Five Nights at Freddy's

I found the concept to be a bit cartoonish, so I was expecting it to be more fun. The story had a slow start, and the main character's easily startled, and his constant jumpiness gets old pretty quick. Surprisingly, there weren't many jump scares, and it felt like a slasher movie without the slashing. They shied away from showing the gruesome stuff, opting for screams, shadows, and implied horrors. It's a little bit slow paced, thought it was a slow burn buildup but it doesn't get to the highs. It feels like it drags slightly.

While the premise was interesting, it seemed like they focused solely on the plot, neglecting the fun and scariness. The concept was fresh, but it lacked imagination in the end. The whole "kidnapped little brother" storyline felt like an excuse for allowing his sister to interact with the robots, even though it was illogical given how much he cared for her. Hard to believe he wanted to find his brother so much he's willing to 'sacrifice' his sister. This inconsistency was hard to overlook.

The film wasn't particularly thrilling, but I I did like how the aunt got got, even though it wasn't shown explicitly. The introduction of the yellow rabbit was genuinely scary, how he walked out, but once he started talking he wasn't so frightening anymore..

Anyway, it's a little generic, not as fun nor creepy as it could've been; not too much to get you interested in the characters even though they did have some depth. Ultimately, a pretty mediocre and forgettable film.

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.

"Five Nights at Freddy's" is a film that seems to stay faithful to the games, especially in its portrayal of the creepy animatronic characters that capture the eerie spirit of the game's characters. Despite the film not being as bad as some critics suggest, it falls short of being truly impressive. It can be described as a generic, light production that manages to entertain until the end.

On the downside, the film is quite moderate in terms of violence and scares. The scares it does offer are mostly predictable and lack the ability to truly terrify, relying on dated techniques. Furthermore, the lack of violence makes it feel somewhat juvenile. The characters in the film come across as somewhat caricatured and unrealistic, particularly the human villains who seem like they're straight out of a 90s teen comedy. The direction also falls short, leaving "Five Nights at Freddy's" lacking a distinct identity and failing to cater to both the child and adult audience.

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.

Just saw Five Nights at Freddy's. That.... was a hot mess. Let's talk about positives first. The Jim Henson Shop out did themselves bringing Freddy and friends to life. They did primarily practical effects and it shows, the animatronics being the best part of the film. Another positive is the music, which was outstanding!

Unfortunately, that's where my positives stop. This film has two major problems. First, it's PG13. This movie would have benefitted greatly from an R rating, it was tamer than the games. Second, the film can't decide if it is for fans or newcomers. The actual FNAF storyline is largely secondary to the plot of the lead character trying to discover who kidnapped his brother as a child. It's annoying, because when it's not being FNAF, it's just boring. (Also maybe it's the direction given, but the leads were pretty bland). They try to do a mystery thing with the FNAF storyline that doesn't work if you know the games. Matthew Lillard was perfectly cast, but woefully underused (He's in maybe 15min of the movie). Overall, I have to give FNAF the movie a C-. If you want a good version of Five Nights in film, stick with Willy's Wonderland, it's much better.