By Catherine Erskine
While people are focusing on the intensity of Five Nights at Freddy’s, it’s nothing compared to its fans.
From full costumes (some of which were very creative and cool) to very…… assertive young people controlling the movements of those in line who dare to look like they are moving forward before them. This was a very interesting look at the fandom of a game that I have only had explained to me by students in the grade 4-8 classes where I used to work. All I knew beforehand was that Freddy’s was a very popular game with lots of jump scares (kids would make me watch play throughs and gleefully wait for my scream at school), and animatronic animals.
But, for fans of the franchise, seeing Five Nights on Freddy’s on screen was a moment equivalent to Swifties seeing the Eras Tour film. This is their time.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is directed by Emma Tammi and produced by Blumhouse (which gave me hope that it might be good), Scott Cawthorne Production and Striker entertainment. Based on the video game franchise (which has THIRTEEN entries!), we meet Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson), a security guard who can’t hold down a job due to his erratic behaviour. Struggling to get by, Mike accepts a job offered to him by his career counselor (Matthew Lillard) as a nighttime security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza (similar to Chuck–E-Cheese) so that he can keep custody of his younger sister after the death of their parents. Not so shockingly, this job has a high turnover rate due to the animatronic mascots: Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy, each of whom have homicidal tendencies after midnight.
As you watch the movie, you learn that Mike had a younger brother who was kidnapped on a family trip and was never seen again. While he obsesses over his brother’s disappearance, his younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio) is left to draw and spends a lot of time alone. However, her babysitter doesn’t show up one night and Mike must take her to work with him. There, she is introduced to a police officer. Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail). who spends a suspicious amount of time at the abandoned pizza place, with a suspicious amount of knowledge about it.
Oh, and while she’s there, Abby meets the whole animatronic gang who really take a liking to her.
And want her to stay. Forever.
As Mike fights to understand his brother’s disappearance (and how Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza is connected to it), he must decide if he will forever be stuck in the past or save the sister who is right in front of him and, maybe, has the answers that he was too busy to see.
Going into Freddy Fazbear’s for the first time, I was looking forward to jump scares. After all, that is what the game is most ,famous for. But, in terms of scares, there weren’t a ton. (Freddy’s is rated PG-13 but, if you have young kids that scare easily, it may not be for them.) As a horror, I would say it is very low in intensity. Some jump scares make you laugh at yourself afterwards, but that’s about it. If you have never played the games or don’t know much about it, you won’t miss out by skipping this one.
BUT, the fans seemed to love it, which made it more interesting really. Freddy’s Era’s tour is the place to be, especially if you are a big fan of the games or have young people in your life (or young at heart) that are fans. This is their chance to dress up, hum or sing the songs, and get really excited to see the characters they have grown to love on the big screen at long last. It would be a fun time to go with them. And it just might scare up some big bucks along the way.
Five Nights at Freddie’s is available in theatres and streaming on Peacock on Friday, October 27th, 2023.
