Five Nights At Freddy's - Review: Only Stay As Long As You Need To

 

An almost accidental overnight success, the original Five Nights at Freddy’s game released in 2014 to virtually universal acclaim due to the distinctive vibe and approach to a horror video game. What followed was multiple sequels, fan games, novels, comics, theories, imitators, and spinoff games. Now, as with all massive media franchises, we have a film adaptation as the series is just shy of its tenth anniversary.

Set in the early 2000s, the film follows Mike, played by Josh Hutcherson (“The Hunger Games,” “The Kids are All Right”), a down on his luck guy trying to look after and keep custody of his younger sister Abby, played by Piper Rubio. After getting fired from his latest job, he receives a call from his career counselor Steve, played by Matthew Lillard (“Scooby-Doo (2002),” “Scream (1996)”). A local pizzeria and family entertainment center that has long since been closed down is looking for a security guard to watch the building at night to prevent any troublemakers from getting in to ransack the place. Mike takes the job, and therefore must spend his nights at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.

This is an admittedly simple premise, but anyone remotely familiar with the games knows just how convoluted things eventually get. Thankfully, the film’s screenwriters, which includes the franchise’s original creator Scott Cawthon, the film’s director Emma Tammi (“The Wind,” “Fair Chase”), along with Chris Lee Hill (“Tragedy Girls,” “Blowing Up Right Now”), Tyler MacIntyre (“Tragedy Girls,” “Patchwork”), and Seth Cuddeback (“Mateo”) make sure that the sense of convoluted mayhem remains in the film. It definitely requires some suspension of disbelief, but the movie is constantly reveling in the absurdity of it all. It takes itself just as seriously as it needs to not become a parody film, and no more.

Hutcherson does a pretty good job with the material he’s given. He’s committed to the kind of scream queen-esque, full body sweat physicality required and also throws himself headfirst into the movie’s more absurd elements. Rubio is also pretty good, smiling and looking adorable as a young child character in a horror film should. Lillard is practically tearing up the scenery when he’s on screen and it’s a complete delight to watch him gleefully play this kind of a role. Also in the main cast is Elizabeth Lail (“You,” “Mack & Rita”) as Vanessa, a police officer who befriends Mike and hangs around Freddy’s. She’s charming enough but isn’t particularly memorable.

That’s a problem with most of the film. When the titular Freddy and his friends are onscreen, it’s a cheesy delight. When Mike, Abby, Vanessa, or Steve are, it’s still a lot of fun. When basically any other characters are, it can become quite a drag. This isn’t a very long film, but it’s a movie that simply just isn’t as interesting when it’s trying to build a backstory to Mike and the rest of the characters that takes them away from Freddy’s. Those moments are serviceable, but not memorable. Tonally, the film is also wildly inconsistent, with moments of scares and horror followed up with segments that feel out of a Saturday morning cartoon show. It creates a weird kind of dichotomy that’s somewhat endearing while still jarring.

If ever there was a film that spent its budget in the right place though, it’s here. The animatronics, crafted by Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop, are phenomenal looking. Not only do they truly bring Freddy, Chica, Bonnie, and Foxy to life, but they feel like they never have before. It’s one thing to see these robotic animals in a video game where anything can happen. But the film grounds them to the rules of reality that makes them both that much more fascinating and also terrifying.

“Five Night’s At Freddy’s” is a film marketed as being “for the fans” and while that can help get butts in seats and boost the box office, it can’t apologize for quality. There are plenty of movies made “for the fans” that still manage to be objectively great as well. “Freddy’s” has some stark tonal shifts, pacing, lackluster backstory, and some weaker acting from some of its cast. When it hits, it hits particularly strongly and in a fun and cheesy way. When it doesn’t, it can really drag. There’s fun to be had here, but maybe not five nights worth. 3/5