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Film: Five Nights at Freddy’s
Year: 2023
Director: Emma Tammi
Writers: Scott Cawthon, Seth Cuddeback and Emma Tammi
Starring: Josh Hutcherson, Piper Rubio and Elizabeth Lail
Review:
This was a movie that I knew was in development well before I saw it. There was a variation on this, Willy’s Wonderland, where animatronics came to life and killed people. Having now seen this one, I can see why they jumped on the idea. I knew there was a video game that was horror for children. I also knew Blumhouse/Universal were making this. That was about the extent of of my knowledge ahead of settling in.
Synopsis: a troubled security guard begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. During his first night on the job, he realizes that the night shift won’t be so easy to get through. Soon he will unveil what happened at Freddy’s.
We start this off inside of the titular pizzeria. Think of this as like a Chuck E. Cheese style place. There is a security guard who is in a panic as he tries to escape. We see that isn’t possible as he is strapped down and killed by a machine.
That’s when we shift over to our leads. Mike (Josh Hutcherson) is struggling. Life isn’t going as he planned as he is in the care of his younger sister, Abby (Piper Rubio). Mike has never come to terms with an incident from his childhood where his younger brother, Garrett (Lucas Grant), was kidnapped and never heard from again. Mike is also struggling to keep a job. He has one as a security guard at a local mall, but that goes away when he attacks a man. He thought he was kidnapping a little boy and Mike’s issues kicked in.
To then complicate things even more, his Aunt Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson) wants custody of Abby. It isn’t due to love though. Mike claims it is to receive the monthly checks. Abby loves her brother, even if she doesn’t always show it. He is the focus of her drawings as this is her favorite past time.
Mike is out of options and it doesn’t look good when he visits Steve Ragland (Matthew Lillard). There is a security job available, but it’s not great. The pay isn’t good and the hours are overnight. Mike turns it down as he’s not able to work nights. He is told that he needs a job or his case against his aunt is going to suffer.
His first night went okay. He can get a neighbor, Max (Kat Conner Sterling), to watch Abby. He also meets a local police officer, Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail). She stops by and knows the lore of this place. Not everyone is as they seem and this place has more life than Mike realizes. The animatronics are alive and maybe possessed by children who met a similar fate to Mike’s brother. It also takes a turn when Abby is brought to this place. Freddy and his friends take a liking to her, wanting her to join them.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Now I’ve already said that I’m not familiar with the game so I’m not sure how much is pulled from it and incorporated in. It does seem like it could be faithful since Scott Cawthon comes from writing the game and worked on the screen story as well as the screenplay itself. I do think that’s a good touch for the fans. I didn’t get the chance to see this in the theater, so I watched it on Peacock as I had a subscription still. Someone I knew who did catch this at the cinema did say that fans at their viewing were impressed with how faithful it was. Do what you will with that information.
What I’ll give credit for the story is how depressing this is. Mike just looks like the world has beaten him down. His goal is to solve what happened to his brother. He has a poster above his bed about visiting Nebraska. He also listens to a tape of nature sounds. There are sleeping pills he also takes and the reason is to get into the same mindset every night to go back to the same dream. He feels guilty since his mother asked him to watch Garrett when he was taken. Mike got distracted and he’s never lived it down. I don’t mind this. My problem though is that I didn’t correlate that his brother was taken in this area that they’re currently living. It seemed to me like they were on vacation. If that isn’t the case, how does Mike not know more about Freddy Fazbear’s? Is this a major issue? Not necessarily, but I just took it that he wasn’t from the area and there are just things that aren’t connecting for me. I will credit Hutcherson as he embodies this character and that impressed me.
Let me then shift over to what everyone is watching this for, the mayhem that happens overnight at Freddy’s. What I liked here is that it didn’t waste time getting into it. We see the first security guard attacked. We then learn bits about this place before Mike takes the job. My problem is that this hits a screeching halt from here. Part of why I avoided this was the length. This runs for almost two hours. I think this needed to be trimmed to an hour and half to run tighter. There is a bit too much backstory here that I’m not necessarily sure if it pans out. We also have too much time between kills and my interest waned. This isn’t horrible in this department, but it didn’t work for me.
Then the last part of the story to explore would be the idea of the family unit. Abby gets confused as Mike’s daughter from the beginning. I even thought that. I do like playing with this idea. He feels obligated to take care of her, but he isn’t ready. This would pair well with M3GAN, which is also from Blumhouse, for that concept. There is Aunt Jane who wants Abby for only financial reasons. My issue there is those checks aren’t that much so I don’t know if fits for the money she is spending and the things she is asking people to do to get custody. I’d already said that there is also the guilt that Mike has for what happened to his brother and his family falling apart because of it. There is another aspect that I won’t spoil that I found interesting. It involves Vanessa and why she loves this place.
That should be enough for the story so then over to the acting. I’ve already said Hutcherson was good. I thought Rubio works as the focal of the machines. She is cute and I like that there’s this almost psychic angle with her. You could even say that Mike has it as he explores his dreams. Lail was also solid as this character who knows more than she is letting on. She also genuinely is concerned for the siblings. Lillard is solid in his cameo. Masterson is a villain, but we don’t flesh her out enough for it to amount to much. Other than that, I’d say that Sterling, David Lind and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed. Special credit to the creepy ghost kids and the individuals that were inside of the animatronics. They did well in bringing them to life along with the puppeteers.
All that is left is filmmaking. I would say that this is well-made. I’ve already said that the puppeteers and people in suits were great to bring these machines to life. I’d bet there is CGI involved as well. Regardless of whether there is or isn’t, that part wasn’t an issue. This also goes violent at times which I wasn’t necessarily expecting. I’ll credit the cinematography here to help frame things in a way that makes this all work. I also thought the soundtrack was solid. Using ‘Talking in Your Sleep’ by The Romantics was great. The words fit well with aspects of the movie. Other than that, I thought the rest fit what was needed in building the atmosphere.
In conclusion, this was a movie that I wasn’t sure was going to work for me. There are good things here. This has a darker story than I was expecting. There are aspects that I think needed to be tightened up there though. I love the setting of this abandoned pizza shop that features an arcade and animatronics. The acting was solid. Hutcherson carries this with the rest of the cast rounding it out for what was needed. The effects are the strongest part of filmmaking with cinematography being right there. Even the soundtrack worked. This just runs a bit too long and meanders on certain aspects that bog it down for me. I’d still recommend this, especially if you’re a fan of the video game. I think you’ll enjoy what they did.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10