Film Review — Five Nights at Freddy’s
Emma Tammi embellishes the backstory to Scott Cawthon’s hit video game in a so-so translation to film
What I know about video games would fit on the back of a matchbox. However, my youngest son has childhood nostalgia attached to Scott Cawthon’s Five Nights at Freddy’s, and was most eager to see how he, director Emma Tammi, and co-writers Seth Cuddeback, Chris Lee Hill, and Tyler MacIntyre adapted this for the cinema screen. Alas, my son was not impressed, citing major departures from the lore for his displeasure. As for me, I liked it a little more, without necessarily feeling a need to leap up and down urging anyone to see it.
For anyone unfamiliar with the premise, it involves a night security guard in a pizzeria having to survive attacks from murderous animatronics Freddy Fazbear, Foxy the Pirate, Chica the Chicken, and Bonnie the Bunny, who are possessed by ghosts. However, rather than bludgeon ahead with this nonsensical videogame plotting in its purest form, Tammi, Cawthon and co flesh things out by having the security guard in question, Mike (Josh Hutcherson), attempt to lucidly dream his way into discovering clues concerning the abduction of his younger brother many years previously. Mike also juggles looking after his young sister Abby (Piper Rubio), with his aunt (Mary Stuart…
