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The video game-turned-movie franchise shits the bed in its first sequel. Actors Josh Hutcherson and Piper Rubio return as the brother and sister terrorized by haunted animatronics at an abandoned Chuck E. Cheese-like children’s restaurant and playground. The first film was a somewhat novel and inspired ‘kiddie horror flick’ that introduced a surprising amount of emotional depth, but the sequel flushes all that potential down the toilet, bending over backwards to justify its increasingly ridiculous and incoherent premise.
For starters, there’s a new, second restaurant location, new animatronics, and a new ‘marionette’ character that doesn’t fit in or make any sense. Writer/creator Scott Cawthon’s screenplay is so tortured, there’s no amount of good direction from Emma Tammi, remarkable special effects, or serviceable acting that can salvage the film. The relationship between Rubio’s young character and the animatronic characters (haunted by the ghosts of murdered children) is almost completely absent in the sequel. The ‘good’ animatronics are barely even in this film.
The worst filmmaking crime committed here is the shameless way Cawthon sacrifices third-billed Elizabeth Lail, as Hutcherson’s love interest, on the altar of plotting convenience. Her character is all-knowing, but keeps multiple deadly secrets from Hutcherson, Rubio, and the audience that no one would ever withhold. Half-way into this film, you realize Cawthon will do anything and everything he wants, no matter how sloppily it’s justified. As a result, the film is completely zapped of verisimilitude, compelling stakes, or believability. It melts into utter nonsense.
With Freddy Carter, McKenna Grace, Wayne Knight, and brief, individual cameos by Scream co-stars Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich.