a high bitrate does support a high-quality on-disc presentation worth the higher cost, if this is the format of preference. With so much of the film played in extremes (shadows of night or brightness of day) and the animatronics and varying costumes utilizing similar extreme colors in their design, the HDR is put to work as it shows the blacks nice and inky, the yellows bright, and the white pristine. Look no further than the appearance of the new animatronics vs. old to get a great example of how the HDR brings out a more realistic appearance, something which only heightens the discomfort of the mayhem.
L-R: Director Emma Tammi and actors Elizabeth Lail and Matthew Lillard on the set of FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S. Photo Credit: Ryan Green / Universal Pictures. © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Having enjoyed the first FNaF and screened 2, I remain curious to see where the next film goes, if only because it appears way more interesting than this outing. In a cinematic sense, I want more The Last Jedi (2017) and less The Matrix Reloaded (2003) from my middle films, stories which can stand on their own regardless of the carryover aspects from previous stories while setting up the next story. By spending the runtime focused on what’s next, very little engages, even when things get weird and wild. But if this doesn’t apply to you and you’re ready to devour FNaF 2 heart and soul, well, you’re in luck because the home edition is ready to serve you.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Special Features*:
- Employees of the Month: The Cast – Revealing interviews and behind-the-scenes footage highlight how actors develop their roles to fill the FNAF world with new mysteries, thrilling surprises, and fan-pleasing lore. (12:32)
- Bringing Freddy & Friends to Life – Learn how stunt doubles and puppeteers advance animatronic terror to the next level. (9:48)
- Mangle Mayhem – Witness Mangle come to life as a nightmarish, multi-limbed monstrosity. (4:40)
- High-Strung – Cast and crew reveal the multiple methods used to turn the Marionette into an eerie entity whose unique design and haunting movements are unlike any other animatronic. (7:04)
- Sensory Overload: Exploring The Sets – Actors join the artists behind the production design to serve up details on the Easter eggs and game inspirations lurking inside the incredible sets. (10:16)
*Digital buyer receives limited license to access content. See retailer’s terms for details.
Available on digital December 23rd, 2025.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD February 17th, 2026.
For more information, head to the official Universal Pictures Five Night’s at Freddy’s webpage.
Final Score: 2 out of 5.
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Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews, streaming
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