Posts Tagged ‘Emma Tammi’

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2: 1 ½ STARS. “devotees will find loads of fan service.”

SYNOPSIS: In “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” a new horror film based on the popular videogame and now playing in theatres, eleven-year-old Abby (Piper Rubio) sneaks away from her protective brother Mike (Josh Hutcherson) to reunite with her pals, four Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza animatronic mascots who are possessed by the spirits of the children who disappeared during Fazbear’s glory days.

CAST: Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, and Matthew Lillard, Skeet Ulrich, Wayne Knight, Mckenna Grace, and Teo Briones. Directed by Emma Tammi.

REVIEW: To begin, let’s start at the end. ”Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” wraps up with an obvious set-up for another film. No spoilers here, but it explains why the movie feels like a means to an end, literally. By that I mean the entire convoluted story feels like a trailer for the franchise’s next movie.

It’s a shame the film delivers little more than jump scares because it kicks off with an interesting premise.

The animatronic action begins in 1982 at a birthday party at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Place. As young Charlotte (Audrey Lynn-Marie) patiently waits for her favorite character to appear, she spots a little boy being dragged out of the party by yellow animatronic rabbit Spring Bonnie (Matthew Lillard). She prevents the kidnapping, but winds up a victim of The Marionette, a terrifying puppet with a white mask, a wide grin and painted on rosy, red cheeks.

Cut to 2002. It’s a year after Fazbear security guard Mike (Josh Hutcherson) discovered the pizza joint’s animatronic mascots, Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, are possessed by the spirits of the children who disappeared during Fazbear’s glory days and had their eyes on a new victim, Mike’s innocent sister Abby (Piper Rubio).

With the help of Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), a police officer (and daughter of serial killer William Afton, played by Matthew Lillard), Abby was spared, but now Abby feels a connection to the animatronic meanies and wants to reconnect. “She misses her friends,” says Mike. Trouble is, that makes her a target for The Marionette.

After a strong start, and the addition of the creepy Marionette, it’s a shame the rest of the movie relies on jump scares and toothless violence instead of the inventive horror of the first fifteen minutes.

The character design by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop is top notch, hitting the right balance between kid friendly animatronics and threatening evil robots. They’re a blast. Take for instance Chica (Megan Fox), a large animatronic chicken with “Let’s Party” emblazoned on her t-shirt, who gleefully squeezes Wayne Knight’s head with the words, “Let’s see what’s going on inside your head. Just what I thought! Nothing in there at all!” It’s the kind of fun PG-13 horror that offers relief from the movie’s reliance on jump scares.

“Five Nights at Freddy’s” devotees will find loads of fan service and Easter eggs, but audiences hoping for real horror will find the movie to be as stale as a decade old slice from Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S: 3 STARS. “fans will enjoy the film’s Easter eggs.”

“Five Nights at Freddy’s,” is a new horror film starring Josh Hutcherson now playing in theatres, but it may feel familiar to some movie goers.

Referred to as “FNaF” by fans, it began life in 2014 as a popular video game that has since spawned a number of sequels, including “Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted.”

With the game’s creator Scott Cawthon signed on as co-writer and producer, the new film version offers up recognizable visual and audio call-backs to the video game series.

Then, there is the strange case of “Willy’s Wonderland,” a 2021 Nic Cage cult film that fills its lungs with much of the same fetid air as “FNaF.” It’s like “Freddy’s” brother from another mother.

So, with so much history, is the new movie fresh enough to get a fresh rating?

On the big screen Hutcherson plays Mike Schmidt, a down-on-his luck guy desperate to make some cash and look after his withdrawn sister Abby (Piper Rubio). How desperate is he? Desperate enough to take a nighttime gig as a security guard at a family entertainment center called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. “I’ll take anything,” he tells job counselor Steve (Matthew Lillard).

The run-down and shut-down facility was a once-popular hot spot but now sits empty save for four animatronic mascots, Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy.

Turns out, these mascots are anything but good luck charms. They used to entertain the kids who once flocked to the restaurant, but these days they’re possessed by the spirits of the children who disappeared during Fazbear’s glory days.

“The police searched Freddy’s top to bottom,” says enigmatic local police officer Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail). “They never found them. That’s why the place shut down.”

What Vanessa doesn’t know, but Mike is about to find out, at night the mascots come alive, and have set their eyes on a new victim, little, innocent Abby.

Fans of the video game may get an extra charge out of the film’s Easter eggs. Director Emma Tammi provides fan service while the screenplay by Cawthon, Seth Cuddeback and Emma Tammi go hard on the psychological drama.

Determined to figure out who abducted his kid brother Garrett years before, Mike uses his dreams to relive the experience and find new clues. It his attempt to fix the sins of the past, but the drawn-out sequences drag the movie down. Ditto a subplot involving Mike and Abby’s nasty Aunt Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson). Both take valuable screen time away from the main attraction, and that is Abby—Rubio is especially effective as the open-hearted youngster—and her relationship with the creepy mascots. Abby has a connection with them, and also, perhaps, a connection to the abduction of Garrett. That’s where the action is, not in the dreary flashback dream sequences.

“Five Nights at Freddy’s” is being billed as a horror film, but other than a few jump scares, there isn’t much here to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Instead, it’s generically atmospheric with little-to-no actual fear factor.