Five Nights at Freddy’s – Review
110 Minutes, Rated PG-13
Written by Scott Cawthon, Seth Cuddeback, and Emma Tammi
Directed by Emma Tammi
**NOTE: this post may be updated with audio once we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, you can read Mark’s review below. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
A troubled security guard begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. During his first night on the job, he realizes that the night shift won’t be so easy to get through. Pretty soon he will unveil what actually happened at Freddy’s.
**Full disclosure: I don’t know how many video games there are in the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, but I have played exactly zero of them. I know OF the IP from attending conventions and general geek-osmosis. I have no idea what the actual narrative of the games is, or even if there is one, so I can’t speak to how closely the film does or does not hew to them.**
That said, I wasn’t expecting much from Five Nights at Freddy’s, having already enjoyed the very entertaining unofficial version of this premise: Willy’s Wonderland.
And I LOVED Willy’s Wonderland.
However, this film is using the premise of the abandoned/creepy-as-balls children’s play restaurant for a different purpose: that of a broken family trying to find their way forward.
Josh Hutcherson is Mike, a damaged man charged with raising his sister after his parents pass away, while battling childhood guilt from when his younger brother was abducted and never found.
Bouncing from job to job due to issues with authority and some unresolved violence issues, Mike ends up taking an unwanted job as night security at the abandoned “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza,” which we all know is just a bizarro “Chuck E. Cheese™.”
When weird things start happening both on the job and at home with his sister, Mike tries to deal with them, aided by the friendly cop named Vanessa, who seems to know more about Freddy’s than she should.
The plot (such as it is) thickens.
I’ve got to say, I have to assume the screening crowd I watched with was mostly fans of the franchise, and they had an absolute blast, cheering, laughing, and applauding all the way through. If there was a problem with the adaptation, they didn’t seem to notice or care.
And I’ll admit, I enjoyed the film, as well, despite not being an afficionado of the games. There was enough of a plot there to hang the horror on. Did it have holes? Of course it did. Precious few horror films don’t.
Certainly didn’t ruin the movie for me, so I imagine there is going to be some cross-over appeal, with fans taking friends to see it, and the PG-13 rating won’t make it inaccessible to a wide swath of the audience, but that rating also doesn’t seem to limit the darker elements of the film.
I, unbelievably perhaps, like Five Nights at Freddy’s, and I can recommend seeing it.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is now playing in theaters and stars Josh Hutcherson, Piper Rubio, Elizabeth Lail, Matthew Lillard, Kat Conner Sterling, and Mary Stuart Masterson.
**Oh: if you want to hear what I told Ryan when he asked, have a listen.**
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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