The notorious video game series “Five Nights at Freddy’s”, commonly referred to as FNAF, is characterized by its cult-like fanbase and extensive lore. The first game was released back in 2014, and has always been shrouded in buzz — the masses have listened to fans rave about this franchise for almost a decade.
The game became immensely popular — particularly within internet culture — with it being the source material for lots of songs, theories, fanart and memes. Many Hamline students were just children when they would have first encountered the faces of the lovable stars of the show, the animatronics. In that sense, the recently released FNAF movie, “Five Nights At Freddy’s”, proved to be a nostalgia-fest for many viewers with its great attention to detail. It is fun, creepy and very unserious in its own unique and charming way.
The film follows protagonist Mike Schmidt who is played by Josh Hutcherson. Mike is the name of the playable character in the first FNAF game. In the movie adaptation, Mike is a young adult characterized in the film as a bit of a troublemaker struggling to maintain a job. He is the primary caregiver to his kid sister Abby, who many believe is an unsettling little girl due to her hyperactive imagination and her tendency to spend the majority of her time drawing pictures.
Their aunt believes that Mike is unfit to be the guardian of Abby due to his instability in being a proper role model for the child, so she confronts him for custody of Abby. As a result, Mike is desperate for work, willing to grasp onto anything that will make him look better in court. This leads him to the doors of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a run-down entertainment restaurant where he discovers that things are not as they appear.
The details in this movie are its strong suit. It is the endoskeleton in making this movie a magical ode for FNAF fans. Fans with keen eyes will notice that the behavior of the animatronics in this movie match exactly to their game counterparts.
For example, when attacking trespassers that break into the pizza joint, the animatronics position themselves and act the ways they are made to in the game. Chica attacks in the kitchen, Bonnie attacks in the storage closet, Foxy runs down the hallway from his Pirate Cove location and Freddy conceals himself from view until mere moments before attacking.
The paranormal world of the restaurant itself is captured brilliantly on camera, embodying an authentic 80s style of cheesy that was done much better compared to other attempts in the film industry. The items and clothing present made it immersive in its time period and setting. The animatronics look great, their textures and movements are brilliant to look at especially knowing that little to no CGI was used in creating this movie.
The horror in FNAF is its weak point for audiences that are looking to be scared. For a game whose main premise is jumpscares, the only ones that occurred in the film were played off as humorous. The aspects of fright were not explored thoroughly, potentially hindered by its PG-13 rating, but it makes a nice introduction to the horror genre for the younger generations who will see this movie. When tapping into the more comedic side, it made the experience very campy and ironic. There were many goofs and gags for both hardcore fans of the franchise and casual moviegoers.
Overall, the film contains great performances from a majority of the cast such as Josh Hutcherson as Mike Schmidt and Matthew Lillard as William Afton. With stellar set design, production and animatronics, the movie was a visual treat and one could tell a lot of passion and care was invested in creating it all.
However, if someone is looking for a film that will give them shivers down their spine, this will not be the one to do it. With its uncanny dialogue tidbits and goofy scenes, this is a film that wants to charm audiences with its cutesy approach to morbidity rather than being something truly frightening.
It is a competent Halloween-esque film for those just looking for something to watch this season, but at heart, the FNAF movie is a love letter to fans of the franchise.