Five Night’s at Freddy’s

Let’s keep the Halloween theme rolling this month as I discuss a movie that was a long time coming in my household. But before I get too far into it, this review does have spoilers in it, so beware… you have been warned and jumped scared away… that’s no Halloween prank.

So, Five Nights at Freddy’s is a new movie based on a popular video game series of the same name that originally came out in 2014. The game was very popular and had many sequels. As a father of someone who loved these games and characters as they were growing up, we were all pretty excited to see this.

The movie follows Mike (played by Josh Hutcherson in one of his better acting jobs) as he is once again looking for a job after losing his most recent one as a mall security guard after a misunderstanding of a situation and handling that situation even worse. He visits a career counselor (surprising and fun to see Matthew Lillard here) to help him but doesn’t get much assistance apart from an overnight security gig that is offered to him. He doesn’t want to work nights because he has to take care of his little sister Abby (Piper Rubio) but is forced to when his aunt threatens to take custody of his sister.

This job is not like it seems as he starts to notice more and more odd stuff occurring during his shifts. Throughout the yep… five nights, he figures out with the help of Abby and Vanessa, the local law enforcement what is really going on at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Abby is there with him because he can’t find the babysitter who used to come over and is forced to take her with him at night.

Constantly haunted by the kidnapping and immediate disappearance of his little brother when he was younger, his dreams become more vivid and realistic as he slowly starts to get closer to the answer of who took his brother. He also learns that the animatronics (Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Cupcake) that are seemingly alive are actually the spirits of the children that we also kidnapped in the past. As if this revelation isn’t enough, he eventually finds out that they want his sister Abby to join them causing a quite climatic fifth night as he races to save not just himself, but also Abby. The big twist eventually reveals itself as Vanessa’s dad shows up as the main antagonist and an all-around evil guy with some bad stuff in his past. But, he’s also the same guy that hired Mike in the first place. So, the story comes full circle as Mike, Abby, and Vanessa (barely) survive the five nights and seem to be on the right path moving forward. I have to admit that some of this sounds silly, but it plays well on the screen, especially if you know the story beforehand.

I wouldn’t quantify this as a “scary movie” exactly, I mean it does have it’s scares, but they are mostly in the form of jump scares, which mimics the games since that’s what they were built on. So, if you like that sort of thing, this is up your alley.

In the past, I was always on the fence about the roles and acting capabilities of Josh Hutcherson, but he holds his own here in the leading role with some truly believable demons he has to conquer. It also features a nice small supporting cast (which I have mentioned above) who all do a great job moving the film forward. Piper Rubio really does a phenomenal job playing Abby. You can really see the looks on her face when she is upset or happy.

Honestly, what set this movie in a good spot for us was our history with the lore and characters. Like I mentioned earlier, we have a kid who loved Five Nights at Freddy’s. Not only had we seen and played all the games, but we’ve played with the action figures, bought the souvenirs, and helped him dress up in FNAF Halloween costumes for years. So, it was neat for us to see Freddy and all the other animatronics on the big screen. After years of a movie that was rumored to be made, I wasn’t sure if it was ever going to come out or not. Now, with all that being said, I don’t expect everyone to feel the same about this movie. It’s definitely not for everyone and the concept may even sound too silly for some. But for those of us already in the know, it was a fun 2 hours in a theater with lots of fun nods to our past decade.

This sits firmly at 7 out of 10, just so Foxy doesn’t come and get me in my sleep tonight.