Blumhouse Productions has another success. The company behind recent horror hits like The Black Phone, and M3GAN produced this perfectly timed Halloween offering. I only wish it were a better picture.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is a supernatural film based on a computer game franchise. The point-and-click survival challenge relies on jump scares. It has many fans, mostly born between 1997 and 2012. That’s Gen Z. I’m Gen X. As such, I’ve never played it, but I like horror movies, so I was primed to enjoy this.
It stars Josh Hutcherson as Mike Schmidt, a security guard fighting for custody of his younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio). He’s also dealing with the disappearance of his younger brother Garrett (Lucas Grant), who was kidnapped. On the advice of his career counselor (Matthew Lillard), he accepts a night-time job at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, an abandoned restaurant/arcade that features singing and dancing animatronic characters. It’s like Chuck E Cheese, which first combined the burgeoning video game craze in 1977 with a kid-themed eatery. In this establishment, the characters somehow come to life at night and scare and even kill anyone who happens to be there.
The chronicle has a promising setup, and the animatronic designs courtesy of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop are visually arresting. The problem is the script. Director Emma Tammi, who co-wrote with Seth Cuddeback and video game designer Scott Cawthon, doesn’t do anything interesting with the idea. An overwrought history is inserted that takes away from what should be the focus, scary animal robots. Much of the “action” has Mike, the security guard, falling asleep inside the pizzeria and being haunted by nightmares of the day his little brother was kidnapped.
The tiresome backstory also involves actress Mary Stuart Masterson (Some Kind of Wonderful, Fried Green Tomatoes) as Mike’s wicked Aunt Jane, who wants to take custody of Abby away from him. Jane aims to get Mike fired by hiring juvenile delinquents to break into the pizzeria during the day when he isn’t even there to smash things. She believes Mike will lose his position for not preventing that. Why their vandalism would be Mike’s fault when he isn’t even working makes no sense. It’s safe to say the ruffians don’t make it out alive, but the fact that there is no subsequent investigation into their murders is incomprehensible. At the very least, Jane would be questioned. The beat of a local police officer named Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail ) appears to consist of that restaurant only and not the surrounding town. The number of improbabilities pile up one after another.
In a dull narrative about a protagonist constantly dozing off, you’ll want to join him in taking a nap. This game has quite a following, and the movie rests on that familiarity. Dedicated enthusiasts may embrace this. It’s a box office success, but not a critical one. This is one of the worst films I’ve seen this year. The saving grace is that this PG-13 production isn’t overtly gross or disgusting. The atmosphere is family-friendly, which is a rarity in horror. That redeems this from being a complete waste of time.
10-26-23
7 Responses
I actually liked this! Gave it 3 stars
I’m glad YOU enjoyed it. What did the kids think? Have they/you played the games?
All kids saw it separately, and they all liked it, Dyaln being the most. Hoever, they stated it is not as accurate to game as they had hoped. All kids have played game
I love horror movies! Not this one. It was too corny and made no sense. 1 1/2 ⭐️
So bad.
Interesting. I just came over from another review that didn’t like it either, but actually highlighted the lack of gore (the camera cuts away etc) being the reason he largely disliked it.
And you’re also right about this having its fans. That same reviewer was ripped to shreds in the comment section for their criticisms, as though the negative reaction was some irredeemable sin. Ridiculous.
A particularly interesting film in that, quality aside, it acts as a psychological screen: who liked it and who didn’t and what that tells you about THEM.
Audio ANIMATRONICS gone lethal – now there’s a thought! How about my favorite instance taking it into his head to kill Jeff Davis? Say, by boring him to death.
In passing, looks like somebody crumpled up the poster you used before you got a hold of it.