By Nicholas Kobe, Staff Writer

[Bloomhouse Productions; 2023]

Rating: 6/10

Five Nights at Freddy’s has managed to divide fans and critics in a more dramatic way that I have seen in a long time. I sit on the line between fan and critic, and my opinion reflects that. Five Nights at Freddy’s ranges from extremely fun to deeply flawed in the span of 90 minutes, all depending on the lens you choose to view it from. 

The biggest strength of Five Nights at Freddys is Freddy and the other animatronics. Jim Henson’s Creature shop works absolute magic on Freddy, Foxie, Bonnie and Chica. The animatronics act clearly like robots, but the movie squeezes more emotion out of these characters than I could have expected. 

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My biggest complaint with the animatronics is that they aren’t terribly frightening. The origin story for them explains this approach, but that isn’t revealed until the end of the movie. Then again, the lack of actual scares in Five Nights at Freddy’s may come down to the movie’s PG-13 rating. While gruesome images are shown on screen FNAF still stays in the PG-13 line. I think PG-13 horror is possible to make work, but the horrific ways people are killed in Five Nights at Freddy’s makes the lack of gore more noticable. We never get to really see the extent of the damage these animatronics can inflict, and that makes it harder to break down their externally cute demeanor. 

Despite never being downright “scary”, the two sequences of people being hunted in the pizzaria are still thrilling. Tension is managed very well here and watching Freddy and friends find ways to always stay on top of their intruders in seemingly impossible ways is the most effective part of these scenes. Due to the story, the middle of the film is also pretty low tension and more silly, which doesn’t really help keep Five Nights at Freddy’s scary. While I think the tensest moments of FNAF go over well enough, I do wish we had more of them. 

Speaking of Mike, as the lead character, he works fine. Josh Hutcherson, mainly of Hunger Games fame, is believable as an emotionally damaged and traumatized guy. Unfortunately he’s mainly interesting because of his past, though not because of anything he’s doing in the film. The mystery of his past is interesting, so it’s not too bad. His little sister, Abby, is the heart of the film, and she pulls at the heartstrings effectively. Her quirks, and the fact that she arguably gets the strongest dialogue of the movie are enough to make her stand out beyond “this kid is cute and I don’t want to see her die”. The B-plot of her aunt trying to take custody of her from Mike is completely useless however. While it does serve as the starting point for the movie’s best scare-centric scene, it’s almost completely dropped from the plot after. 

Matthew Lillard’s character is the most underutilized part of Five Nights at Freddy’s. He’s barely in the movie, and considering how the plot unfolds, that is very harmful to the story. Venessa, played by Elizabeth Lail is easily the film’s weakest character. Her odd connection to Freddy’s is intriguing, but her on and off empathy with Mike feels more like inconsistent character writing than the internal conflict it was probably meant as. Her connection with the film’s main antagonist isn’t given enough time to be fleshed out to make her choices at the end of the film as weighty as they should be.This trend continues for most of Five Nights at Freddy’s hasty climax. 

At around 90 minutes, Five Nights at Freddy’s doesn’t give itself enough time to fully explain all of its motivations. Fans of the games will be able to guess where the story is going, and that’s not a bad thing. I think what is here works at keeping up interest for most of the movie, but just doesn’t fully stick the landing and resolve everything.This experience will probably be worse for those who aren’t a fan of the games. 

The lore of the FNAF games isn’t as scary as it is tragic and intriguing. Most of the “horror” from the games comes from cheap jumpscares, something I’m glad the movie held off on. I remember the FNAF craze not as people raving about the peak gameplay of the titles, but of the way the community interacted with the clues creator Scott Cawthon left about the history of these characters. 

I think with more time given to that in the movie’s climax, or leading up to it, Five Nights at Freddy’s could have better capitalized what makes this series truly special. I am interested in how they expand from here, but as it stands, Five Nights at Freddy’s is missing just a little too much context and resolution to be ignorable. That however, only sinks in upon reflection, and doesn’t hinder your initial enjoyment of the film. 

I’ve struggled to put a number rating of Five Nights at Freddy’s more than almost anything I’ve reviewed up to this point for ACRN. Whatever you feel about FNAF, in my opinion, says more about your expectations than the movie itself. I wanted Five Nights at Freddy’s to be a fun and spooky exploration of this great concept while we put the pieces together of the tragedy going on behind the scenes. To that end, Five Nights at Freddy’s left me satisfied. It wasn’t perfect, and while I’ve expressed some unignorable critical flaws, I knew in my heart of hearts, this movie would never be a critical darling. If you go into Five Nights at Freddy’s with an open mind and simply wanting to have fun, it will deliver. If you want a truly terrifying horror film with every box checked, this isn’t the movie for you.