By Jenna Rittman
Correspondent
“Five Nights at Freddy's” fans, your time has finally come. The video game series was rumored to be made into a film eventually, and this was confirmed with its first teaser trailer releasing earlier this year in May. The film was finally released on Oct. 27 and has received an interesting mix of reviews from both critics and the audience.
The movie is based on the video game series and franchise of the same name created by Scott Cawthorn. The series consists of nine games in total, with the first one being released on Aug. 8, 2014. The video games are set in a fictional family pizza restaurant, named Freddy Fazbar’s Pizza, with the player controlling a night-shift employee who must defend themselves against animatronic characters who become hostile at night.
This movie follows Mike Schmidt, a former shopping mall security guard who is struggling between jobs, as he starts to work as a night guard at the Freddy Fazbar’s Pizza restaurant. He was reluctant to work there at first, but is eventually persuaded after social services threaten to take custody of his younger sister, Abby, and give her to their estranged Aunt Jane. While working at the restaurant, he experiences the strange behavior of the animatronics that reside there, and eventually ends up learning about what made the restaurant close down.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s” features performances by actors Josh Hutcherson from “The Hunger Games” movie series, Elizabeth Lail from the TV show “You,” Matthew Lilllard from “Scream” and more. I thought that all the actors and actresses in this film did a great job as their respective characters, especially Hutcherson and Lillard. Even though these actors and actresses in this film have played famous roles in other movies and shows, that didn’t take away from their acting in this film, and it was easy to get immersed in their characters in “Five Nights at Freddy’s.”
The film also includes lore elements from the games and spin-offs, and one complaint that has been going around on TikTok is that the lore shown in the movie wasn’t entirely accurate. In response to this, some fans have been saying that the film is set in an alternate universe different from the video games. When I first watched the movie, I was also confused as to why some of the lore didn’t add up, but after thinking about it, I have to appreciate how they changed some of it to keep things interesting and the audience on their toes.
Another complaint that has been spreading around is the fact that the movie isn’t scary enough. I have to agree with this complaint. The main four animatronics didn’t end up scaring me much while I was watching. The only character that actually scared me was Balloon Boy, and he showed up in the film three times. There were some scenes that I found eerie and disturbing, but nothing extremely scary. If there is a sequel, I would definitely want it to be scarier.
Besides the few complaints shared by fans, the film has mainly received a positive response following its release. Many were very excited to see the franchise finally be adapted as a film, including myself. I feel like fans dressing up as their favorite characters also added to the excitement overall. It was also rumored that some popular FNaF YouTubers would make a cameo in the movie, such as Markiplier, GameTheory (Matpat) and CoryxKenshin. This rumor ended up being true, as two out of the three YouTubers made an appearance in the movie.
I was also happily surprised to see Lillard, who played Stu in “Scream,” show up in this movie. His performance in this movie was amazing, and I loved how they even included a reference to “Scream.”
Overall, I enjoyed this movie, especially since I have been a fan of the games since middle school. While I was thrown off by a few things in this film, I still found it a good viewing experience. I would recommend this movie for anyone who is a fan of the video game series, and if you aren’t a fan, I would say to read up on the lore before watching.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s” is currently in theaters and is also streaming on Peacock.
