Two years after the massive success of the first film, Five Nights at Freddy's (FNAF) 2 is ready to rock cinemas worldwide. The horror franchise, which began as a simple indie game, has now become a global cultural phenomenon. Reportedly, the film will be officially released on December 5, 2025. The sequel is burdened with high expectations to repeat the success and surpass the established horror, mystery, and narrative. The Success of the First Five Nights at Freddy's Film Released in 2023, the first Five Nights at Freddy's film is more than just a typical video game adaptation. It successfully combines classic jump scares with psychological layers, childhood trauma, and a dark mystery that makes it far deeper than a conventional horror film. The result? A global box office hit, the film was named one of the best game adaptations of the decade. However, the first film also left many questions hanging. Who exactly is William Afton? What tragedy befell Freddy Fazbear's P...
.jpeg)
Ryley (Brigette Lundy-Paine) stumbles upon a conspiracy of incest and supernatural possibilities when her gullible husband, Ed (Carloto Cotta), visits his decrepit and estranged mother, Amelia (Anabela Moreira). Which is funny, because Amelia's botched plastic surgery makes Ryley uncomfortable, and her other son, Manuel (also Cotta), has long hair and wears a cowboy boat, and oh yeah, there might be something or someone in their basement. In this case, "Amelia's Children" is something out of the ordinary. Maybe you've seen something as recent as that, like AirBnB's disgusting shape-shifter "Barbarian," or something less current, like Stuart Gordon's perverted American "Castle Freak." Or maybe you've just seen "Silence," which is a great way to get your hands dirty.
Or maybe you just saw "Diamantino," a tacky 2018 character study fantasy about a very dim man (Cotta) who accidentally becomes the poster child of Portuguese fascism. "Diamantino" is a breakthrough (and debut feature) for co-director Gabriel Abrantes, who also wrote and directed "Amelia's Children."
The fact that "Amelia's Children" also features Cotta in three roles also seems to be a wink to what has already begun. "Amelia's Children" is a very restrained, old-fashioned dark house movie and its secrets are never more interesting than the chemistry and comedic timing of the cast. Awkward silences are filled with overheated conversations, and then punctuated by flat expressions and inappropriate outbursts. It was tender and brash, and I don't know if I can recommend it to everyone.
"Amelia's Children" remains quiet and bizarre enough to be endearing, while not seeming to annoy the audience at all. Perhaps the best way to describe the humor in "Amelia's Children" is to call it conceptual, because the scenarios are jokes, and they are often delivered with a straight face. You have to pay attention to the way these characters often inadvertently draw attention to their indirect silliness, but rarely do they actually break genre conventions. The movie begins with a flashback to an earlier incident involving a child abduction and a Gothic villa. Then we switch to the present, where Ed mindlessly inserts his finger into a mysterious Smartphone app accessory called a "gene reader". Nothing suspicious there, right. Ed uses the app called AnceStory because he was abandoned as a baby, and now wants to know about his family.
Ryley supports her partner and joins him as he travels to retrieve his mother, his twin sister, and his unclaimed luggage. Ryley and Ed have a genuine and easy way of talking to each other in these established scenes, mostly in the way she goes back and forth with him. In an established scene, she tries to use a language translator app to order a thick cod dish, just to blend in. (it's a local delicacy) "You'll get the thickest... wettest fish," he teases.
The ellipsis between Ryley's words is more important than the intended meaning, such as when Ryley first meets Amelia and her new mother-in-law suggests that Ryley paint her portrait. It's only funny if you enjoy watching a young woman squirm when she's cornered by her mother-in-law, who has too much to do.
"I like posing," Amelia says. Her face is immobile and misshapen, making it difficult to read. "Well, I like to draw, so..." Ryley said before an awkward laugh and a short pause. "A perfect match." The elusive tone of the film may frustrate viewers who expect Abrantes to be more aggressive or macabre in his humor. That's a shame, considering how well Abrantes only slightly exaggerates the psychosexual subtext of her characters' obviously tumultuous relationships.
"Amelia's Children" never feels like a one-note joke. Instead, it's the same joke, about the obvious fallacy of Ed's naive quest to find his origins, only it's funny because Ryley sees the story to be the way it usually is. For those who are fooled, this is just a fairy tale; for the skeptics, it's a horror movie.
Comments