Nearly a decade after the massive success of the original 2014 game, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” finally had its release to the big screen on Oct 27. The movie left many fans of the franchise in shock and awe as their dreams of a movie adaptation finally came true. With high-profile actors such as Matthew Lillard and Josh Hutcherson, this movie was projected to be the biggest hit of the century for horror video game fans which has held true as the movie has already earned more on opening day than the Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The FNAF movie was directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon, the original creator of the franchise who made the game through a bad review on a previous game, and Seth Cuddleback under the companies Blumhouse and Scott Cawthon Productions. Together, they created a phenomenon that captured the idea of FNAF, in a way that both long term fans and newcomers could enjoy. The thrilling tale of Freddy’s Pizzeria and the story of the night security guard, Mike Schmidt (Hutcherson) left the audience ecstatic to see what Blumhouse has created.
This movie has high expectations considering the massive plot and fanbase. The story follows Schmidt, who was looking for another job after being fired once again. He does not have many options, so he meets with his career counselor Steve Raglan (Lillard) who offers him a job as a nighttime security guard at an abandoned pizzeria that was once big in the 1980s. As the story continues, it is revealed that Schmidt has a deeper connection with Freddy’s that eventually helps him find the answer to what happened to his missing brother.
The plot of this movie could use some work, but it followed the story of the games while expanding some lore that could be understood by the unknown audience to the franchise. Some of the scenes did drag on and seem unnecessary but watching it back. It shows hints to where these animatronics are not just haunted. Most of the action takes place near the end and is dialogue-heavy at the beginning, however, it feels necessary since it needs to set up the plot of the movie without jumping into dead children possessing the animatronics and why they are helping out Shmidt.
Jim Henson’s Creature Shop did an amazing job with the costume designs for this movie, including the original five and some other animatronics with short cameos throughout the movie. These costumes could also be moved by puppeteers exactly how animatronics would, with Foxy being the most demanding for needing nine puppeteers for some of the scenes. The plot was enjoyable to watch as it was another take of the games that wasn’t too off-the-source material.
Even though this movie has high praise from many, critics from Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb have reviewed the movie poorly. Rotten Tomatoes rated it 25% because of the overuse of dialogue and not enough action which left many of them feeling like was a huge letdown. However, fans rated it at 88% because it encapsulates everything that they would have wanted for this film but not exactly what traditional viewers might want to watch.
Movies like these show heaps of positivity for the fans. Those who do not know the games could not enjoy the slight nods to obscure references like the Dream Theory and one of the vandalist’s shirts being the race car minigame from the sixth game “Five Nights at Freddy’s: Pizza Simulator.” The movie faced the dilemma of appealing to fans by referencing even the smallest details about the games while also making it so it was understandable for all audiences and digestible in a well-fit fashion. They did an amazing job at making the film as close to that as possible but clearly struggled.
After years of waiting around since the first rumor of a movie being produced, we have finally reached the time where we have that finished product. The FNAF movie is an absolute gem and another example of how video game films can be enjoyed by everyone.
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