‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ Receives Devastating Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, the 2025 follow-up to the 2023 horror film adaptation of Scott Cawthon’s video game series, has hit theaters and opened to mostly negative reviews
. Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Cawthon, the movie brings back Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, and Matthew Lillard in their previous roles, while Skeet Ulrich, Wayne Knight, Mckenna Grace, and Teo Briones join the cast. The story takes place a year after the first film, focusing on Abby Schmidt (Rubio) as she reconnects with the animatronic characters, revealing more about the origins of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
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Five Nights at Freddy's 2 in theaters December 5 pic.twitter.com/k4xJDDcT3c
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 premiered at the TCL Chinese Theater on December 2 and was released in the United States by Universal Pictures on December 5. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently holds an 11% approval rating based on 53 critic reviews, with audience ratings similarly low.
Critics have largely described the movie as predictable and aimed at a younger audience, noting that it fails to deliver the scares or thrills expected from a horror film.
Many reviews suggest that the sequel leans heavily on references to the original video games and offers little new content, making it mainly enjoyable for dedicated fans while leaving general audiences disappointed. The story, pacing, and scares have all been criticized as weak compared to the first film.
Much of what takes place across the film’s 104 minutes feels telegraphed, a bit cheap and, sadly, resigned for a more 12-year-old mind-frame.
Peter Gray
The ‘Mortal Kombat Annihilation’ of Blumhouse sequels.
Doug Walker
An asinine, uninspired, unnecessary and anemic B-movie that neither provides enough chill, thrills or cool kills.
Avi Offer
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 plays best for die-hard fans; for everyone else, it’s a stitched-together sequel with few scares and even fewer surprises.
Allison Rose
Viewers who aren’t thrilled by recognizing new characters from an old game, and who expect more from a movie than a handful of PG-13 jump scares, are advised to spend their night anywhere that Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 isn’t screening.
Alonso Duralde
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