Five Nights At Freddy’s: Does It Satisfy?
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
Five Nights At Freddy’s, the film adaptation of the beloved horror game franchise by Scott Cawthon, hit theaters on Oct. 27. With its test screenings and its first reviews from critics, most of them landed within 30–50 percent, with Rotten Tomatoes scoring it a 30 percent on the dot despite the critics’ reviews, however, the audience’s reactions were fairly positive, scoring within the 80’s.
The film serves as both a first installment and a standalone title, with its ow original story that combines both the overarching storylines of the first three games, and the plot bearing a slight resemblance to the original 2014 game.
The plot follows the original protagonist of the first game as well. Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) is a troubled former security guard who, after being fired from his last job, gets an offer to work as a night security guard at an abandoned family entertainment center, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
His younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio) and mysterious police officer Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) are tasked with surveying and surviving, uncovering the secrets of the restaurant. All while Mike attempts so solve a mystery of his own, revolving around his younger brother, who was kidnapped and murdered years prior.
A main critique among many fans, as well as critics, is that while the film had covered what it wanted (the franchise’s overarching lore), it fell flat in the short time it had to put it all together, resulting in a storyline that felt sporadic or “all over the place.”
The overall horror aspect of the film relied the plot and less on what made the games scary to many, which were the jump scares and the overall gore. While there were some (emphasis on “some”) gruesome kills in this movie, a lot of it felt censored in order to meet the film’s PG-13 rating criteria.
While I do agree that there are ways to make a film frightening without relying too heavily on blood and gore, this film opted for a different approach, with the bloody trails and severed body parts being more of an afterthought than a main contributor to its genre.
The final act and conclusion of the film were my biggest gripes with it overall. As the fifth night occurs, major plot twists are revealed that are familiar to fans but presented in a very rushed, slightly predictable way to non-fans. It wraps up in a well known scene to fans that previously had been only described or visualized in the series itself, and an ending that is for the most part, a good one.
Despite its shortcomings, there were some aspects of the film that many people, including myself, enjoyed as long-time fans of the series. Like Getting to see parts of the lore — usually given to you during gameplay and in between the franchise’s various other adaptations — piece themselves together in movie format that felt satisfying.
Various references, like the extremely well done animatronics and YouTuber cameos managed to distract me from the things I wasn’t a fan of, and made me remember at the end of the day, who this movie was made for. While it failed to make sense of itself to newcomers and casual watchers/critics, it did leave an impression on the fans of the franchise who spent years waiting for a movie adaption.
The moment where I felt a deeper connection to the movie as a fan was surprisingly, during the end credits, when the titular song “Five Nights At Freddy’s” played, originally made as a fan song for the game by rock band The Living Tombstone. This song brought back memories for me of when I became a fan of the franchise after seeing the various content created by the fan base, one of them notably being that song.
So whether you’re completely clueless about the franchise and want something that will for the most part, fill you in on what made it a staple among horror games, or you’re a long time fan who wants to see if you’re expectations have been met, then you’re in the right place.
Photo Courtesy of Bleeding Cool News
