Released on Friday, October 27th, the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie, directed by Emma Tammi, was an on screen adaptation of the famous video game series. It stars Josh Hutcherson, Matthew Lillard, and Elizabeth Lail. Coming in at 1 hour and 50 minutes this PG-13 horror movie is definitely a sight to see. Even before its release, it quickly became one of the most anticipated films since its first announcement back in 2015, and I am here to give you a review of a very unique movie.
The four main animatronics Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Freddy were all made by The Jim Henson Company, and their complexity really shows when it comes to their movements and interactions. The surprise appearances of Youtubers CoryxKenshin, and MatPat add another layer of entertainment to an already enjoyable film.
The movie featured some pretty creative kills from animatronic attacks to spring lock failures. However most of the deaths happened off screen, due to the PG-13 rating, where you could only see a silhouette of what was happening. With about 12 kills and the 1 hour and 50 minute length, Freddy Fazbear gave us a kill every 9.16 minutes on average.
After watching the movie and playing most of the games, I can honestly say that the movie was overall enjoyable from the storyline to video game representation. The animatronics were amazing, while the small cast was able to create great dialogue, and I do not want to forget about William Afton’s famous line and painful demise at the end of the movie. The movie does so much right, and you could really tell that the creators put a lot of effort into the movie even with the small budget.
However, there are a few problems that arise while watching the movie. The first one seems like the most obvious, the rating. I get it, you want to make a movie that can be enjoyable to more younger people while trying to appeal to the older fans of the games. However, the PG-13 rating turned the movie into an off-screen death central. For being an adaptation of a game that has so many stand out deaths, it is hard to work the ladder without having to change the rating.
The second complaint I have with the movie is its redundancy. A lot of the film is taken up by Mike Schmidt’s same dream every night, and while it does start to change in the late parts of the movie, it still puts too much focus on one character. Not only that, it also takes away from scenes that could have shown more of the pizzeria and animatronics, which the movie lacked at times.
My one big advice from watching this movie is that you should go into it not expecting an exact copy of the games and its lore. As a person who has played and loved the games for a long time, I can see why many fans were disappointed with the outcome of the movie. The creators of the movie did not want it to be a complete copy of the games pasted onto a screen. The faster you realize that the movie was supposed to be its own concept, the more enjoyable it is.
In the end, I personally think that it was a great film, I did not feel like I wasted time watching it, and neither will you. With that being said, I would give the movie a solid 8/10 keeping in mind the movie had a smaller budget and a PG-13 rating. Even with the minor complaints I have with the movie, it truly is a fun film, and I highly recommend watching it in theaters or at home.
