Five Nights At Freddy’s: The Video Game, The Movie
Since the announcement of the Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF) movie in 2015, I have sat patiently waiting for the release. Now eight years later, Blumhouse Productions has finally delivered. I got dressed up (in costume obviously) and my roommates and I headed down to East Bridgewater Cinemas to see the long-awaited film. Besides hearing the Eras Tour film in the theater next to us while trying to pay attention to FNAF, it was a great experience! Minor spoilers ahead! If you are a fan of FNAF, you will likely enjoy the movie, though it is tanking according to critics. The biggest complaint I have heard from fans of the FNAF video games is the changes to the lore. Though we see many familiar characters, their relationships, and backgrounds are largely different. Personally, I didn’t mind these changes as they still served the same purposes as they do in the original lore. Scott Cawthon (he/him) (The creator of FNAF) was also a writer for the film and very involved in the production, which to me justifies the changes.
My largest gripe is the disturbing lack of jumpscares used. I usually don’t love it when horror movies rely on cheap jumpscares to scare the audience, but this is FNAF! The jumpscares in the games are iconic and criminally underused in the film. Most jumpscares seemed out of place and became a gag throughout the movie which was pretty disappointing.
But now the good things! The animatronics looked amazing. I was not surprised as Jim Henson’s Creature Shop made them, but they looked like they were pulled straight from FNAF 1. The costumes were made to fit the animatronic skeletons but they were also able to be worn by a full-body puppeteer which really helped blend the animatronic scenes with those where they were walking around.
The ending is ambiguous as to whether there will be any sequels, but if I were to guess, this might become a new horror franchise from Blumhouse. I think given some clues and easter eggs, plus what we know about the video games, I’m curious to see what direction they would probably go in for a sequel. Either way, I can’t wait to see what comes next!
