Just saw the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie last night and ho..
🕑 Added 2023-10-27 15:13:03 +0000 UTC
Just saw the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie last night and honestly… I didn’t think it was terrible, BUT I think it had a lot of missed potential which made it ultimately disappointing. Here’s a no spoiler review nobody asked for since I just sort of feel like talking about it but not into it enough to make a video on YouTube about it at the moment 😂 I’ve never done a FNAF costume so I’m accompanying my review with a ghost face look I did a few years back in honor of Matthew Lillard since he was the best part of the film by far and I still love his iconic performance in Scream to this day xD
So, FNAF has started to feel a lot less interesting for me in general over the past few years - a lot of the mystery and intrigue has become lost overtime since a lot of the horror elements that the franchise began with have been really dialed back in its most recent media. I have never been a super fan so some of my knowledge of the lore is lacking, but I’ve been a casual fan of FNAF for years, primarily for the first few games. I always thought these games had so much potential and truly contained some interesting horror elements. I also personally had a real life scary encounter with Chuck E Cheese animatronics when I was a munchkin that stuck with me all my life, so when horror games surrounding the idea of haunted animatronics came around it really spoke to me in some kinda creepy nostalgic sort of way. (By the way, my story is not incredibly exciting, but in my mind back then it was a super scary moment and I still think about how creepy it was occasionally. Let me know if you wanna hear that story in a future post sometime lol).
Anyways, I always thought the concept could make for an interesting set of films, so I was really intrigued by the news when it became official. Even though my general interest in the franchise hasn’t been as strong as it once was for a few years now, I could see the possibility of a really great horror film being brought to fruition. Unfortunately it ended up being pretty lackluster, and I think it’s because those earlier games gave me some pretty high expectations for what could be possible for something like this.
Credit where credit is due - I don’t think it’s a BAD film. I don’t think it’s really a great film either, but being an old fan of the games there were a few moments that made me smile since I was able to recognize certain references from the games. The general atmosphere of the pizzeria is pretty cool and decently spot on. Also, I am a major fan of practical effects and Jim Hensons creature shop who did the puppeteering for this, so seeing the animatronics walk around at that scale was such a joy. They do look quite cool, and I’m so glad the filmmakers decided to go practical on that.
All of that being said, this isn’t a good *horror* film. There’s not very much scary stuff that really happens, in fact there’s one scene where the animatronics are being nice suddenly, and while it is somewhat explained, it’s such a major 180 from the rest of the film it just doesn’t make all that much sense. After we see how murderous Freddy and friends are, now we see a random happy scene of them playing and having fun? And not in a creepy or ironic way? That scene realllly brought down the rest of the film for me. It has its plot reasons for happening (sort of) but I feel like if they really wanted to do that they could’ve gone down a different route that would make a lot more sense. Idk, if you see FNAF, you’ll know exactly when *that* scene comes up. It’s a bit of a cringe fest. Now, there are some kills that actually would have been REALLY cool had this been a rated R film. Unfortunately we really only see the build up to the kill, and most of the actual violence happens either off screen or is shown in shadows. Tbh this movie would be way more awesome if they totally went the saw route in the execution of some of these kills. There’s a couple of scenes where characters get trapped in a contraption that for whatever reason brought saw to mind. It just kept making me think how this movie would have just been so much better if they really leaned in to the scary elements of this franchise. I guess they wanted it to be suitable to a more family friendly audience, but it’s such a shame. I get that they wanted this movie to appeal to as many people as possible, but the problem is, this movie isn’t strong at accomplishing that. Fans of the franchise are for sure going to be wanting more, and new audiences who don’t know anything about FNAF probably won’t be super impressed or left understanding what the hype is all about.
Some quick things I liked - Josh Hucherson and Matthew Lillard CARRY this film on their backs. Really great performances from both. I wish we could’ve seen more of Lillard’s character throughout the film or explored a bit more of his backstory. There’s *supposedly* a three film contract he has signed so possibly we will get to see more in the future? Would love to have that backstory explored deeper one day. The movie had some cool visuals and sounds. Practical effects are always appreciated. I liked some of the ideas present in the story, and with better execution could have been some pretty neat ideas. Also there are some cool Easter eggs for fans including a cameo appearance from Mat Pat of Game Theory which was fun for me to see.
Things I didn’t like - FNAF has some pretty awesome iconic music and sounds already in the games and none of it was used until the ending credits. They went for a totally new soundtrack and new sounds as far as I can tell. We don’t even hear any of the iconic jumpscare sounds from the games. Freddy and friends also feel like they’ve lost some of their creepy personalities. There’s a few moments in the film that remind me of it, but in the games I feel they tease and mess with the player psychologically a lot more than in the film. Story execution and pacing was poor, there were neat ideas but not enough connective tissue to flesh it all out perfectly. A few lore changes from the games didn’t really hit for me as much as the original lore. And finally, no Markiplier. He actually was supposed to be in the film but there was too much scheduling conflict. What a horribly missed opportunity 😭
HOWEVER, honestly overall I did have fun watching the movie despite my nitpicks. It is really fun seeing these animatronics on the big screen, and it’s so cool to see an idea from an indie game grow into what is has become today (I do think it’s a bit over saturated nowadays but it’s kicked off such a pop culture phenomenon I can’t help but appreciate it). There’s some great acting here, a better script would’ve been so perfect for how well cast I’d say most of these characters are. I went with my brother and sister and we had a good time. It’s so hard to not think about what could’ve been knowing how cool some of the ideas from the games are, but if you go in without having high expectations and just enjoy it for what it is, you’ll have fun. I actually would recommend seeing it, especially before spooky season is over. I also hope they actually do make more films, I just hope the future films are better in execution!
