By Seth Lukas Hynes
Five Nights at Freddy’s
Starring Josh Hutcherson, Piper Rubio and Elizabeth Lali
Rated M
3.25/5
Based on the popular video game of the same name, Five Nights at Freddy’s has solid performances, gloomy yet nostalgic atmosphere and some moving pathos, but suffers from a sloppy script and a lack of scares.
Mike (Josh Hutcherson), a troubled security guard, who is the sole guardian of his little sister Abby (Piper Rubio), takes on a night-shift job at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, an abandoned Chuck E. Cheese-like restaurant where the creepy animatronic mascots stalk the halls at night.
Five Nights at Freddy’s has two currents of suspense that don’t mesh well. The plot has some poignant observations on childhood trauma, loss and family turmoil, but the sinister children in Mike’s dreams detract from the physical animatronic threat.
Elizabeth Lail provides a sympathetic ear and shallow intrigue as Vanessa, a local police officer, there is a fleeting but cartoonishly cruel custody battle with Mike’s aunt Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson), and the restaurant’s dark backstory is very poorly-developed.
The film generates some decent dread, as the animatronics exploit Mike’s grief and Abby’s trusting nature, and the second act has an unnerving sequence of the animatronics hunting a group of looters. The FNAF games deal with fear of the unseen: much of the gameplay consists of watching monitors and pushing buttons at a desk to keep the monsters away. Ironically, this film adaptation, which has a bigger scope and more characters and action, shows the monsters too much, is more contrived than a movie about cursed animatronics should be, and just isn’t very scary.
An earnest misfire in the pantheon of video game movies, Five Nights at Freddy’s is playing in most Victorian cinemas, but the very fun 2021 film Willy’s Wonderland and the chilling 2019 short film The Hug are much better alternatives.
– Seth Lukas Hynes
