Five Nights At Freddy’s Movie Review – Does It Survive The Night?

The Five Nights At Freddy’s movie is a reimagining of the long-running video game franchise by Scott Cawthon.

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably heard of Five Nights At Freddy’s, with a dedicated fanbase obsessed with the theories and famous personalities such as Markiplier and The Game Theorists having videos that rack up millions of views, its hard to avoid the franchise even after all these years.

With the main appeal of the Five Nights At Freddy’s games being the deep and intricate lore, the movie needs to tell a compelling story that would live up to the expectations set by the fans.

Not Just A Theory

While the original games did have a story, it was rarely ever told from a narrative perspective, with most of the lore being hidden behind mini-games, Easter eggs, and even novels. This approach gave rise to multiple interpretations of the story stemming from different theories.

Instead of adapting a specific theory into a film, the movie instead creates its own version of events, centring around Mike Schmidt, a man who works odd jobs to support his little sister, Abby.

Due to his immense paranoia, Mike struggles with keeping a job, which gave a reason for his Aunt to attempt to take custody of Abby away from Mike, with an implied motive of collecting adoption assistance money. Mike then has to find a job in order to prove himself as a suitable guardian for his little sister, but due to his problematic nature, the only opening left was for a security job at Freddy’s Pizzeria.

I really enjoyed the approach they used to explain how Mike got a job at the pizzeria, as the explanation was realistic and enjoyable, and a vast improvement from what was shown to us in the games.

Started Strong But Couldn’t Last The Night

The first half of the movie expanded on Mike’s character, his past, and his relationship with his sister. The events that lead up to Mike getting the job at the pizzeria were all very well executed, with none of the story beats overstaying their welcome, and provided sufficient setup for some events that would happen later on.

However, it starts to feel really rushed towards the climax, with plot devices appearing out of nowhere, ending with the main villain being defeated within 5 minutes of showing up.

The result of this inconsistent pacing is a film that feels incomplete, as the rush in the second half brought a lot of unanswered, unaddressed, inconsistent, not to mention farfetched plot points to be present in the movie, which really hurt it in my opinion.

I held out hope that this movie would be good after watching the first half, as it felt like a realistic take on the game’s story, but the second half really ruined everything that was set up in the first half, which was a real waste. I felt that the movie would have benefited from having more run time, as a little under 2 hours was way too little for them to finish the story

The Visitors Of The Pizzeria 

I really enjoyed Mike’s development in the film. Consumed by the loss of his brother, Mike disregard all of his responsibilities. But by the end of the movie, he moves on from the disappearance of his little brother and shifts his attention to taking care of his little sister.

I also really enjoyed the animatronics in this film because they actually have personalities instead of being ruthless killing machines in the game. There was even a fun montage where they have fun with the main cast, which were one of the better scenes in the movie.

Aside from Mike and the animatronics, the motivations and backstories of the main cast make no sense.

Vanessa is a cop who knows more than she leads on, having a connection with the pizzeria. Despite being a cop, she has a concerning lack of regard for murder cases. They have never addressed why Vanessa does what she does other than “having a connection to the pizzeria”. 

Initially appearing to be mentally challenged, it turns out Abby has a supernatural connection to the animatronics from the Pizzeria despite never meeting them. It was also never explained what established the connection.

The worst offender is final villain of the story, a middle-aged man in a bunny costume and one of the least intimidating characters in the movie, which is saying a lot considering the guy that offered Mike the job felt more eerie.

From weird inconsistencies and abilities to outright being goofy, most of these decisions made the film feel underwhelming.

Snuck Around The PG-13 Rating

For a PG-13 film, it has a surprising amount of gore. Going into the theatre, I expected a horror movie made for kids, where there would be no consequences and a happy ending. The opening scene seemed to reiterate this sentiment, as the previous security guard almost manages to escape the animatronic’s death trap. I fully expected him to escape, but the movie establishes really quickly with this opening scene that it’s not afraid to kill despite its rating. It was impressive how the film managed to keep a PG-13 rating while including scenes of people being chomped in half, stabbed, shot, etc, all shown on screen. 

References Galore

One thing this movie did really well was including references to the games. Fans who are invested in the series, will find many references to the games throughout the movie, with some being subtle enough to fly over your head if you aren’t paying attention.

This wouldn’t affect your viewing experience even if you had no prior knowledge of the series, as they’re just fun easter eggs for the theorists.

One of the cameos in the movie had me giggling in excitement. It was nice to see the movie pay tribute to one of the most prominent figures in the community.

Loose Threads

Aside from the first half, the movie doesn’t do a good job at explaining the events of the story, such as why William Afton enjoys killing children, why the animatronics could be controlled by William, why Abby has connections with dead children she’s never met, who Golden Freddy is and why he shows up, among many others.

At a certain point, It just felt like the movie was just making stuff up as it went along, the massive coincidence that Mike somehow lands a job to find the man who kidnapped his brother 12 years ago was way too far-fetched, and they definitely could’ve approached this story in a different way.

Moreover, the deaths of certain characters were never explored and elaborated on. It’s like they just completely disregard the characters after they die, it’s like the characters no longer acknowledge their existences after their deaths.

For a movie based on a franchise with historically deep lore, I felt disappointed by the end of the film after being left so many unanswered questions.

Verdict

I really enjoyed the different take on the story. Instead of being in the games where you had to keep the animatronics from getting you, the protagonist of the movie actively fights them with weapons and strategic plays. 

But for a movie that aims to adapt a franchise with lore as deep as Five Nights At Freddy’s, it’s a little disappointing to see so many loose threads in the film.

The rush in the second half caused this film’s downfall, ruining it with awful plot points. Despite this, some moments were genuinely enjoyable, such as scenes that humanise the animatronics.

I can’t say I wholly recommend this film to those who are unfamiliar with Five Nights At Freddy’s. As most of aspects that I found enjoyable derives from me having prior knowledge of the franchise, going in blind would likely result in confusion.

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