By: Kameron Heft

On August 14, 2014, Five Nights at Freddy’s was published to Steam by Scott Cawthon without a clue of the game’s future success. Eight years later, Cawthon is the main producer and writer for the movie.

In the game, players are a security guard taking the night shift at a pizzeria where animatronics come to life and attack them as they try and survive. 

On October 27, fans raced into the theaters to see the movie they had waited so long for after being held back by its major delays and studio changes. As an avid fan of the franchise myself, I went to view the movie at a 5:40 PM showing the day it was released in theatres and I have watched it twice. Ever since the first game was released, I was excited about what mediums of entertainment the series could venture into.

The movie features a man named Mike Schmidt who has a troubled past getting a security guard job at a now abandoned Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. After a few nights, animatronics come alive and attack him as well as his younger sister Abby and a police officer Vanessa. 

I had very low expectations for this movie. Overall, the movie is what I expected in terms of writing. It wasn’t as bad, but it also wasn’t great. The movie hit the mark of entertainment and fun for the fans.

I contrast Five Nights at Freddy’s with other animatronic horror movies like The Banana Splits and Willy’s Wonderland, both of which are considered “knock-offs” of Five Nights at Freddy’s. The Banana Splits lacked the authentic feel in its practical effects that Five Nights at Freddy’s displayed, and Willy’s Wonderland lacked the depth in its plot that Five Nights at Freddy’s demonstrated.

There were a few moments in the movie where I couldn’t help but laugh. The animatronics sometimes would move in weird positions; however, this clunkiness is part of the charm of the movie. 

The prioritization of practical effects to achieve a more realistic look for certain characters, props, and gore is much appreciated in the face of overused and cheap CGI, often seen in other blockbuster films.

Matthew Lillard plays the antagonist, William Afton, and Josh Hutcherson plays our protagonist, Mike Schmidt. The performances of the actors were great: Lillard and Hutcherson both displayed solid acting skills for their characters.

Matthew Lillard was well cast for his role, adding a great deal of resentment to his character using his gruff voice and unpleasant demeanor. Josh Hutcherson was adequately selected for his role because of his anxious and somber personality.

The movie also had fun cameos of internet commentators like MatPat from the YouTube channel Game Theory. In addition, CoryxKenshin, another YouTuber who played the games on his channel, also made an appearance.

Fans and critics both show contradicting opinions on this movie: fans enjoyed it, while critics hated it.

Critics gave the movie a scathing 28% on Rotten Tomatoes. On the other hand, the general audience gave it a smooth 89%. Nonetheless, I’d argue that the critics missed the mark, or misunderstood what the movie was meant to be.

By reading the reviews of the movie, it seems that many critics expected the movie to be a gorefest thriller. I’d argue that this is a failure in marketing. The movie isn’t as scary or gory as other popular Blumhouse films, being co-written by the creator of the series. It focused more on its deeper and refined lore elements, things that wouldn’t be apparent to a critic or newcomer but would be expected by a fan. 

As a film primarily made for fans, Five Nights at Freddy’s movie is a success. It isn’t anything extraordinary, because that wasn’t what it was meant to be, but it was something engaging to core fans and even those with lighter ties to the series.

It’s best explained by the creator of the franchise himself, Scott Cawthon, “The story really lends itself to being a movie, and it taps into a largely unexplored niche of horror that a lot of people will be able to relate to.”