When the movie adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s was given the green light eight years ago, the process of turning this video game into a film was much simpler. At that time, the series was just starting and had minimal backstory, featuring a basic storyline about a night security guard trying to survive a week among murderous animatronic animals at a run-down entertainment center similar to Chuck E Cheese’s.
When the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie sticks to this premise–which it does most of the time–it’s quite enjoyable. The eerie and bizarre animatronic antics are a great fit for a movie and offer plenty of entertainment. However, the film can’t solely focus on this concept due to the substantial growth of the franchise since the project’s inception.
In the present day, Five Nights at Freddy’s has evolved into a fully developed universe with numerous games and related spin-offs such as novels and comic books. Consequently, there is now an extensive amount of background lore underpinning the franchise. While this is enriching for fans, it has made the adaptation significantly more challenging over the years, despite series creator Scott Cawthon co-writing the script. This predicament has resulted in a somewhat awkward narrative execution.
At the center of the story is Mike (portrayed by Josh Hutcherson), a disheveled and weary-looking individual who loses his job as a security guard after wrongly assaulting a man at the mall, whom he believed to be abducting a young boy. Despite his lack of employability, Mike is responsible for his younger sister Abby. At the behest of a dubious job counselor played by Matthew Lillard, Mike reluctantly accepts a vacant job that nobody else wants: night security at the long-abandoned Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
Even without the presence of murderous animatronic animal musicians, this would be a eerie job. The establishment is old, dimly lit, and brimming with flickering lights–certainly not an ideal workplace environment. However, the animatronics intensify the atmosphere. Even when stationary or performing their normal routine of playing “Talking in Your Sleep” by The Romantics, they are shot in a terrifying manner. Virtually every scene they appear in is captivating, and their menacing glares before pursuing their targets never fail to send chills down the spine.
While an R rating with accompanying gore would have enhanced the experience, the film ended up with a PG-13 rating due to Five Nights at Freddy’s having a predominantly young audience despite its gruesome subject matter. Nonetheless, director Emma Tammi and the team effectively conveyed the violence through sound and shadow rather than explicit depictions, which resonated well, such as during a character’s gruesome demise.
The main issue lies in the storytelling. Mike’s character isn’t just a destitute and unstable individual; he is on a lifelong quest to find his younger brother who was abducted during their childhood and never seen again. Additionally, there is the subplot of Mike’s aunt seeking custody of Abby, an amiable and knowledgeable police officer named Vanessa, whose extensive knowledge of Freddy’s remains enigmatic, and the anomalous fondness exhibited by the robotic animals towards Abby.
Essentially, the film is a conglomeration of various elements from the current Five Nights at Freddy’s narrative, adapted and utilized in somewhat different, or in some cases, very different ways. However, the abundance of plot points surpasses the narrative’s capacity to adequately develop them all, leaving the culmination feeling somewhat haphazard.
It’s regrettable, as Hutcherson, who features prominently in nearly every scene, delivers a commendable performance as the perennially fatigued Mike. Although not the most flattering role, requiring him to appear disheveled throughout, it is this depiction combined with Hutcherson’s aptly weary portrayal that imparts substance to the film long before Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza is even mentioned. Even when the narrative goes awry, Hutcherson manages to uphold the movie for the most part.
Hopefully, if there is a subsequent installment, he won’t have to endure a similar ordeal.
