The “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” movie was released on Dec. 5 of this year, and I loved it. Characters returned to the action, like Mike Schmidt played by Josh Hutcherson, and Abby Schmidt played by Piper Rubio. While the movie faced harsh reviews from critics, the film clearly came from a place of love for the franchise and for the fans. The opening scene immediately grabs the audience’s attention and creates an eerie but exciting atmosphere throughout the film.

The animatronics were nearly identical to their video game counterparts courtesy to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, and the sets were well built, too. The more horrifying parts of the film were left up to imagination as to fit the PG-13 rating, but they did not disappoint, somehow making events seem even more terrifying to audience members.

The plot did suffer a bit in the final product. Popular characters from the game took on different roles in the film that seemed like a far departure from their original motivations in the game. The ending of the film left many questions that will hopefully be answered in the next installment.

The actors did portray their roles perfectly and brought the movie to life. The film had a number of cameos from beloved youtubers, like Cory Kenshin and Game Theory’s MatPat, which earned cheers from fans at my screening.

There were plenty of easter eggs in the film, too, showcasing fan favorite characters from the original series. Overall, the film was made for the fans and was a great experience that I would highly recommend fans of the franchise to go see.