I am not going to pretend I have played the game or know about it, in fact that is the reason I decided to watch the movie, just a few days ago while browsing I realized this is based on a game so I took the chance and watched it. Five Nights at Freddys is one of those movies where you walk in expecting absolute trash because of how video game adaptations usually turn out, but this thing somehow managed to be okay for what it was trying to do, although it definitely has its problems and I can see why some people are feeling disappointed, specially critics online. The movie got a 33% from critics and 87% from the audience on Rotten Tomatoes, that usually tells you something is going on. The whole setup with Mike Schmidt being this broke night guard dealing with his traumatic past while working at this creepy abandoned pizza place full of killer animatronics sounds cool on paper, but the movie spends way too much time on family drama stuff between Mike and his little sister Abby that feels like filler when you just want to see the scary robots doing their thing. The first 30 minutes are basically just Mike being depressed about his brother who got kidnapped years ago and him trying to keep custody of Abby from their aunt who is a total bitch. Josh Hutcherson does his best with what he got but the character is written so bland and depressing that you kind of stop caring about his personal issues after like 20 minutes, and instead you just want the movie to get to the good stuff with Freddy and the gang tearing people apart.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4589218/
- Platform: PRIME VIDEO
Rottentomatoes Rating
The problem is the movie keeps pulling back on the violence because they wanted that PG 13 rating to sell more tickets to younger audiences who play the games, so instead of getting brutal kills like you would expect from a horror movie about possessed animatronics murdering people, you get mostly off screen deaths and implied violence that feels weak most of the time. There are a few cool moments scattered throughout, like when the animatronics actually move around and chase people, those scenes look pretty decent and the practical effects work better than I thought they would, but then the movie ruins it by trying to make the animatronics seem sympathetic because they are supposed to be dead kids possessing the robots. That whole twist about the kids being manipulated by William Afton feels rushed and does not really land the way it should because the movie barely spends any time developing that part of the story, they just throw it at you near the end and expect you to care when you have spent most of the movie watching Mike take sleeping pills and dream about his brother getting kidnapped at a campground. The dream sequences happen way too many times and they all feel the same with Mike trying to navigate his dream back to that day so he can remember who took his brother, but the ghost kids keep showing up and messing with him. It is a cool concept that gets old real fast when you realize the movie is using it as a crutch instead of giving us more time with the animatronics doing what they do best, which is killing people in creative ways. The jump scares are pretty weak too, there is this one scene where a security guard at the beginning gets killed and it should be terrifying but it happens so fast and with such little build up that it just feels like another generic horror movie kill.
The movie tries to build this mystery around who is behind everything and if you have even a tiny bit of horror movie experience you will figure out that Matthew Lillard is the villain about 10 seconds after he shows up on screen. He plays this career counselor named Steve Raglan who gives Mike the job at Freddys and the way he talks and express himself makes it so obvious that he is hiding something that it is almost hilarious, I dont want to say its bad its just like a movie made for teenagers and not for adults to really try to figure out things. Lillard just takes over the screen every minute he is in just as he always does which is fun, they probably thought he would be enough to keep viewers entertain but there is such contrast with Mike character and the rest of the that Lillard cant carry the movie on his shoulders, but even he cannot save how messy the movie turns where everything falls apart and becomes this weird family friendly conclusion where nobody important really dies and the bad guy just gets dragged away by the animatronics without much closure. The biggest issue with Five Nights at Freddys is that it feels like the movie was made by committee with too many people trying to please too many different audiences at the same time. From horror fans like me who would like to see a real slasher but the on other side you cant do that if you are PG 13 for teenager gamers who might want the movie to stick to the game but from my understanding the game is even better than the movie on the horror aspect, so yeah its like the movie doesnt decide what it really wants but after all the studio just wants more money so they try to have something for everyone, it just doesnt work that well. The pacing feels all over the place with long stretches of nothing happening followed by brief moments of action that are over really quick without much impact. There is this whole subplot with a cop named Vanessa who knows way too much about Freddys and keeps showing up to help Mike, but the movie never really explains why she cares so much until the very end when it turns out William Afton is her dad and she has been covering for him this whole time, that revelation alone should be a huge deal but it comes so late in the movie and is handled so poorly that it just feels like an afterthought.
The relationship between Mike and Abby is supposed to be the emotional core of the movie but it never really clicks because Abby is written as this weird quiet kid who just draws pictures all day and talks to imaginary friends, reminds me of Ginny from "TWD Ded City" she was very similar been quiet by choise 90% of the time and doesnt work that well, you need a lot of physical expression from the actor for it to work out. Then it turns out her imaginary friends are actually the ghost kids possessing the animatronics it should be creepy but instead the movie plays it off like it is wholesome and they all become friends and build a fort together and that might have taken the wrong turn for part of the audience as again we are suppose to be watching a horror movie but as they try to stay PG 13 they turn the ghosts into her friends, I wonder if its like this on the game?. The animatronics are suppose to be the Jason of this movie, brutally murdering a group of vandals but the next minute they are playing games with a little girl and it is supposed to be cute, would have preffer if they just go out for everyone even the girl or at least keep it like that all the way until the end so there is this build up to figure out why the animatronics behave like that so then she talks to the kids and become friends, its just an idea so anyways they can implement that kinda happy ending cute thing. The action scenes when they finally happen are decent enough but nothing special and this is the only reason I could give it a 7, not a solid 7 but it has enough. There is a kill where a guy gets his face bitten off by a cupcake animatronic that was hilarious although not much of an horror scene, it doesn make you grab hard your seat or look away. The practical effects for the main animatronics like Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy look really good when they are just standing there being creepy, but the moment they start moving around ithey look a bit clunky and square, I guess its because Im and I bet many viewers are not use to match animatronics and horror movie together. The movie tries to make up for it by keeping most of the action in dark poorly lit scenes but that just makes it hard to see what is actually happening and I hate when movies does that, its frustrating when you have been waiting the entire movie for the animatronics to do something cool and you cant really tell the details of wtf is going on.
The ending is probably the weakest part of the whole thing, with Mike and Abby teaming up with the ghost kids to defeat William Afton by reminding them that he is the one who killed them and not their friend. The kids turn on him and drag him into a back room where he gets trapped in a spring lock suit that slowly crushes him to death but we do not even get to see it happen, he just starts screaming and then the movie cuts away, thats a really crappy way to end a movie. It is such a bad ending that leaves you feeling like you wasted your time watching a movie that was too scared to commit to being an actual horror movie and instead tried to be this weird family drama with horror thrown out around it, now that I think more about it sounds like a Gasper movie. Matthew Lillard is definitely the best part of the movie even though he doesnt get that much screen time and when he finally shows up as the yellow rabbit Springtrap you can tell he is having a blast playing this unhinged child murderer but its just such a short time for him to really make an impact and his motivations are never really explained beyond him being a psycho who likes killing kids and stuffing them into animatronic suits. I wanted to like this movie way more than I did because I think the concept of killer animatronics at a kids pizza place is something different that can be both funny and still have the horror aspect in it, I would not go as far as a "Scary Movie" type of parody but a bit less, this had so much potential for horror but everything about it felt rushed and watered down and scared to take risks. Its my opinion that the PG 13 rating really hurts the movie because you can tell there were moments where they wanted to go darker and more violent but had to pull back to keep that rating and sell more tickets to younger audiences. If this had been rated R and leaned into the horror aspects it could have been something special, but instead we got this safe, bland version that feels like a missed opportunity. I would give it a 7 out of 10 because it has some cool visual moments and Matthew Lillard is entertaining when he is on screen, but the lack of real scares and the boring main character drag it down way too much for me to recommend it to anyone except die hard gamers people who just want to see their favorite characters on screen. If you are expecting a good horror movie you are going to be disappointed but if you just want to see Freddy and the gang in live action then you might get some enjoyment out of it.
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