Who hasn’t heard of Five Nights at Freddy’s? The indie horror game created by Scott Cawthon, and first released in 2014, proved to be an instant hit. Popularized through art, memes, Youtube playthroughs – notably Markiplier’s – and elaborate lore theories, the hype for FNaF grew. Soon, people of all ages were anxious to see if they could survive being a security guard at a retro pizza place/arcade filled with semi-sentient animatronics.
Five Nights at Freddy’s, directed by Emma Tammi, adapts the lore and story of the first game. The story follows Mike (Josh Hutcherson) as he takes an overnight security gig to be considered an adequate guardian for his younger sister Abby (Piper Rubino).
The film itself has an impressive production quality with editing and direction that genuinely rival many of the blockbusters currently showing. The horror elements are spaced out but definitely deserve the PG-13 rating. Of all the excellent aspects of this film, the star of the show is hands down the animatronics.
I was most looking forward to seeing the animatronics’ puppetry going into Five Nights at Freddy’s, and it did not disappoint. Made by the legendary Jim Henson Company, the puppet animatronics are the perfect mix of creepy, uncanny, nostalgic, and despondent. The talented performance of the puppeteers and the incredible artistry that went into making them is evident just from watching the film. They add a refreshing air of reality into a market so often dominated by CGI and special effects.
The puppets move in a stuttered way, emphasized with creaky metal sound effects to perfectly encapsulate the characters of Freddy, Bonnie, Chika, Cupcake, and, my personal favorite, Foxy. Each is so visually distinct and honestly mesmerizing. It isn’t until the latter half of the film that you see the entirety of the animatronics in their glory, and I sincerely think this is one of the only bad things about the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie. I understand why the animatronics remain hidden for so long, from a story standpoint, but from an artistic standpoint, I would have liked to see more of them.
As a longstanding Jim Henson fan, the animatronics were my favorite part of the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie, however they weren’t the only good thing about it. The writing of this movie was constantly high quality. The dialogue was realistic and really conveyed each character’s struggles, even if the acting of some characters didn’t reflect this. I have a younger sister, and because of the good writing and performance, I really related to Mike’s motivations and speech throughout the movie. What each character struggles with is raw and in the context of the story and the setting of a run-down pizzeria make each character and their motivations distinct and satisfying to watch.
I would consider the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie worth your time and money if you played any of the original games, like nostalgic or liminal horror, or occupied any adjacent online spaces to those that were fan spaces for FNaF. It is worth just your time if you have Peacock, have never heard of FNaF, or are not big on horror. I very much enjoyed this movie and appreciate the artistry and dedication that went into taking Freddy Fazbear to the big screen.
