After the arduous eight-year-long battle in production hell, the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie, based off of its game franchise has finally come out, making a whopping $80 million dollars on its opening weekend. The indie horror franchise’s first silver-screen adaptation featured the beloved cast of animatronic pals, including Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Chicken, and Foxy the Pirate to the delight of many highly-invested FNAF enjoyers.
Each location of the movie is not only jam-packed with references to the games that long-time fans of the series will spot, but with items that set the mood for someone who has partaken in anything from the franchise.
But, is the movie actually good? As massive stans of this franchise, we think this movie is a mixed bag in terms of quality, but an overall good time. In Five Nights at Freddy’s, the ambience, set design, and animatronics are the highlights of the movie, harkening back to the abandoned ’80s pizzeria aesthetic that greatly influenced the first couple of games. Through the lens of the main character, Mike Schmidt, the new security guard, the viewers are immersed in a world of VHS tapes, pinball machines, and colorful yet ominous drawings of children as he uncovers the murders of the children who haunt the establishment. This eerie feeling of nostalgia mixed with the distorted childhood memories are further shown by the real animatronics.
Made by the Jim Henson Company, these characters straddle the line between loveable mascots and Uncanny Valley with their cartoony design, but life-like movement as well as the music that’s altogether fitting of the ’80s: iconic and unnerving with the overall lyrics and melodies. Each location of the movie is not only jam-packed with references to the games that long-time fans of the series will spot, but with items that set the mood for someone who has partaken in anything from the franchise. The liminal nature of the pizzeria helps build tension throughout the movie, serving as one the films strongest points.
The writing of the movie is very similar to the level that the games have: very messy. The plot is not perfect—the story being always somewhat coherent in its narrative. Interestingly enough, the film decided to change the story established in the games which inevitably creates an awkward straddle that causes a struggle in finding a balance between having too much fan-service and being inaccessible to broader audiences, while also not staying completely true with the long time fan expectations. But because of the scenes being pretty slow at times, the mystery’s twists being very predictable, and parts of the dialogue muddying up the characterization of key protagonists, the viewing experience is hampered greatly.
The movie itself embodies more of a comedy than a horror movie. This film does have the typical hallmarks of the modern-day jumpscares and the chase sequence, but they fail to convey fear to the audience. Most of the scares are only the vague indications of possessed animatronic murders or are minorly menacing as well as the most unexpected frights, Balloon Boy, getting played as a repeated joke.
While it may not be an Oscar award-winning movie, Five Nights at Freddy’s is a good time whether it is your first experience with the title or you are highly invested in the franchise.