The wisest decision Universal made with Five Nights at Freddy's was to release it immediately on streaming. The film's theatrical run will lend legitimacy and a boatload of cash, but its destiny is to entertain slumber parties of pre-teens excited to be up past 11. Hardcore fans who follow the lore and have Foxy or Chica on their keyring will also be thrilled with the film. Unfortunately, this franchise suits Let's Play videos better than full-length feature films.
Five Nights at Freddy's churned through writers and directors like Fazbear's loses security guards. The film was announced at Warner Bros. in 2015. Gil Keenan of Monster House was set to direct, with Child's Play reboot writer Tyler Burton Smith to co-write. WB called for backup, leading series creator Scott Cawthon to bring the project to Blumhouse. Chris Columbus, director of the two good Home Alone movies and writer of Gremlins and Goonies, stepped in. He stepped back out after Cawthon tossed the script he liked. Emma Tammi, previously known for two entries in Blumhouse's Into the Dark straight-to-streaming film series, replaced Columbus and co-wrote the new screenplay with Cawthon. It's hard not to wonder whether earlier directors might have had an easier time with the material.
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For those unfamiliar with the FNaF franchise, it takes place in an abandoned pizza restaurant populated by haunted animatronics. The ten mainline games and six spin-off titles owe their popularity almost entirely to YouTube. The empire was built from an endless supply of screaming Let's Players and lore deep dives. The film follows most of the plot of the first game. Josh Hutcherson portrays Mike, the protagonist of the 2014 original. He needs gainful employment to support his young sister and prevent his greedy aunt from winning custody. Matthew Lillard appears as Steve Raglan, Mike's career counselor, who offers him a terrible gig he can't turn down. Mike becomes the night guard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, discovers the terrifying secrets behind its past, and finds an inexplicable connection between that darkness and his grim memories. The entangled plotlines are a bit too obvious to be compelling.
Was Five Nights at Freddy's made for children? There's been a slight dust-up among the fandom about the film's PG-13 rating. None of the games have risen above a T for Teen, but the big-screen outing could have aimed higher. Cawthon made family-friendly titles before moving into the horror market. His weirdly devout religious streak may forbid him from going darker than he already has. FNaF is hugely popular with children. They're the primary audience for YouTube Let's Plays, especially those centered around screaming rather than comedic commentary. However, this left the film with a choice it refused to make. Leaning into the story's dark tone would risk an R-rating, alienating a significant chunk of the paying audience. Making a kid-friendly horror film in the vein of former director Gil Keenan's Monster House would make adult fans, many of whom have been with the franchise for almost a decade, feel odd. Tammi and Cawthon seem to air on the side of caution, delivering a film that walks on eggshells to avoid blood and swearing. It's not as compelling as it could be in either direction.
The technical details behind the movie may be its saving grace. The four animatronics, Freddy, Chica, Bonnie, and Foxy, look excellent throughout the film. Fans will love seeing them brought to life with work from the great Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The animatronics don't do much in most of the games. They stand around, jump out of closets, and kill the player in implied murder scenes. This film is an excellent showcase, keeping them intimidating while allowing them to express their personalities beyond their usual clips. The production design is also generally impressive. The film was made on a small budget, but it doesn't look too cheap. The recreation of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and the functional animatronics will be enough to captivate fans. Anyone who wants to make FNaF look like a blockbuster, watch Willy's Wonderland right after it. The gap will become visible.
Everything beyond the animatronics and environments falls apart under scrutiny. Five Nights at Freddy's is written like a children's movie. The dialogue is frequently awkward or inhuman, causing brief bursts of laughter in serious scenes. Some jokes land, raising the possibility of playing the film as a mean-spirited comedy like a Child's Play sequel but never committing to the idea. The script keeps the actors from accomplishing anything impressive. The narrative takes forever to get where it's going. The slow build-up would be fine if every twist hadn't been carefully pre-spoiled to allow even the youngest audience member to stay ahead. Perhaps the cardinal sin is the complete lack of viable scares. One or two impotent jumps might catch a sleepy viewer off-guard, but it's utterly free from fear. Leave it up to Cawthon, whose family-friendly game featured a face so scary it later became a horror icon, to make a horror film without anything frightening.
Five Nights at Freddy's has nothing worthwhile to say about its premise and no ideas behind its execution. It's more than the bare minimum, but not by much. Sadly, the most significant reaction to this long-awaited adaptation is boredom. All the half-formed pieces click together to form a generic experience without much to write home about. Peacock is the right place to see Five Nights at Freddy's. Fans and teens will enjoy the ride, but everyone else is likely to forget FNaF.
Five Nights at Freddy's
In this adaptation of the iconic horror game, a security guard must survive the haunted animatronics at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza to discover his strange link to its dark past.