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Five nights before Halloween, the long-awaited Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF) movie was released in theaters and streaming on Peacock, but does it live up to the hype? I say it does.
For background, I’ve been in the FNAF fanbase since the second game came out. I only have a patchwork of knowledge in the true FNAF lore, but to enjoy this movie, that’s all you need. The movie follows its own simplified version of the story that the games and books have, which is a great choice if you know how complicated the original story can be.
Mike Schmidt, played by Josh Hutcherson, is the new night security guard at a Chuck E Cheese-like restaurant named Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. During his shifts, Mike starts to have vivid dreams that feature 6 children that bear some resemblance to the pizzeria’s animatronic characters. Mike, along with his sister, Abby, and police officer Vanessa, have a connection to the restaurant and must figure out how their stories intertwine.
If you are a FNAF fan, the movie has several fun references and easter eggs to the games and main story, for example, a character can be seen wearing a “Midnight Motorist” shirt. Additionally, Matpat from the YouTube channel GameTheory, one of the early supporters of Fnaf, makes a cameo in the diner scene, along with his own fun references.
However, for fans of scary horror movies, this part might be disappointing. I found myself only jumping at the joke-jumpscares with Balloon Boy, and not with any of the other jumpscares that appear throughout the movie. Frankly, some of the deaths in the movie are more comical than frightening. There are several points of lighthearted fun interspersed between the more serious moments, which I don’t believe take away from the story, just from the scary-horror aspect.
Nevertheless, if you don’t know a thing about Five Nights at Freddy’s, and are okay with a not-so-scary horror movie, there’s still fun to be had as the movie has a layer of mystery. Throughout, there are clues sprinkled that foreshadow the true nature of the events that happen in the movie. These hints are also fun to see on a second watchthrough.
Overall, my verdict on the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie is that it’s a great movie to watch if you’re a fan of the games or not, but not very good at scaring its audience.
