Courtesy of Nicole Sanfilippo ’27
After eight years of production, Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023) was released on Friday, November 27. The movie is based on an indie video game created by Scott Cawthon that became an internet sensation and gained attention from Youtubers due to its eerie charm. Over the past decade, there have been seven sequels, additional spin-off games, and the growth of a devoted fan base. The film was predicted to be a huge success given its massive online popularity, but the quality of the film and story contents are up for debate.
For some background, Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF) is a point-and-click survival horror game where one plays as a security guard trying to survive five nights at a family pizza chain ridden with animatronics who attempt to stuff you inside an animatronic suit. There’s a subtle storyline implemented behind the scenes and bits and pieces dropped in mini-games, but much of the plot is left unclear and up to theorists to decipher. Its ambiguity is one of the main reasons it shot to popularity. Youtubers like MatPat from Game Theory have spent the better part of their last decade trying to piece together the puzzle of FNAF, which is still debated today. When Warner Bros. Pictures acquired the film rights to the franchise in 2015, the fanbase rejoiced, hoping it would give clarity to the Freddy’s timeline.
However, after an eight-year wait for the release of the film’s trailer, much of the fanbase had reached their late teens or early twenties and lost interest in the games. Luckily, the film was constructed with this in mind.
The film could be better, especially for viewers without a background in the game. Jacob Linnetz, a University of Connecticut student who recently watched the movie, has no background with the FNAF franchise. He commented on the dialogue’s lack of substance, the multiple plot holes, and the lack of context for non-fans. For example, William Afton, the antagonist, has no significance if you aren’t well-versed in the series’ lore.
With a $25 million budget, it was predicted to be a high-quality film. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop created the animatronics, and an extensive portion of the budget went towards making the animatronics as realistic and functional as possible. Their quality makes up for what the movie lacks elsewhere because, and when later asked if the film has any redeeming factors Linnetz quickly mentioned these animatronics.
To long-time fans of the series, the film is a tribute to their childhood. Aspects of the game present in the film (like Foxy being the fastest animatronic) and hidden Easter eggs (a side character wearing a shirt with the design of Midnight Motorist) remind us of simpler times. Being a PG-13 film also opens the audience to the newer generation of fans, those who are just getting into FNAF through Security Breach, the latest sequel. It succeeds in uniting the entire fanbase, especially with the continuation of its ambiguous tendencies.
Just as with the baffling nature of the video games, the film leaves a lot of questions unanswered and has multiple inconsistencies from the theorized timeline. Theo Andres ‘27, an avid FNAF fanatic, has been working non-stop to comprehend the film’s connections to the original games. One significant inconsistency that stirs questions is that Mike is William Afton’s son in the games. In the film, he’s not Afton’s son but rather some other family’s son. Almost being murdered by your own father’s creations multiple times is much more harrowing than from some random, unrelated guy’s work. “Creating an emotional disconnection from the original storyline,” also eliminates the story’s iconic psychological, familial horror elements. Their commitment to maintaining the FNAF universe is still applaudable: the general story remains the same, and most of the characters are in both media.
However, unneeded additions of random subplots make the movie stereotypical and cheesy. The film’s production company, Blumhouse, exercised their creative liberty to add a custody battle and human trafficking case! Though FNAF fans were quick to make jokes about the forced subplots, user “danidanadinha” on the film-oriented social media site Letterboxd commented on the film, “better movie about child trafficking than sound of freedom,” comparing Five Nights at Freddy’s, a comical horror movie for children, to Sound of Freedom (2023), a film actually about child-trafficking.
While it may come off as a silly horror flick to an unknowing audience, the film holds greater importance in the trend of adaptation films. There’s been a long history of films adapted from novels or true stories, but only recently have video game film adaptations become more popular, including The Angry Birds Movie (2016), Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023). However, Five Nights at Freddy’s is unique because of its complex storyline. The video games don’t follow a straightforward hero vs. villain plot, and they have multiple plotlines that couldn’t all be covered in a single film without substantial context.
Due to this nature, FNAF fails to succeed as a mainstream movie. To appeal to a broader audience, many plot points and aspects had to be adjusted or cut (ex. no puppet animatronic). It upsets long-time fans due to its disconnect from the original games, but when films are produced for profit, sacrifices need to be made.
However, overall Five Nights at Freddy’s is a hit film. Even if you dislike its cringey nature or poor execution, you can’t argue with its box office numbers: best opening weekend for a horror film in 2023 ($80 million), second highest simultaneous release opening weekend ever, and Blumhouse’s new personal record. Its success is unsurprising. Its tribute to the series is nostalgic and endearing. Not only are multiple aspects of the games present, but also homage to the community through goofy cameos of iconic streamer CoryxKenshin and previously mentioned theorist king, MatPat, both accredited for FNAF’s fame.
Despite being around for almost a decade, fans still emerge from the shadows at any sign of new content, eager to obsess over and decode it, and this film is no exception. No matter how much Scott Cawthon fleshes out Five Nights at Freddy’s, the fans will always come back.
