Five Nights at Freddy's

Just fresh out of the cinema after seeing Five Nights at Freddy's, so here's my spoiler free review for it.

Now, personally, I don't find the actual concept of FNAF all that scary so I personally wasn't "scared" watching this. The jumpscares were effective but did this movie ever really make me feel uneasy? No, not really. But again, that's personal preference and not a dig at the movie at all.

The sound design, cinematography and the overall design of everything (from the animatronics to the actual restaurant) is incredible.

Now, here in the UK the film is rated 15 (which means children cannot watch it. Even if they are accompanied by an adult). In the USA, I know it's PG-13. For Americans who are probably wondering "Can I take my kid to see this?". Well, that's down to you. The film isn't overloaded with gory imagery, but there are one or two moments where it is extremely brutal, so just keep that in mind.

The "twist" at the end, and yes there's a twist, is... predictable, in all honesty. If you don't know anything about the lore, then yeah it might catch you off guard. But if you're even just slightly knowledgable about it, you probably wouldn't call it a twist.

Out of the horror movies I have seen, I'd honestly say this is one of the more lighthearted ones. There's a lot of humour here, as well as moments that do kinda make you think "Is this a horror film?". It's not "balls-to-the-wall" scary and I honestly don't think it was trying to be, nor does it need to be. It's just a fun film with horror elements, to me.

Overall, really enjoyed it and would recommend it if you're wanting something to watch for spooky season that is not too intense. It'd also be a great entry for anyone just getting into horror movies.

A young unemployed man called Mike (Josh Hucherson) who is taking care of his sister (Piper Rubio) starts working as a night security guard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza restaurant. Mike meets police officer Vanessa Shelly (Elizabeth Lail) , who shows him around the restaurant and tells him that the place closed in the 1980s. There he discovers that strange events are happening in relation to his past when his younger brother was kidnapped by a strange individual who took him in a car to an undetermined location. When he's working he realizes that the night shift won't be so easy to get through. Pretty soon he will unveil what actually happened at Freddy's. Can you survive?. When the night shift starts, the nightmare begins !.

Adaptation of the successful video game saga of the same title created in 2014 by Scott Cawthon. Exciting terror movie packing suspenseful horror, thrills, chills, graphic violence, gory scenes and grisly killings. ¨Blumhouse" creates a disturbing and grim horror film about a murderous animatronics, and a young starring who is subjected to intense work stress that does not see prepared to take care of his younger sister. Five Nights at Freddy's (2023) gives a new vision of terror, this is a twisted horror tale with animatronics that begin to take on a life of its own, being consistently paced, adequately played and with a lot of gore, blood, twists and turns . Bizarre terror movie that's heavy on creepy scenes with acceptable, though mainly inside production design, including brilliant photography and over-the-top special effects. A sinister and unsettling flick that goes on growing more and more and developing little by little until the unexpected conclusion. It is an acceptable story that relies heavily on the impressive special effects from the fantastic animatronics. Stars Josh Hutcherson who gives a passable acting as the young man who discovers animatronics move and kill anyone they see, Piper Rubio as his small sister Abby, Elizabeth Lail as a beautiful police woman, Matthew Lillard as counselor Steve Raglan, who offers him work as a night guard and Mary Stuart Masterson as his nasty and selfish aunt.

This is one of Jason Blum's many successful productions in the horror genre. His formula for making movies as inexpensively as possible does not mean looking for low-budget movies to see if he likes them, but looking for movies he likes, and then see if they can be done on a low budget. According Jason Blum himself his rules for making a cheap movie include: 1) Limit the amount of speaking parts, because actors with lines get an additional fee; 2) Limit the amount of locations (preferably only one); 3) Pay actors the legally minimum, and offer them a percentage of perspective profits; 4) Never break the budget, don't ask for more money. His notorious films include the following: ¨The Exorcist: Believer¨, ¨Get Out¨, ¨Night Swin¨, ¨M3GAN¨, ¨Halloweeen Kills¨, ¨The Gallows Act I and II¨, ¨Insidious saga¨, ¨Firestarter¨, ¨Exposure¨, ¨Nanny¨, ¨A House on the Bayou¨ , ¨The Invisible Man¨, ¨Us¨, ¨Happy Death Day 1 and 2¨, among others.

The motion picture was uneven but professionally directed by Emma Tammi. She has worked for both film and television, such as: ¨Into the Dark¨ (2018), ¨The Left Right Game¨ (2020), ¨The Left Right Game¨ (2020), ¨The Wind¨ (2018), ¨Election Day: Lens Across America¨ (2017), and ¨Fair Chase (2014)¨. ¨Five Nights at Freddy's¨(2023) rating: 5.5/10. Average but passable and acceptable.

If you loved the FNAF games, go see this, at the base level it's fun to see this stuff come to life, especially when the costume design and set design are this good.

If you're a harsh critic, you might HATE this film.

Its biggest problems are character development overall storyline, and horror factor. (This would be better if R-Rated, however, that's not to say you can't make a great PG13 horror flick.)

Acting wasn't too bad, Hutchinson and Lillard are as good as they can be with the writing they were given. Same with the kids in the movie.

How to Make it Better?: I can see this being a MUCH better film if they were to treat it like a one-room horror adventure, much like the game. Keep Mike in the chair, terrified of leaving the office, trying to keep the monsters back. (Something like Devil, or Panic Room) - Throughout the film they could've given him flashbacks to connect dots, conversations over the phone, and during the day he makes rounds in the town to figure things out - Then they could make his reason for going back each night valuable, like he wants to solve the mystery of the animatronics, etc.

Just fell flat, beautiful to look at, some fun scenes, but you won't recommend the film to anyone who hasn't played FNAF.

A security guard gets a job, and suddenly realises he's going to have an incredibly challenging and difficult night.

I genuinely and desperately wanted to love this film, the trailers looked so cool, and despite not being a gamer, I knew of the game.

Now, if I were judging this solely on the visuals, I'd be giving it a mammoth score, and healing praise onto it, it does look fantastic, and as for the 'locals,' they look so cool, the special effects are great, genuinely a smashing looking film, one that my fifteen year old self would have loved.

Now, the important bit, the translation from game to film, I really wish I could say it worked brilliantly, I'm not sure, I think there's something missing, does the story work? Sadly I'd have to argue that I don't think it does.

I think younger teens will genuinely enjoy this movie, for horror lovers like myself, it may be lacking a bit of bite, similar to M3GAN, very watchable, just a little tame.

6/10.

So, I know it must be extremely difficult to take a simple gaming concept like Five Nights at Freddy's and stretch that idea out into a full blown movie. I totally understand that artistic hardship, but...The script missed the mark folks.

I honestly enjoyed the stunning look of everything, which I gather most people assume would be top notch given the studio that made the film, but wow... the basic story was so very weak. I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to horror movies, but this was moving into borderline "cheese", parody territory.

The positives: I was living for the look of the creature costumes. So many kudos there. The acting is pretty decent for a studio movie, as it really should be. Matthew Lillard was the standout performance in my opinion. The music was pretty cool too.

Everything considered, I honestly enjoyed myself, which is the point of any entertainment product after all. So I give it a six. But that side-story, and most of the dialogue really needed to bake in the oven a little longer before being served up.