I remember being in middle school when Five Nights at Freddy’s first released. At the time, it was one of the biggest games because every Let’s Play YouTuber and streamer was jumping onto this game, from Markiplier to PewDiePie. Of course, as a young fan of video games, I was very much into FNAF (which is the common abbreviation). When I found out that there would be a movie adaptation for FNAF, I was instantly excited. Not only that, but Matthew Lillard would be in it and he’s absolutely one of my favorite actors in Hollywood. His performances in Scream and Scooby-Doo were enough to sell me on how amazing he was, so knowing he’d be in the movie made me very excited.
There were some critics who didn’t really enjoy this movie, but I for one would have to differ. Five Nights at Freddy’s was a great film, and here’s why:
What is FNAF About?
Five Nights at Freddy’s is about Mike Schmidt, a man who is pretty down in the dumps. He can’t seem to hold down a job, he has a lot of unresolved trauma from his brother’s kidnapping when he was young, and he’s taking care of his young sister who seems to exhibit signs of mental illness. All-in-all, life is tough for Mike.
The film opens up with someone different than Mike though. We see an obviously frightened security guard in a dark building trying to get into a ventilation shaft. He’s stressed, afraid, and he seems like he’s trying to run away from something. He is then caught by something and is put in a chair where a mask that has razors in it is basically pushed into his face slowly.
We then get to see a picture on the wall in the building that shows a yellow rabbit with a bunch of children and they all seem very happy.
Then, the movie cuts and we finally get introduced to Michael Schmidt, who goes by Mike. During a security gig at a mall near his home, Mike sees a young boy being pulled away by a grown man. He instantly springs to save the boy, who he believes was being kidnapped by the man. However, it ends up being that the man was the boy’s father and Mike is obviously fired for the assault.
He goes to find a job and speaks to Steve Raglan, a career counselor who offers him a job working the night shift at some unnamed place that’s closed, but the owner just won’t let go of it. At first, Mike is reluctant because he needs to take care of his sister, Abby, and he can’t take a night shift.
However, his aunt is threatening to take Abby away from him and he needs a job desperately and quickly. So, Mike determines that he’s going to take the job at what ends up being the abandoned building of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria.
Although Mike takes the job to be a security guard, he sleeps during his shift and attempts to dream about the day when his brother was kidnapped so that he can find out who did it. However, upon his second night there, things start to get a bit strange with the animatronic animals that live in the pizzeria.
Obviously as we know, the animatronics are actually alive and they are out to get Mike. There’s a lot of twists along the way in the story, such as how the animatronics are alive, who owns Freddy’s, what’s up with that cop lady Vanessa, why is Abby so strange with her drawings? It’s a lot of fun uncovering the story as the movie goes along.
The Pros: A lot for the Fans
I have to say, FNAF shocked me with how accurate it was compared to the lore of the actual game franchise and beyond because a lot of video game movies tend to go way out of line for no reason. It’s obviously not 100% in-line with the lore, as they did have to make a movie out of so much story, but I think it was good enough for what it was.
Five Nights at Freddy’s did a great job making the animatronics, creating an eerie vibe, and making something creepy without going over-the-top with the gore and insanity. It’s something that adults and younger kids can watch, but I’d say that maybe younger than 9 or 10 might be a bit squeamish at some of the more violent stuff in this movie.
This movie is definitely made for the fans, but it’s understandable enough for those who don’t know much about the franchise. There is backstory, a nice interweaving of Mike’s life into the story, and a lot of great visuals too.
The animatronics look great and very accurate to the game versions and they are actually quite creepy at times. They move slowly, but they spell certain doom for many characters. Some of the deaths in the film aren’t particularly gory, but they can definitely be a bit shocking with the brutality of what these animatronics can do.
The movie overall has a very eerie vibe to it, with some characters making strangely cryptic comments that don’t add up sometimes, other characters acting weird around Mike, and the overall fact that the animatronics are living.
The plot twists, although not very surprising, were still pretty good and it helped add up and wrap up the story nicely.
I have to say, the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie also gets the visual feel of the early 2000s very well. I felt like I could’ve easily seen many of the things from that movie in my own childhood, so the set design was great.
There were some neat cameos from YouTubers like MatPat and Coryxkenshin, which I was able to notice and thought was really cool. I personally liked their scenes and thought that MatPat’s was clever.
The Pros 2: Good for Non-Fans Too
I did watch this movie with some people who were not fans of FNAF in the same way I was when I was younger. Also, admittedly, my extensive knowledge on FNAF is pretty minimal at this point because I wasn’t super into the game after a few years. However, I think that the movie does a good job at serving non-fans as well.
The backstory presented is understandable enough and you really don’t need to know anything about Five Nights At Freddy’s to even understand what’s happening in the movie. Of course, having some background knowledge makes the movie more fun to watch because you recognize a lot of things from the games, but not knowing the games is alright too.
If you’re going into this thinking it’s a super intense horror movie that’s going to frighten the lights out of you, it’s not. For the most part, the FNAF movie was tame as far as horror movies come. However, Blumhouse Productions knows horror and they were able to tame the horror down enough so that people of many age groups could watch and enjoy it. It was definitely not as gory as The Purge but it wasn’t soft either. I mean, someone gets the Darth Maul treatment in this movie, you know?
The Cons: Some of the Movie Elements
Now, the pacing was mediocre in this movie. It felt like it was moving too fast sometimes, however, I guess it’s because the movie is supposed to take place over a few days, seeing as it is “Five Nights,” but the pacing just felt a tad off sometimes.
The plot itself was pretty generic, but it wasn’t bad. I mean, most horror movies are basically generic at this point, let’s be fair. Horror revolves around a lot of the same elements to keep things going, but I felt like FNAF tackled some of the more generic elements pretty well.
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I thought the acting was good and that the characters were well-portrayed, though the aunt was annoying at many points. That was likely the point, but sometimes it was over-the-top annoying.
Overall Verdict
I think that the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie was a fantastic flick and I really enjoyed it from start to finish. I didn’t find myself bored at any point and I think it was well-made. There was a lot in there for the fans and the plot itself was pretty good too.
Overall, I’d rate the movie an 8/10. Definitely could’ve been improved in some areas, but in an overall sense, it was enjoyable for fans and non-fans alike.
Zainah Yousef
Zainah Yousef is the author of The Fallen Age Saga and specializes in gaming, social media advice, and reviews. She's been writing all her life and she probably won't stop anytime soon.
