One Truly Terrible Decision Doomed Five Nights At Freddy's 2 From The Start

This article contains spoilers for "Five Nights at Freddy's 2."

I've always believed that "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were right on the money with their famed writing advice to replace "and then" when connecting story beats with "but" or "therefore." This means that every scene has a purpose or contributes to the larger narrative, making it much more difficult for loose plot threads to emerge. Unfortunately, "Five Nights at Freddy's 2," written by the video game franchise creator Scott Cawthon, is nothing but an extra-large cheese pizza topped with "and then." This won't be a surprise to anyone who is at all familiar with the extensive and convoluted lore of the games, but after two entries into the series of cinematic adaptations, Cawthon's creative control is proving to be a detriment.

Bringing "Five Nights at Freddy's" to the big screen took a lot longer than fans had anticipated, with Chris Columbus ("Gremlins," "Goonies," "Home Alone") attached to direct at one point but exiting over creative differences. Cawthon famously admitted that he made the writers on the first film completely start over from scratch, and in an interview with Collider back in 2021, Blumhouse head Jason Blum emphasized that part of why the film was taking as long as it was to come out was appeasing Cawthon.

"I don't have the right to do anything Scott doesn't like," said Blum. "Basically, Scott has kind of like the equivalent of 'final cut,' and it's taken longer than I hoped to get the right story." I can only speculate that giving him this much creative control was part of the deal to get the rights to his games and characters, but his weakness as a screenwriter is proving to be poison to his own franchise.

The first film saw Cawthon share screenwriting credits with director Emma Tammi and writer Seth Cuddeback, but he's given sole credit this time around ... and it shows. It's his job to make good on the groundwork laid in the first film, but he's too preoccupied slamming the film with as many Easter eggs, moments of fan service, random cameos, and references to game theories, to have any idea what to do with the film's Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) and his younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio), or the reveal that Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) is the daughter of the animatronics inventing serial child killer, William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

Instead, it feels like Cawthon is trying to ram what works in a five-hour YouTube video essay recorded by someone talking to a camera from their gamer chair into a "multi-million dollar franchise picture" shaped hole.

Worse, there's an air of insecurity that hangs over the entire film, as if Cawthon is scrambling to preempt every criticism that can (and will) be lobbed against him on Reddit. The games eventually reveal that Mike Schmidt is the son of William Afton, but that obviously can't exist in the canon created by the film, so instead, a different Michael Afton (Freddy Carter) shows up to creep around in a security guard uniform, but when it's revealed he's Vanessa's brother, there is absolutely no weight to it unless you have the preexisting knowledge that this is an important character. "Five Nights at Freddy's" somehow figured out a way to untangle Cawthon's chaos into a satisfying story that could appeal to FNaF experts and novices alike, which makes "Five Nights at Freddy's 2" feel like an even bigger step back.

To top it all off, "Five Nights at Freddy's 2" completely whiffs it in the third act, which is generous considering it is less of a third act and more of a teaser for a potential third film. The film piles on lore, fires off reveal after reveal without any time to breathe, and then abruptly slams into an ending that doesn't make any sense based on the rules the film establishes, nor is it in line with any of the characters' behaviors.

These moments could work as throwaway backstory inclusions for the point-and-click horror games and serve as discourse fodder on online forums just fine, but this approach is completely out of step with how a movie should build or resolve tension. It constantly feels like the script was crafted solely out of "Wouldn't it be cool if this happened?" moments, with zero care taken to justify how they connect. There has never been a better example of a screenplay that needed to kill its darlings.

And yet, because I am a fool, I am still excited at the prospect of "Five Nights at Freddy's 3," because I love this franchise and want what's best for it. But at this point, what's best for it is Cawthon accepting that he created some really cool characters that people love deeply, but screenwriting just isn't his ministry. He needs to trust that there are professional writers and filmmakers who see his vision and want to help bring it to life on the big screen, and that means relinquishing power.

"Five Nights at Freddy's 2" is in theaters everywhere.