Geek Review: Five Nights at Freddy’s

Five Nights at Freddy’s has come a very long way, considering its humble beginnings as the remnant of a lacklustre endeavour. The idea for the mobile game series stemmed from negative reaction to creator Scott Cawthon’s previous title, but it’s now free of those trappings, growing to become a hit and cult favourite made popular by YouTube content creators including Markiplier and Jacksepticeye. 

Suffice to say, when news broke that a live-action adaptation was in the works, fans were equal parts apprehensive and excited to see it take shape. But the process was hardly smooth, with the project undergoing significant changes along the way, including the scrapping of a completed script by Cawthon himself, before morphing into the final product.  

The entire franchise is powered by a simple premise: survive the night as security guard Mike Schmidt of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and try not to get killed by the animatronics who come to life. The games’ fans however, were most enamoured with the intricate, well-connected lore and chilling atmosphere created by the many games, which many hoped would carry over to the big screen. To that end, the film does deliver, but mostly overstays its welcome.

With Cawthon serving as scriptwriter, there was no worry of the film straying too far from the source material, even with some creative freedom to go around. While primarily based on the first game in the series, it also includes elements from the first three games and other established lore in the Five Nights at Freddy’s universe. 

In true Blumhouse fashion, the cold-open kill of a security guard starts the movie off on a high note, recreating the eerie essence of the animatronics and desperation that players feel while fighting for their lives in the game. Unfortunately, that’s only one of the few scenes that lives up to the spine-chilling hype spanning 13 games. The popular animatronics, Freddy, Chica, Bonnie, Mr. Cupcake, and Foxy are pushed to the sidelines to make way for an original story involving the daytime struggles and unresolved trauma of Mike Schmidt, the protagonist of the games. 

Played convincingly by Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games, Journey to the Center of the Earth), he’s introduced as a man barely holding together the scraps of his sanity, and in dire need of a job to support and keep custody of his sister Abby (Piper Rubio). When career counsellor Steve Raglan (Matthew Lillard) offers him a position as a security guard at the closed-down Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, Mike accepts without much hesitation.

However, as Mike completes his first night on the job, he begins to unravel a sinister secret at the core of Freddy’s that may help him find the answer to a personal tragedy that took place 10 years ago. With the assistance of the enigmatic local police officer Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), it becomes evident that Mike’s role in “keeping people out” of Freddy’s may not be his most crucial responsibility.

Large portions of the film are dedicated to building a solid and believable bond between Mike and Abby, as well as slowly connecting the incident of Mike’s past to the core of what goes on in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, though it does take its time in doing so. Rubio’s (Unstable, Holly & Ivy) Abby is a refreshing break from this slow full-circle, with her personality being the perfect balance of innocence and disturbing.

The introduction of Vanessa is a pleasant surprise for fans as the character only appears in the eighth mainline instalment of the series, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted. Lail’s (You, Gossip Girl) jarring portrayal of Vanessa’s personality shifts, from gently wanting to help Mike to threatening him to lay the matter to rest, serves as a constant reminder that the reality isn’t how it appears to be. 

Meanwhile, other characters are brought into the fold to add depth to Mike’s familial conflict, and then unceremoniously killed off in a refreshing reminder of the game’s roots. Director Emma Tammi (Into the Dark, The Wind) finds creative ways to stay true to the film’s PG-13 rating and the game’s general lack of gore, with off-screen and shadow silhouette kills. Still, it’d have been nice to have something more, especially after an animatronic gets the jump on audiences and the screen cuts to black. 

The anticipated shift of Five Nights at Freddy’s back to its tension-filled game origins, when the clock strikes 12 am, begins to die down with the focus on Mike’s tragic past. When he finally meets the animatronics, the tone is more Night at the Museum than the sheer terror of the source material, with comedic moments undercutting supposedly chilling moments. It can’t even be faulted to the design of the animatronics which, thanks to fantastic work by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, look as though they have stepped right out of the game. 

Missing the overall tone and immersive nature that made the original Five Nights at Freddy’s games stand out in the first place, the movie feels more like an easter egg and cameo fest at times, designed to satiate long-time fans of the series. Just like many adaptations, big screen or otherwise, of popular IPs, that means it’d be better for casual viewers to give it a miss, as the concept of ghost children possessing animatronics and having the power to manipulate dreams can be too much to take in at face value.