Unveiling the Terrifyingly Realistic World of 'Five Nights at Freddy's' - A Bone-Chilling Video Game Adaptation

The Big Picture

Five Nights at Freddy's fails to offer any scares and instead focuses too much on explaining the lore of its world, resulting in a dull and uninteresting experience.

The movie's excessive use of flashbacks and explanations is tiring and shows a lack of faith in its viewers. It falls short of capturing the fear and simplicity that made the game popular, resulting in a forgettable and unoriginal horror film.

The highly anticipated horror film, Five Nights at Freddy's, is set to be released on October 27, 2023. Directed by Emma Tammi, the movie boasts a star-studded cast including Josh Hutcherson, Matthew Lillard, Elizabeth Lail, and Mary Stuart Masterson. With a runtime of 110 minutes, Five Nights at Freddy's falls under the main genre of horror. Get ready for an intense and spine-chilling experience as this film explores the terrifying world of animatronic characters coming to life.

Of all the elements that a video game adaptation like Five Nights at Freddy’s could choose to emphasize, it's perplexing why it puts so much emphasis on unraveling the lore of this world. While there is a vast timeline encompassing both the games and novels to draw from, exploring it is only worthwhile if the central premise of the story is genuinely terrifying enough to captivate the audience. However, throughout its nearly two-hour duration, there is hardly anything that successfully delivers on this front. This misfire of a film not only fails to evoke any genuine sense of fear, but it is also thoroughly unengaging, with only occasional moments of levity. Every aspect of the movie feels like a vacant skeleton, as brittle as the ones supporting its murderous animatronic mascots. Even when there are hints of progress, it regresses into incessantly elucidating its own plot and backstory, transforming the experience into something more akin to a chore than a horror.

What Is 'Five Nights at Freddy’s' About?

Image via Universal Pictures

The story unfolds at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, an abandoned establishment, where a security guard faces a mysterious threat. The intensity builds up, reminiscent of elements from Saw X, only to fizzle out in a disappointingly watered-down scene, clearly making compromises for a PG-13 rating. Our attention then shifts to Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson), an unlucky individual who needs a job after losing his previous security position at the mall. He was terminated for mistakenly attacking a man he believed was kidnapping a child. With limited options, he seeks guidance from career counselor Steve Raglan (Matthew Lillard), who suggests a night shift job at the Chuck E. Cheese-like establishment mentioned earlier. Initially hesitant, Mike eventually accepts the position to maintain custody of his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) and protect her from the self-serving intentions of their aunt, Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson). However, as Mike begins his new job, strange incidents unfold each night, posing a potential danger to all who enter.

The whole premise revolves around animatronic mascots that come to life and brutally attack anyone they catch. The film goes to great lengths to explain why this is happening, with repetitive and tedious flashbacks to a traumatic event from Mike's past. However, instead of adding depth to his character, these moments feel empty and predictable, even to those unfamiliar with the source material. While we can put the pieces together on our own, the story introduces the character of Vanessa to further explain the connection between the past and present. This constant need to spoon-feed information to the audience becomes tiresome and shows a lack of trust in their ability to become engaged with the film. Each time the narrative grinds to a halt to provide more exposition, it becomes clear that the film is not progressing at a satisfying pace.

Who Is 'Five Nights at Freddy’s' Even For?

Image via Universal Pictures

The film fails to effectively cater to gamers and recreate the familiar elements on screen, which is disappointing. Unlike the game's ability to evoke terror through the simple concept of being trapped in a room and monitoring cameras, the film lacks confidence in attempting to replicate this. While it may be challenging to capture the visual language of a video game without appearing cheesy, the film needs to find its own way of instilling fear.

Director Emma Tammi, who demonstrated her ability to create fear in her previous feature The Wind, falls short in this film. The main issue lies in the film's approach to the original story by Scott Cawthon, who shares a writing credit here. Rather than using it as a starting point to build upon, the film overly relies on references to the game, hindering its ability to stand on its own. Throughout a significant portion of the film, multiple nights pass without much happening. This slow progression lacks the deliberate pacing of a slow burn and instead feels lackluster.

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The film had the potential to be a thrilling and dark horror experience, but it falls short due to its restrictions and lack of originality. Although the ending attempts to deliver a shocking twist, it is ultimately underwhelming. Despite the abundance of uninspiring horror movies this month, Five Nights at Freddy's stands out as the most forgettable. The only memorable aspect is a cringeworthy cameo, reminiscent of the protagonist's desire to erase his past.

Rating: D

Five Nights at Freddy's is in theaters and available to stream on Peacock in the U.S. starting October 26. Click here for showtimes near you.