Highlights
- The FNAF movie failed to be scary because the source material, the games, were never considered scary either. It lacked suspense and proper scares.
- The movie struggled with the convoluted lore from the game series, which has many fan theories. The movie remained loyal to the games and didn't provide clear answers.
- Despite its problems, the FNAF movie has been a box office success and a sequel is likely. However, a sequel may need to address the issues faced by the first movie.
Five Nights At Freddy's was released on the 27th October of this year, and it has grossed $215.8 million at the worldwide box office in just a couple of weeks. However, the movie has had mixed reviews from critics, and fans have also been split on the game adaptation. Many fans were just happy to have a movie version out there, and an extra title in the FNAF franchise, but hardcore horror fans were a bit disappointed with the tonal shifts in the movie, deciding the FNAF movie didn't really know what it was. Critics hammered it as well, though a few have leaped to its defense, praising the mythology and, in particular, Scream star, Matthew Lillard's excellent performance.
The movie stars Josh Hutcherson as Mike, the night manager of the creepy Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, a now defunct 80s hangout, that, for some reason, needs round the clock security. He is forced to take the job to avoid his little sister being taken from him by social services.
The Five Nights At Freddy's Movie Vs The Video Game
The Five Nights at Freddy's movie has the same soul as the FNAF video game, but they're not the same.
Despite featuring a stellar supporting cast of Matthew Lillard, Mary Stuart Masterson and Elizabeth Lail, and being produced by legendary company, Blumhouse, this wasn't enough to overcome a number of big problems. However, despite these big problems, including negative reviews, a sequel is likely to be on the way because of its stunning performance at the box office, though nothing has been confirmed yet. Maybe a sequel could fix the problems the FNAF movie faced in its debut entry.
Problem 1: The FNAF Games Aren't Actually Scary
Director | Emma Tammi |
Writer | Seth Cuddeback and Emma Tammi |
Cast | Josh Hutcherson, Matthew Lillard, Piper Rubio, Elizabeth Lail and Mary Stuart Masterson |
Runtime | 1 hour 49 minutes |
Release Date | October 27th |
Box Office | $215.8 million (Worldwide) |
Rotten Tomatoes Score | 29% |
A big problem with Blumhouse trying to portray the FNAF movie as the next big horror slasher movie, is that the source material it's based on is not actually scary. Five Nights at Freddy's was a mega-successful game franchise before it became a movie, but the games were never considered scary, despite the subject being quite dark on the surface. Unfortunately, the movie was unable to elevate the material into anything remotely scary either. The movie is creepy, and Matthew Lillard is a fantastic villain, but the movie lacks any real suspense.
The games are considered soft horror with a few jump scares, but the movie doesn't even have any proper scares that spring to mind. There is the sequence when the gang break into Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria and are slaughtered by the animatronics, but there's no significant build up to this event, and everything is wrapped up pretty quickly. Also, Mike's shifts at Freddy Fazbear's don't possess any suspense or feelings of claustrophobia, and it doesn't actually feel like he spends five nights at Freddy's like the title suggests. However, he does actually spend five nights at the location, but a couple of these shifts are so insignificant, they fail to register in the audiences' minds.
Problem 2: The FNAF lore is way too convoluted
The FNAF movie had the added complication of navigating the convoluted lore set up in the game series, by its quirky creator, Scott Cawthon, who also had involvement behind the scenes in the movie adaptation. This probably didn't help the movie stand on its own two feet, as it largely remains loyal to the games.
On the surface, it's quite a simple story- A security guard is working the night shift at a rundown pizzeria, and he has to fight against a bunch of creepy animatronics that come to life. But under the surface, there's a very complicated horror story that has so many different fan theories surrounding it. There are no coincidences in the games, as every little piece of information matters. It very much started out as an indie game before it became the massive franchise it is today. Cawthon would interact with the fans and give them clues as to what things might mean. But this created a big problem for the movie version, as nobody really knows what the true answers are.
FNAF Quick Facts
- Five Nights At Freddy's had a budget of just $20 million
- The horror movie is now the highest-grossing horror film of the year in the US
- The director, Emma Tammi has defended the movie's lighter tone, claiming she wanted to appeal to a wider audience
The basic lore of the series is that the killer behind it all was a man named William Afton, and he would abduct children and hide their bodies in the suits of the animatronics at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. Afton was never caught for these crimes, and the spirits of his victims mixed with Freddy's cast, and this is why they seek vengeance. This was largely followed in the movie version, but with the game sequels veering into many different directions that don't always make sense, it leaves a big problem moving forward if Blumhouse and Universal decide to proceed with additional entries in the movie series.
Five Nights at Freddy's
Five Nights at Freddy's is a first-person survival horror and resource management game from Scott Cawthorn that raced to popularity thanks to its creepy animatronic enemies and its array of panic-inducing jumpscares. Bringing life to a cavalcade of well-known characters like Freddy Fazbear, Chica, Foxy, Bonnie, and more, Five Nights at Freddy's has seen immense success, spinoffs, and fan games.
