In 2014, Scott Cawthon took the gaming crowd to a whole new level of scare when he created “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (FNAF). The game quickly stirred the gaming YouTubers of the time, and quickly, Freddy was gaining more fame. The franchise turned into 9 (mainline) games, a series of books, merchandise, and finally a movie. As someone who has been playing and watching others play these games since the beginning, I had high expectations for the movie. I wanted the film to do the game justice, and not just the games, the lore behind every action we played, and every theory the fanbase created. I’m happy to say that I was not disappointed.
The movie follows Mike, played by the amazing Josh Hutcherson, as he jumps from job to job trying to support his younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio). He has exhausted all of his options until he speaks to a career specialist (Matthew Lillard) who informs him of a job as a security guard at Freddy Fazbears Pizzeria. All he has to do is watch the monitors, and make sure no one gets in or out. One uneventful night, he meets Officer Vanessa (Elizabeth Lali) who patrols Freddy’s and she introduces him to the gang: Foxy, Chica, Bonnie, and of course, Freddy.
As a FNAF fan, I really enjoyed this movie. It was not a cinematic masterpiece, but it fulfilled my need for a movie that I have had for so many years. The acting was average, and the lore was mostly kept the same, and that is all you can really ask for from a movie that was made based off of a video game. I thought the highlight of the film was the animatronics. The expressions and design were really true to the first game. Another highlight was the appearance of a Youtuber who was always coming up with theories for the FNAF games. MattPat also known as The Game Theorist was able to have a cameo in the film, even being able to say his trademark saying, “It’s just a theory.” Sadly, the king of Five Nights at Freddy’s, a Youtube gamer known as Markiplier, was unable to make an appearance due to him working on his own movie, “Iron Lung.” But again, I really enjoyed this movie, and I hope there will be more in the foreseeable future.
Claire Arneson is a Dakota Student Section Editor. She can be reached at [email protected].
