“Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” is a strong follow-up the original film. The plot intricately ensnares the 3 main survivors of the first picture into a new nightmare involving the scary amusement park/pizza chain. There are some good scares and nice unpredictable story twists.

In 1982, a young girl, Charlotte (Audrey Lynn Marie), sits by the trapdoor in a much more developed Freddy’s Fazbear Pizza establishment. She is approached by another young girl, Vanessa (!) (Miriam Spumpkin), who encourages her to sit and eat some birthday cake.

Later Charlotte sees a young boy being lured into a back room by what appears to be an animatronic. She tries to get the attention of adult parents who shoo her away. Disgusted with their attitudes, Charlotte goes into the back room. While there, she sees the boy and scoops him up. While she is running away, an animatronic with a knife chases her. She appears, holding the boy, in the public area but collapses. There are knife wounds in her back. The marionette appears from the trapdoor on which she stands and takes hold of her.

Charlotte is dead but who is responsible is never clear. Eventually the original franchise location has to close because of the controversy. But it is not torn down.

Twenty years later, Mike (Josh Hutcherson), his younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio) and Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) are the survivors from the first movie. Mike and Abby are trying to live a normal life. But Abby does not really fit in at school. She tells her story on the bus to a mixed reaction.

Abby misses the friends she made at Freddy’s at the end of the first film. Mike has told her that he will fix them when he has time.

Mike also is trying to pursue a relationship with Vanessa. Vanessa keeps having recurring nightmares regarding her serial-killer father William (Matthew Lillard), where he claims that she is still his to control.

Abby is trying to create something for the science fair in Robotics class. Her teacher, Mr. Berg (Wayne Knight), is a domineering win-at-all-costs type. Seeing that she is inept, he gives her a “C” grade and bans her from the science fair.

At the original Freddy’s, now a rundown ruin, a trio of paranormal activity hunters are given admission by the security guard Michael (Freddy Carter). Two of them are dispatched. Lisa (Mckenna Grace) goes into the basement where the trapdoor marionette resided. She is overcome by the puppet who now houses Charlotte.

Abby goes to the 2nd Freddy’s to find her animatronic friends. Mike finds her there crying as she has discovered that her friends are just gone. Mike apologizes for not telling her the truth. But she picks up a talking toy from the wreckage to take home as a remembrance of her friends.

It turns out that Vanessa has more secrets than Mike knows about. Abby meets the animatronic Chica again, but is this the real Chica? Mr. Berg destroys the science fair project which Chica designed for Abby. Will he survive Chica’s wrath? Charlotte the marionette wants to use the animatronics to kill all parents. Will she succeed?

Full disclosure: I have not played any of the Five Nights at Freddy’s video games. But I did see the first film. I found it a little draggy in the beginning but it ended with some nice gore and scares.

I was curious to see how the franchise would go about building on the first film’s premise. When it went retro to 1982, I was concerned that we were going into the original abductions of the children from the first film, but not so.

Using another location of Freddy’s, and the flagship one at that, provides a welcome addition to the movie lore. The river tunnel for little boats and lined with marionettes is suitably creepy. The marionette itself is not so scary but once it absorbs another human it is frightening. The half-formed diabolic animatronics are another nice touch.

The setting in the year 2002 is also useful to this installment. The technology is still suitably primitive that people are using separate monitors attached to a CPU. Smartphones do not exist; at one point Vanessa and Mike are using walkie-talkies to communicate. Personally I think that this lessens the chance of deus ex machinas through the miracle of high tech devices or code or, worse, AI.

Mr. Berg’s inclusion adds a nice touch of humor to the story. There isn’t that much but Wayne Knight’s over-the-top characterization of the haughty, know-it-all teacher is perfect. Of course the humor comes because he is unaware of what a buffoon or bad guy he is to the students.

This film had great potential for more gore and violence than occurred in its frames. I was disappointed that several potential massacres were averted. But even though the casualty count is low, there is enough menace throughout the picture to keep viewers riveted.

Determining which animatronics were good or bad is somewhat confusing. This was especially true with Chica, who befriends Abby early in the movie. One could argue, however, that this gives complexity to the creatures as they can show both good and evil sides.

The visual effects with the animatronics are top-notch. How creatures so clunky can be so frightening takes work to create. This twist on the “uncanny valley” phenomenon is nicely done. While animatronics are not strictly clown-like, unlike the creepy marionettes, their verisimilitude when they become independent is somehow viscerally frightening.

None of the acting here is going to win an Academy Award. Each character has a pre-determined personality which informs the actors’ performances. The result is credible portrayals, if not superlative.

The ending set the series up for another installment. I think that it has great potential for a third film. There is a mid-credit scene which did nothing for me, but the audience I saw the film with oohed and aahed.

Too scary for young children. This will keep your interest even if you have not seen the previous film.

Three and a half out of five stars

Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Piper Rubio, Elizabeth Lail, Freddy Carter, Theodus Crane, Wayne Knight, Mckenna Grace, with Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard
Director: Emma Tammi
Written by: Scott Cawthon
Based on the Video Game Series “Five Nights at Freddy’s” by Scott Cawthon