Movie Night: Five Nights at Freddy’s

“Five Nights at Freddy’s” is an entertaining, if unscary, adaptation that brings the magic and nostalgic charm of the game to life.

Long viewed as the can’t-miss Herculean hero of low-budget indie horror, Blumhouse now seems to be as maligned as it is ludicrously lucrative.

The once plucky little startup studio found breakout success by taking a chance on a tiny little microbudget ($15,000) horror film called Paranormal Activity that became a phenomenon and may just be the most profitable film ever made.

Since then, the studio has become a power player in the industry. There’s no doubt horror fans owe a debt of gratitude to the studio for bringing us some of the best and most memorable horror films and franchises of the past decade. But their proliferation and foray into adapted properties have been met with considerable backlash.

Now the ubiquitous studio is back with another beloved property that promises to be just as polarizing and, for many horror fans, infuriating as their recent release, The Exorcist: Believer.

Early critic reviews skewered Five Nights at Freddy’s, but audiences have been much more receptive.

Your enjoyment of the film will heavily depend on your viewing expectations.

My job here is to help you determine if this long-awaited film adaptation of the cult classic video game is likely to engage or exasperate you.

I’m someone who has played the game and found it ridiculously fun and, yes, stupidly terrifying. In fact, the game has such a reputation for scaring the bejesus out of players that it’s understandable many Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNaF) fans will flock to the theater, hoping those famous frights translate well to the big screen.

Spoiler: They do not.

Perhaps smartly (up for debate), the filmmakers — including writer-director Emma Tammi and game creator Scott Cawthorn, who also serves as co-writer on the film — rightfully understood that the kind of immersive terror that makes FNaF such a harrowing play is damn near impossible to recreate on the big screen through a more passive viewing experience.

Rather than try and miserably fail, they opted instead for a more family-friendly film that prioritizes plot and characters over real horror.

This is gateway horror, and it’s pretty damn fun gateway horror at that. But the “PG-13 horror is inherently evil” crowd will no doubt walk away deeply disappointed.

While Five Nights at Freddy’s sat in development hell for what seemed like an eternity, another film heavily inspired by the FNaF games was released in 2021 called Willy’s Wonderland.

That film had the benefit of starring film and genre icon and master of unhinged physical acting, Nicolas Cage. It cared nothing for the extensive lore of the games and had less than zero interest in plot or character development. Instead, it leaned into the balls-to-the-wall animatronics mayhem.

If check-your-brain-at-the-door insanity is your bag, Willy’s delivered in spades.

If you were hoping for more of that energy with the officially sanctioned adaptation of FNAF, I fear Five Nights at Freddy’s will fall far short of the Wonderland you’re anticipating.

If, however, you thought Willy’s was a dumb indulgence in that famous Cage rage, delivering little substance, I have good news for you.

Five Nights at Freddy’s at least tries (and mostly succeeds) at being a competently made film with real depth.

A desperate-for-work man, Mike (Josh Hutcherson), accepts a job as a night security guard at a long-shuttered family-theme pizza joint that was famous in the ‘80s for its lifelike singing and dancing animatronics.

While Mike struggles to care for his younger sister, Abby (a delightful Piper Rubio), he also battles the post-traumatic stress of having watched his younger brother get kidnapped by an unknown assailant when both boys were very young.

In an effort to overcome his trauma, he’s latched on to a theory that mysteries can be unlocked in dreams. He’s convinced that if he can revisit the scene of the kidnapping every night in his dreams, he will eventually unlock the memory of who kidnapped his brother.

This nightly confrontation with his greatest regret and horror takes a huge psychological toll and forces him to pop sleeping pills every night.

It has also left him on the verge of losing custody of Abby to their wicked Aunt Jane (a ferociously fun performance from the great Mary Stuart Masterson).

If that sounds like a pretty heavy premise for a video game film adaptation, it definitely is.

And we haven’t even begun to touch on the sadistic backstory for the animatronics that spring to life and murder property trespassers.

Those animatronics include the restaurant’s bear mascot, Freddy Fazbear, the bow-tie-wearing rabbit named Bonnie, Chica the chicken and her cupcake companion, and Foxy the pirate fox.

FNAF enthusiasts will be pleased to know that the film versions of these iconic characters look incredible.

They are not CGI monstrosities but meticulous and faithful creations of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.

The technical expertise in both design and skillful puppeteering (led by puppet wrangler supervisor Robert Bennett) and character acting of Freddy and Friends is an absolute highlight of the film and an undeniable treat for fans of the game.

This does end up being a bit of a blessing and a curse because the film actually spends much more time with its human drama than it does indulging in its stellar animatronic stars that should have definitely taken front and center.

Every time the animatronics are on the screen, it’s a really good time (though the film’s rating ensures the terror is relatively tame). Still, moments of eagerly awaited mayhem are few and far between.

Should FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S turn into the inevitable film franchise, one can hope — and rightfully expect — far more screen time to be given to its main attraction. Click To Tweet

Once Mike finds himself in the restaurant, his dreams become more vivid and become populated with five mysterious children who seem to hold the key to Mike discovering who took his brother.

Who are these children, and where did they come from? If you’re a FNaF fan, you already know.

If not, don’t worry.

Not only has this film been conceived as a gateway horror for younger viewers, but it also serves as a gateway point of entry for those new to the franchise.

This attempt to endear itself to rabid fans of the game franchise, with no shortage of easter eggs and nods to its robust source material, while also making the film fully accessible to newcomers, presents a difficult tightrope for the filmmakers to walk.

FNaF is a franchise with a massive amount of lore, and the film does an admirable job distilling it and making it easy to follow for those who know very little about the game’s twisted backstory. The downside? This deep dive into FNaF’s mystery elements and world-building inevitably means the film is plot-heavy and risks getting weighed down by tedious exposition and far too few scares.

Fortunately, the actors really rise to the occasion, delivering compelling and emotionally resonant performances.

It’s also clear this film is made with a great deal of heart, and it succeeds in delivering an unexpected amount of depth for a film based on a point-and-click video game.

As Mike begins to suspect strange goings-on at Freddy’s, he has repeated encounters with a local cop, Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), who seems to have an unusual interest in the once-popular establishment.

Meanwhile, some hired thugs break into Freddy’s to frame Mike for gross negligence and meet their gruesome demise at the hands of the animatronics. To make matters worse, the animatronics seem to have become disturbingly attached to young Abby, and it’s a race against time to figure out exactly what’s happening and why before Mike loses everything.

There’s no doubt that Tammi is a talented director (as proven by her last feature, The Wind), and she has a keen eye for striking visuals and engaging storytelling.

However, she shines when it comes to quiet horror that ramps up emotional stakes rather than mounting dread or jump scares.

That’s probably not what most fans eager for Five Nights at Freddy’s were expecting, and it’s going to result in a fair amount of criticism for the film.

Ultimately, this comes down to choices, and many will not agree with the choices made here. Does that make it a misfire? Arguably, no. There’s some admirable work done.

The film embraces its source material with considerable affection and does its damnedest to provide ample fan service.

Judging from the audience at my screening of the film, it delivers the goods. There were plenty of gasps and hoots and hollers at key reveals, including a fun cameo for hardcore fans that had my audience loudly cheering.

On the other hand, those who know all the game’s mythology may be bored by the retelling, preferring the film to provide more thrills and less plot.

Again, this is a mixed bag that will divide audiences and opinions.

As I mentioned earlier, this works best as a setup for a film franchise, assuming the sequels spend far more time on twisted kills and animatronic antics. As a standalone film, however, it’s well-made and entertaining, assuming you have a tolerance for slower burns and aren’t simply chomping at the bit for over-the-top robotic carnage.

It’s always a treat to see genre favorite Matthew Lillard make an appearance, even if it’s little more than a glorified cameo. He chews scenery like crazy, and, for my money, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Hutcherson makes for a strong lead, and Rubio knocks it out of the park as his adorable kid sister. I loved the believable and infinitely watchable dynamic the brother-sister duo shared.

Five Nights at Freddy’s also delivers some fun reveals during its nutty climax. If you don’t see the big one coming from a mile away, you probably haven’t watched many horror films. But as much as I knew it was coming, I’ll admit that it still absolutely delighted me.

Five Nights at Freddy’s perfectly captures the way the iconic animatronics evoke a sense of magic and childlike wonder while still striking a menacing and imposing visage that makes you shutter even before you see just what kind of horror they are capable of.

For fans of the game, Five Nights at Freddy’s effectively taps into the essence of what has made the property such a cult phenomenon.

It’s unsurprising given that creator Cawthorn served as producer and helped ensure meticulous attention to detail and the utmost respect for the source material.

Is it perfect? Unfortunately, no.

Like most horror fans, I would have loved to have seen more gruesome deaths and to have felt more sustained tension.

As I mentioned earlier, the games are unbelievably good at getting under your skin. That sense of unease and dread does not translate to this film adaptation, and that’s a shame.

The technical aspects are top-notch, but there’s a lot of repetition that gets tiresome, and it’s tonally imbalanced — seemingly trying to serve too many masters and unsure exactly how far it wants to lean into either camp, horror, or melodrama.

As a gateway horror film aimed squarely at a younger tween audience, it’s a home run. As a more sophisticated horror film for older fans who have been playing FNaF games for the past decade, it may be a swing and a miss.

In the end, I argue it’s a solid effort that underdelivers in some areas (specifically scares and animatronic screen time) but exceeds expectations in others — especially when it comes to an investing story that makes me care about the characters.

I consider it a fun and heartfelt effort and hope it does well enough to see a follow-up that amps up the horror.

Five Nights at Freddy’s opens today, October 27th, in theaters and streams on Peacock the same day.