Going into Five Nights at Freddy’s, I went in with a cursory knowledge of the game franchise, which ultimately helped me critically view the 2023 film. Unfortunately, it also lessened my overall enjoyment of its silver screen debut.
To the uninitiated, Five Nights at Freddy’s setup, like its source material, is a simple one — Mike (Josh Hutcherson) is a 30-something-year-old older brother tasked with being the guardian figure for his little sister, Abby (Piper Rubio), while juggling the inability to find stable employment due to a spotty track record caused by a traumatic childhood. Forced to take a lousy graveyard shift at a borderline derelict Chuck E. Cheese derivative joint called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, Mike’s past comes back to bite him as he wrangles with the animatronic automatons that run amok during his first week on the job.
Writer and Director Emma Tammi, along with the rest of the writers, should be commended for their work on the film. Despite being a weak movie overall, Five Nights at Freddy’s does an excellent job of squeezing out and expanding on the lore of the beloved game franchise in a way that feels faithful and respectful to the source material.
Sadly, Five Nights at Freddy’s is not very good as a film, particularly if you have no affinity or fondness for the game series. My biggest gripe with Five Nights at Freddy’s, beyond the suspension of disbelief required to watch Mike continue to work in a haunted restaurant and even bring a child inside, is the absurdity of his backstory, which revolves around his younger brother getting kidnapped. This is something that feeds into the overall plot of the story and the lore of the puppet characters that call Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza home.
“Despite being a weak movie overall, Five Nights at Freddy’s does an excellent job of squeezing out and expanding on the lore of the beloved game franchise…”
Mike relives the day his younger brother got taken by self-medicating on sleeping pills, hoping to remember some vital piece of information that would help him find his brother’s killer. Eventually, Mike realizes that his new gig seemingly intensifies his dreams, which is a decent enough reason to warrant his stay, but the film fails to give audiences enough time to build a meaningful backstory for Mike and his sister to feel cohesive truly. Instead, Mike, Abby, and later, a policewoman, Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), all feel like they’ve been shoe-horned into the lore of Five Nights at Freddy’s to have a part to play and move the film’s narrative forward.
In other words, all the moving parts and slick-covered bolts of Five Nights at Freddy’s, including fun nods and references to both later games in the series and those who helped popularize them in the first place, are present. They just sadly don’t come together in a meaningful way that will convince anyone outside of the fandom to give any mind, relegating them to be better off gathering dust behind the curtains.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s nails the atmosphere of its source material. It captures the creepy and unmistakable glare of the glassy doll-eyes of the titular bear and his friends…”
Saying all that, however, Five Nights at Freddy’s does a good enough job of stitching together enough material from the entirety of the series to create a movie that fans will appreciate. It also gives lore buffs a lot of fodder to chew on, confirming many a popular fan theory and Reddit post in a fun and entertaining way that goes beyond the scope of the film, similar to the reach of the first FNAF game itself.
Tonally, Five Nights at Freddy’s nails the atmosphere of its source material. It captures the creepy and unmistakable glare of the glassy doll-eyes of the titular bear and his friends and the suggested, but always off-screen violence of the kills that not only allow a broader audience to enjoy the film but add to the uncanny horror of kiddy meets killer.
Similarly, there is a decent amount of humour sprinkled throughout Five Nights at Freddy’s that brings a good level of brevity to the horror that, again, feels true to its source material in a way that truly captures the ghostly spirit of the long-running game series.
All in all, viewers unfamiliar with the source material might find Five Nights at Freddy’s a bit hollow, but fans of the franchise will find something to enjoy.
