When the Five Nights at Freddy’s (or FNAF, to its friends) movie was first announced, kids the world over were waiting with bated breath for the movie adaptation of a game that has achieved an almost cult-like following among the younger gamers.
As an introduction into horror, the games were seemingly the perfect stepping stone. However, with the powers that be understanding the very loose horror themes wouldn’t translate well on the big screen, their hands were forced into adding a little blood and gore to appease our fellow horror fanatics. Consequently, this led to a higher age rating overseas, causing some controversy and breaking the hearts of many young fans of the game.
Five Nights at Freddy’s Finally Gets a Storyline
With the FNAF video games having barely any real storyline to speak of, the movie needed its very own storyline to survive the trial of the already skeptical audience. To do this, they gave the video game protagonist, Mike Schmidt (played here by Josh Hutcherson), his own background.
Suffering from the unsolved disappearance of his brother when they were younger, Mike’s mental torment seeps into his working life. After being fired, our hapless hero is in desperate need of another, if he is to maintain custody of his sister, Abby (Piper Rubio). Step in Matthew Lillard (Scream, Scooby-Doo) in his role of manager, William Afton, who offers Mike a way out with a job offer.
Predictably, Mike takes on the job as a security guard at Freddy Fazbear‘s Pizza, where he comes face-to-face with the robotic horrors within and finds a trail leading to his brother’s kidnapper.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is Jam-Packed with Easter Eggs
The easter eggs are perhaps the reason fans of the FNAF video game will appreciate the movie adaptation more than franchise newcomers. However, amidst the many FNAF easter eggs to be spotted, there are also a handful of references to other horror movies, such as Scream, in which Lillard played his first major role.
“Freddy Fanatics” will, however, have far more to keep an eye out for. I won’t spoil the fun by pointing anything out here but I will tell you that some are far more obvious that others. It’s the subtle nods to the video games that I personally enjoyed the most. Have fun finding them all.
Five Nights at Freddy’s and Willy’s Wonderland
I went into Five Nights at Freddy’s expecting to see nothing much more than what we saw in Willy’s Wonderland. With that said, it was a pleasant surprise to see that FNAF was to follow an actual storyline.
Willy’s Wonderland failed to offer up any sort of premise beyond Nic Cage’s penchant for drinking energy drinks and playing some hardcore pinball and it’s not beyond the realms of reason to say this may have been the movie’s downfall.
On the other hand, the FNAF movie offers a storyline (albeit a tenuous one) that carries the movie nicely and takes a little focus away from the dingy diner.
Five Nights at Freddy’s Summary
As a horror movie, Five Nights at Freddy’s offers little more than slightly creepy animatronics and a little gore. There’s no psychological horror or even jump scares to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats or even mildly entertained.
Avid fans of the games, will find a lot of entertainment in the abundant homage paid to a much loved video game franchise. Expect the same creeping atmosphere and jump scares, however, and you’ll be bitterly disappointed.
If you’re still interested in the overly-hyped adaptation, Five Nights at Freddy’s is out now in the theatres.
