This is a spoiler-free review of “Five Nights at Freddy’s”.
The Five Nights At Freddy’s Movie dropped on October 27, meaning the long-loved indie horror game franchise finally made its big screen and small screen debut to a variety of mixed reviews. I saw the movie the day before Halloween at a late night viewing in an empty theater, meaning there was no audience energy to enhance the movie.
For some context, I have never seen or heard any of the “lore” from the games before I saw the movie, so I went into it seeing it as a horror movie, not a video game adaptation. As a horror movie, it has some pitfalls and story moments that drag it down from breaking out of the shadow from the games. The main problem with the movie is its rating. PG-13 is way too low for a movie with the premise that FNAF has. So many times the movie created tension and was building up to a scare, but it would always cut away to a shadow of the killing or a blood splatter on a wall. The second pitfall is the constant tonal inconsistency. One minute, the movie is dark and suspenseful. The next, it’s a joke-filled montage. There was rarely a time that I felt like the movie knew what it wanted to be for more than 15 minutes. The last big problem for the movie for me was the twist ending. Without spoilers, the “twist villain” was very obvious from the beginning. There was only one character that fit the hints the movie was giving us, so when they acted like the reveal was out of nowhere, it fell flat on its face.
Onto the good. It did feel like it was made with passion. The production team was fantastic, and from what I’ve heard from my FNAF loving sister, there were a lot of easter eggs. Plus, the various cameos throughout the movie added to the sense of love and care that I felt emanating from the screen. While the payoffs were lackluster, the tension was always there. I never knew what was going to happen, and I was on the edge of my seat. The best thing about the movie was the chemistry of the main characters. I genuinely enjoyed the little character moments throughout the movie and empathized with their struggles and motivations.
Overall, the best part about FNAF is the fact it got made in the first place. Seeing a movie about an indie, horror game franchise, about animatronics, actually be made is fascinating. Combined with the success of the Mario Movie, the future of video game movies looks bright. FNAF is a non-scary horror movie with a mediocre twist, but also a movie with so much genuine passion behind it with solid writing. I give the FNAF movie a 6/10.
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