Movie Review: ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’

Director: Emma Tammi

Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Piper Rubio, Elizabeth Lail, Mary Stuart Masterson, Matthew Lillard, Kat Conner

Plot: Mike will take any job that allows him to retain custody of his younger sister, resulting in a stint as a night watchman in a disused pizzeria famous for its animatronic characters. Mike soon learns that the animatronic characters are more dangerous than they seem.

Review: There has been much marketing and discussion surrounding the production and release of this long awaited video game adaptation. For those just arriving on planet Earth, Five Nights at Freddy’s was a 2014 horror game made by independent creator Scott Cawthon that involves players using security cameras to monitor the movements of the animatronic characters lest they find their way into your office. It’s a simple game, involving only a few mechanics and mostly still images, but its unique approach and imaginative premise turned it into a cultural phenomenon in a remarkably short amount of time. Propped up by game streamers reacting strongly to the jump scares the game is known for, it quickly ballooned out to a massive 19 games and many more novels, books, comics and untold piles of merchandise in less than a decade. That’s not even mentioning the endless fan remakes and rip-offs, plus the previously released movies Willy’s Wonderland and The Banana Splits Movie that are clearly inspired by it.

Now the first official, very long awaited movie is here. And it’s fine.

That’s to say, if you’re a veteran of horror and cinema in general you might struggle to see what all the fuss is about. It’s best to look at FNaF for what it is intended to be – an entry level horror movie for the younger crowd. With the games finding its biggest audience among the younger crowd it only makes sense that the movie skews towards this demographic. It’s not a complex movie, nor is it especially gory or frightening, but it captures the spirit of the source material in a way that suits the intended viewers.

After a pretty toothless prologue where we see a nameless security guard trying to escape the titular location, we get introduced to Mike (Hutcherson). He’s lost his mall security job after over-reacting to a shitty parent via speartackle, and is at risk of losing custody of his sister (Rubio) to his mean-spirited aunt (Masterson) who only wants to collect the government check for her efforts. When his career counsellor offers him the chance to become night security at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, Mike doesn’t have any choice but to accept. Now he has to watch over the long abandoned family eatery and its resident animatronic characters – Freddy the Bear, Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Chicken and Foxy the Pirate Fox.

On top of his employment woes, Mike is also struggling with the kidnapping of his brother many years prior. He utilises a form of lucid dreaming to revisit his memories of the event in a desperate attempt to find out what happened to his brother. Upon taking up his role of Freddy’s, his dreams are intruded upon by a group of five children who promise to help Mike, as they have a connected to the kidnapper. He soon discovers that they are also linked to the animatronics under his care, who have a tendency to roam the premises at night and attack anyone they come across.

The atmosphere is solid, and the recreation of the now iconic setting goes a long way to deliver that classic FNaF feel. Without a doubt, the biggest accomplishment of the movie is the animatronics themselves. Wisely going with genuine animatronic creations curtesy of the Jim Henson workshop, they are absolutely perfect. If fans of the game want to see the familiar figures brought to life then they will be thrilled with what has been done here.

Sadly the script and performances don’t come close to matching the quality of these practical effects. There are numerous plotholes throughout, including an ending that fails to address the main character having a relative whom he’s been in a public conflict with lying dead in his living room. There’s a fine line to walk in making this accessible to new watchers while placating nit-picking fanboys, but this kind of thing should be caught in the writing process. We could ignore this – it is a movie about evil animatronics – but the acting is distractingly bad at times. Hutcherson is fine, but the rest of the cast feel phonier than the psychotic robots.

We’re throwing this movie some extra points for the effects work. That deserves some real praise, but it’s not doing anything new for horror cinema.

Rating: SIX out of TEN