“Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF)” is a survival horror game series created by Scott Cawthon. The FNAF survival horror games involve resource management and are filled to the brim with jump scares. However, the most exciting part of FNAF is the lore, which is sprinkled throughout the series as cryptic secrets.
With the franchise’s popularity skyrocketing through ‘Let’s Play’ YouTube channels and a mountain of speculation videos, the series has branched off to spin-off games and even a book series. After years of anticipation, FNAF finally landed on the silver screen on Oct. 27.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s,” directed by Emma Tammi, is based on the lore of the video game series while bringing new ideas to the story. While the main premise of the movie stays faithful to the storyline portrayed in the games, the film gives extra character to the animatronics and the main protagonist.
The movie’s protagonist is Mike Schimdt, the new security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Place. Schmidt reveals a disturbing backstory at the beginning of the film: his younger brother was kidnapped in front of him as a child, leaving the traumatic experience haunting him throughout his adult life.
Schmidt’s backstory is unique to the film, weaving a unique subplot into the main premise of the FNAF storyline.
While the animatronics in the game series serve the sole purpose of being a source of nightmare fuel, the film also includes a more lighthearted side to the unsettling robots, showing their childish nature.
The film’s adaptation of the animatronics was incredible, thanks to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. The Creature Shop’s lifelike portrayal of the creatures was certainly preferable to CGI.
The casting for “Five Nights at Freddy’s” was superb. Josh Hutcherson, Matthew Lillard, Elizabeth Lail and Piper Rubio gave incredible performances as the main characters of the film. While the acting was spot on, the screenwriting felt subpar in some regards.
As for the horror factor, the film relies significantly less on the jumpscares that made the games so popular. The film attempts to scare the audience without cheap shots through the unsettling nature of the Freddy Fazbear crew and their eerie backstories.
While the story was enthralling in some aspects, I felt the film should have aligned more closely with the plot of the video game series.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s” is an exciting film for those unfamiliar with the franchise. It is a cinematic retelling of the events of the first game that brings first-time viewers up to speed on some of the main lore from the games.
For fans of the series, it is hard not to love the callbacks, easter eggs and cameos from the FNAF community. While the story strays slightly from the set canon of the FNAF universe, it is easy to tell that heart and effort were poured into this film for the fans who grew up watching the many videos explaining the lore.
Rating: 7/10
