After almost 10 years, 9 games, and a book series, the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie is finally out. Based off of the incredibly popular video game, also titled Five Nights at Freddy’s, the movie follows security guard, Mike Schmidt, as he works in an abandoned, haunted ‘80s pizzeria. The original game first came out in 2014, gaining traction and a fanbase extremely quickly. Since then, the fanbase has increased even more, making the movie highly anticipated.
The original video game is follows a spree of child murders in the ‘80s that take place in a pizzeria called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. These murders end up closing down the restaurant and leaving the children’s souls haunting the animatronics that once roamed the pizzeria. You play as a security guard working the night shift at the pizzeria, and must survive the nights without being killed by the animatronics. Although the game sounds simple, it has a lengthy and extremely complicated lore, with almost none of it being confirmed by the games creator, Scott Cawthon. However, the movie takes place in a different universe than the games and does not follow most of the original lore that fans have grown accustomed to. This caused some disappointment from fans, giving the movie 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the negative reviews, the movie’s success can not be denied. Five Nights at Freddys became the #3 highest grossing horror movie in its opening weekend.
The film starts off with a security guard being chased, cornered, and eventually killed by one of the animatronics, Foxy. The beginning credits start to roll with ‘80s pixelated graphics depicting the lore in the background. Eventually, we follow Mike Schmidt, a security guard at the mall. After a major misunderstanding leaves him fired, Mike is forced to either take a security gig at an abandoned pizzeria, or stay unemployed. Mike is the sole guardian of his much younger sister Abby, making him unable to do night shifts. His aunt tries to scheme a way to take custody of Abby so she can get monthly pay checks, claiming that he is an unsuitable guardian due to his unemployment. This pushes him to take the security job at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria.
Five Nights at Freddy’s has an undeniably stacked cast, with familiar and talented actors as well as new talent. With people like Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lilard, the performances in this movie are extremely entertaining to watch. One strength of the movie is its knowledge of what fans want. The movie has many Easter eggs as an ode to the games and lore, and also the cameos of people important to the FNAF fanbase excited fans and kept them entertained. Its soundtrack is also highly praised by fans, especially the beginning and ending credits. A major criticism of the movie was that it was rated PG-13 and not scary enough. The criticism is well deserved, of course. The film was not scary at all, with only a few cheap jumpscares. However, it is understandable why the filmmakers made it that way. FNAF has always been about the jumpscares, and having it rated PG-13 can help new young children join the fandom. In spite of it not being scary and not following game lore, it did a good job staying true to the franchise by having the same overall vibe.
Although the movie was rather slow-paced, it did a good job of keeping the audience engaged. The ending did not follow game lore, but the plot twists and fan favorite throwbacks to the game saved it and also set up the potential for a sequel. The FNAF fanbase is split, with diverse opinions about the movie. Nevertheless, it is also fair to criticize the fans’ unrealistic expectations for the movie. It is impossible to fit the entirety of game lore into a two-hour movie. The game has never taken itself too seriously, so of course the movie would have some silly parts as well. Five Nights at Freddy’s is not a cinematic masterpiece or terrifying thriller, but it doesn’t need to be. It is just a movie for loyal fans who want more from the franchise.
