Video Game Hopefuls Might Appreciate Some Faithful Adaptation, but otherwise 'Five Nights at Freddy's' underwhelms

by Vinny Albano

    Does the long awaited Five Nights at Freddy’s film adaptation live up to the hype? No. But if you’re a fan of the video game franchise there are many elements here to appreciate.

    The independent horror game franchise created by Scott Cawthon has become ingrained in our modern pop culture over the years due to its international success, it’s been hard to avoid the name Five Nights at Freddy’s ever since the release of the first game back in 2014. Talks of Blumhouse Productions making a film adaptation have been in the news for years now. Quite frankly, I forgot about production up until now. Emma Tammi leads the production as director, marking her first foray into the big IP market. Meanwhile, Tammi also co-writes the script alongside Scott Cawthon and Seth Cuddleback for an effort that leaves more to be desired despite the game (and this film's) gaining popularity.

    From a technical level, by no means is this a poorly made film. It's filled with visually interesting production design and costume design that also stays faithful to the video game source material. A perfect blend between a kid’s dream land and uncanny horror. As most of the film takes place in one location, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, the crew made sure that the set was up to par. Not to mention, director of photography, Lyn Moncrief, does a great job here. The film always maintained a consistent visual quality with some shots making exceptional standouts. A good example would be the scenes following Josh Hutcherson’s character, Mike, through the woods. The film is gritty and bleak, but light pops just where it needs to.

    Now, where the film really started to falter for me was the script. It was corny, but I’m fine with horror films being corny and campy if they embrace the camp and go all out. There are moments where that seems to be the case, but they never hold onto it for long enough for it to have a major impact. There are a lot of missed opportunities and untapped potential. Furthermore, the film has major tonal whiplash. It can’t decide if it wants to be silly or dramatic. On top of that, when it’s dramatic, it’s greatly weighed down from the fact that they don’t embrace the horror. It’s very tame which is probably a result of its PG-13 rating. A rating which I assume was placed on the studio due to the fanbase being of a younger demographic. However, even with this considered, I can’t lie and say it doesn’t hinder the quality of the film because it certainly does. 

    Within Five Nights at Freddy's, it's obvious that the film's tonal inconsistencies and untapped potential was also a result of the script feeling extremely formulaic and safe. For example, the film includes some modern movie tropes that can come off as annoying, as well as characters and their associated dialogue feeling like it was generated by AI. There was not a single line of dialogue that came to mind that sounded original or was memorable. You could predict the consensus of every line of dialogue before it was even delivered. In regard to this, its script felt very “studio.” You can possibly even speculate that editors and executives were constantly overlooking their shoulders and tweaking things. Or maybe too many chefs in the kitchen?

    Overall, this all cumulates into a not so exciting ride. It’s quite stale inside but leads with its polished exterior. I feel as someone who grew up around Five Nights at Freddy’s in the mainstream this entire film feels very wishy washy. If you haven’t a clue what Five Nights at Freddy’s is, you're probably going to hate it. If you’re a fan of the game franchise, there is more than enough fan service to chew on. But if you’re a casual spectator of the franchise like me, this film is most likely not worth your time.

Overall Rating: 5