Five Nights at Freddy’s

The progression that Five Nights at Freddy’s has had throughout its lifespan is pretty impressive for such a small and (in all honesty) minuscule idea. Created from the mind of Scott Cawthon, this little indie point-and-click horror game released in 2014 was meant to be a last-ditch attempt at creating a successful game after several failed family titles, yet it proved to be a commercial success and gained a cult following for its simple gameplay, effective atmosphere, and fun premise with clear real-world inspirations (nobody likes those creepy animatronic mascots from American pizzeria chains anyway). This resulted in several sequels being released (including a Triple A game in 2021), a novel spin-off series which features its own ‘’Goosebumps-esque’’ personality, and a lore so expansive and delved into by fans that the timeline is more confusing than a typical JRPG. The characters have become iconic mascots, it helped revitalize the point-and-click horror genre (as well as Chucky Cheese ironically) and has mass appeal amongst the younger generation but also older audiences as well. Regardless of what people think of the actual quality of the games, no one can deny it has left an impact on pop culture, which led to a scramble for a film in order to soak up some bucks. Universal and Blumhouse saw this ravenous desire from fans and took advantage of this with a 2023 feature film. After getting fired from his last job, Mike Schmidt (played by Josh Hutchinson) is struggling with maintaining his own well-being due to exhausting himself either by trying to keep a job to sustain his younger sister, Abby (played by Piper Rubio), or through delving into the concept of dream theory in order to recover a memory that might explain the disappearance of his younger brother. Desperate for anything, a career counsellor named Steve Raglan (played by Matthew Lillard) gives him the position of security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, a once popular entertainment centre that has now been left to ruin. Initially expecting a nothing job of looking after a broken-down building housing four animalistic animatronics named Freddy, Foxy, Chica and Bonnie, the situation becomes more complicated when a police officer named Vanessa (played by Elizabeth Lail) informs him about the franchises’ tragic past which involves the disappearance of multiple children. The situation gets far worse when he discovers the animatronics are more sentient than expected, have killed people before who have trespassed on the premises (including former nightguards), and that they have taken a particular liking to Abby, forcing Mike to fight off these mechanical beasts in order to defend his younger sibling. Met with an extremely mixed reception (an almost complete split between critical bashing and audience appraisal) but doing strong enough at the box office to not prevent sequels, Five Nights at Freddy’s as a film is good enough for what it is but isn’t going above what is expected of it.

The idea for a film started as early as 2015, with Warner Brothers initially acquiring the rights before they were passed off to Universal in 2017, who were the ones to eventually distribute the film along with Blumhouse (Jason Blum even acted as a producer). Going through several writers and scripts due to Cawthon (who helped write the screenplay and story) not being satisfied with any of the final drafts, the film also jumped through several different directors like Gil Kenan and Chris Colombus before eventually settling on Emma Tammi (in only her second feature-length directing job after her 2018 horror Western, The Wind) who completed the film in time for the Halloween season in 2023. If this series was going to function as a movie, it would need a lot of revising. These games contain an almost boringly simple level of gameplay mechanics and more so rely on their lengthy backstory to continue drawing people in, but the manner in which they deliver their story is almost anti-rewarding due to its overly secretive nature, something that wouldn’t work for a mainstream horror flick. Because of this, the screenplay written by Tammi, Cawthon and Seth Cuddeback needed to be more accessible and even linear in order to properly function, and it does slightly succeed in this department. The direction by Tammi is pretty solid, giving the movie a good pace, delivers the story in a fashion that not only has good visuals but is accessible enough to newcomers, commands the actors in an effective manner (for the most part), and truncates the story to a digestible level. There are holes like an occasional bad line read, a tone that makes the movie not the least bit scary, and a final act that is so front-loaded with previously unmentioned elements and a rushed conclusion that it’s an all-around mess, but she comes out of this looking pretty good. With that said, the script is pretty bad and doesn’t do a good job sucking people into this world despite having a pre-existing baseline to take form. While it has a few fun ideas, everything ironically attached to Freddy’s is not very well handled. Having Cawthorn write the story might’ve been a mistake, as while he should be included, his style of storytelling feels very different to traditional cinematic storytelling, and that along with fellow story writers Chris Lee Hill and Tyler MacIntyre, not having the best portfolio of work, doesn’t put this narrative in the best light.

For a franchise where the cast of characters includes child murderers, parents of murdered children, children of child murderers, and animatronics (possessed by dead children), the choices for a roster are a little selective, yet in spite of this, some of these roles aren’t too bad. The supporting characters aren’t very strong and are even acted a little wonky from people like Mary Stuart Masterson, Kat Connor Sterling, and even cameos from YouTubers like Cory Williams and Matthew Patrick (they are there for their contributions to the games, not really for their acting abilities), but the leads themselves are handled better. While their arcs could’ve been improved upon, there is solid potential here and the acting for the most part is pretty good. Josh Hutchinson has proven his capabilities as an actor before, and he makes even a small role like this interesting and engaging, portraying this seemingly well-meaning guy in an apathetic manner that doesn’t convey a sense of disregard, but rather a sense of disparity, like he’s constantly in and out of a dream (which is fitting given what he does throughout the film). His desire to hold onto his little sister as well as make amends for how he failed with his last sibling, is pretty effective and Hutchinson is a big reason as to why it works as well as it does. Piper Rubio as Abby can be a little irritating in the first act and doesn’t really provide much that any other child couldn’t bring, but she is also perfectly fine for the role and does get more endearing as the film continues. Elizabeth Lail struggles a bit as Vanessa, being saddled with a lot of awkward unnatural dialogue that makes her come across as pretty flat and weird in the first act and the role could’ve been a lot more interesting if written better (the film lays some interesting seeds, but they come too late to be interesting), but she does improve as the film continues. The way the film handles Matthew Lillard is a strong sign that it lacks any sense of awareness, as their insistence on keeping things that are beyond obvious to any casual moviegoer for a surprise twist feels almost blindingly stupid (it is obvious that he is the villain, so what’s even the point of hiding it?). He has cryptic dialogue, clear villainous framing, there aren’t any other suspects to look out for, and while it looks like he’s having fun yucking it up in the last act, his time as a threat is so small and meaningless, it’s a massive disservice.

Since this franchise is run on its animatronics and how they look, it’s appreciated that the crew put in as much work as they could in bringing these creatures to life. Getting Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to work on them was a great choice, as these four do look and feel really impressive through how they move, how they interact with others, to even how they manage to capture their design from their original games while still be able to look distinct for a movie. While they are not treated in a scary fashion (it’s almost funny how not scary this film is in some parts), you’ve got to respect the filmmakers for actively doing the work to make them physical creations and not just digital ones. The tone of this film is beyond bizarre, and it doesn’t always feel intentional. While a story about killer pizza mascots inhabited by murdered children contains a twinge of discomfort due to its ties to a truly disgusting real-world threat, it’s hard to avoid the goofiness that naturally comes out of these titles (even they are leaning into it nowadays). While it was smart enough to not try and make this a full-blown scary flick, any sense of dark comedic element doesn’t feel purposefully incorporated, and more just a consequence of something trying to be scary and failing (seeing a robotic cupcake gnaw someone’s face off in a non-bloody fashion is pretty hilarious). The production design by Marc Fisichella along with the set decoration by Claire Sanchez does a really good job at bringing this Fazbear location to life, with enough flourishes of 80s aesthetics and neon coloring to make it pop even whilst in ruin. It makes for a fun location to spend the movie in, which is helped out by some nice cinematography by Lyn Moncrief, who on occasion can have an obscure angle and shot composition, but overall shoots the film in a very effective manner. The music by John Andrew Grush and Taylor Newton Stewart (collectively known as The Newton Brothers) carries a campy vibe and retro chip-tune sound that makes it feel like a blast from the past, but the modern touches along with some cool instrumental choices like a bell and even a choir helps produce a decently catchy theme that is simultaneously a little threatening but also pretty hard core (especially during the opening credits)

Seeing this small title evolve from a cult point-and-click indie horror game that kids played during lunch hours at school, to a properly recognized gaming franchise who now has titles on big-name consoles, is pretty cool to see. Considering it came from a person who almost gave up, seeing his creation form a contentious but decently loved gaming franchise and now seemingly a film franchise, would be pretty uplifting. It’s impressive that it can hold that title given how the critical consensus is completely split between critics and audiences, and both have a lot of fair points. The movie isn’t too bad as it houses some solid performances, good direction, nice production value and visuals, and offers a decent step into the world of Freddy’s, but the film is laughably not scary, the narrative could’ve used some tweaks to feel better laid out, and the script is really awful. In an era where video game adaptations are being treated much better, this is still better than some of its predecessors, but it’s safe to say this is no golden standard.