Based on the remarkably popular video game, Five Nights at Freddy’s follows Mike Schmidt, a down-on-his-luck guy who is trying to raise a younger sister all while trying to face his traumatic past. Luckily for him, a nighttime security guard gig has opened at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, but the secrets that Mike finds will have him running from more than just his past traumas.
Now I know what you’re thinking…how good could a Five Nights at Freddy’s movie actually be? I’m happy to say that the answer is not as bad as you would think. This is not to say that this movie does not have flaws, because honestly, it has an abundance of them. But they find a way to make the less-than-great aspects and mix them with other aspects that do work.
Starting things off on a positive note, the movie looks great! The special effects are all incredibly effective, and the design of Freddy and the other animatronics look amazing. When they need to, they give off a very eerie feeling and it helps the atmosphere of the movie overall. The design of the pizzeria is also constructed very well, and the atmosphere of the restaurant is super creepy. Even though there are bright colorful lights, and fun kids’ games all over the place it is always eerie.
Another decent thing the movie has is writing. This is one of the only horror movies in recent times that has attempted to give deep and meaningful character development to its main character. That said, you do need to be able to suspend your disbelief for some of those deeper plot threads. Some of them work and land effectively, while some of them are such a stretch that you are almost entirely pulled out of the movie to think about the absurdity the filmmaker is attempting.
Leaning more towards the bad, the acting is one of the crucial issues I had with Five Nights at Freddy’s. The only outstanding performance here is given by Matthew Lillard, and unfortunately, he is only on screen for a few minutes at most. Nearly everyone else does okay, but they somehow come off as incredibly flat and lifeless despite how deep some of the content is. The only bad performance in the movie was given by Elizabeth Lail. I cannot quite tell if her material just was not good, or she just did not fit this police officer character, but every time she was on screen I could not wait to get on to the next character. Her dialogue was clunky, campy, and she made character choices that at times brought the whole plot to a grinding halt. She was not particularly good at conveying the little bit of emotion the writer was trying to give her. Overall, I felt that if this character were not in the movie, it would have flowed smoother and even made more sense overall.
Another big issue this movie has is that it is not that scary. This is surprising to say because the games are known for the insane amount of jump scares found throughout them. The atmosphere was the only creepy or scary thing throughout. This is a bummer because, despite horror audiences not loving jump scares, it would have added another layer to this movie that is void of any scares at all. At a certain point, the movie even finds a way to make Freddy Fazbear and friends non-threatening. It almost feels as though the horror gimmick the movie exists on is pushed to the wayside.
As someone who played the first game and knows very little about the lore, I was satisfied with the way the characters looked, and the atmosphere on display here. But as someone who has friends who love the lore of the video games, it really makes me scratch my head as to why they made some of the creative and narrative choices they did. I think this movie will vary from person to person, and I would not doubt it if these reviews continued to come out mixed. The ending is such a stretch, and if you are not able to make the leap that the movie wants you to, I do not think this movie will work for you. The longer it sits with me the more that I feel it does not work the best for me. I am going to give Five Night’s at Freddy’s a 5/10. If they make another installment, I would be curious to see if they move in a direction closer to the games or try to continue down the path they are currently on.
You and I both know they will be making another installment though because you know what they say about Freddy and his friends…They always come back.
Picture Credit: Blumhouse