Is That the FNaF Movie?
‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ becomes the highest-grossing Blumhouse film ever.
For nine years, millions across the world have been scared by animatronics, jump scares, and the long trail of death and revenge that is the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” videogame series.
Recently, the Five Nights at Freddy’s “FNaF” series has had a movie released based mostly on the original game, simply called “Five Nights at Freddy’s”. The movie has been an idea since 2015 and has been through developmental hell.
A change in production companies, the changing of staff, an extensive lore, and several versions of the script led to the FNaF movie not being released until October 27, 2023.
The FNaF movie is based around Mike Schmidt, a man who suffers from the childhood trauma of his younger brother being kidnapped. Throughout the movie, Mike keeps dreaming of his brother’s kidnapping as well as a few mysterious ghost kids, who are linked to the shutdown of Freddy Fazbear’s. Mike’s job leads to him growing a bigger bond with his younger sister Abby, as well as coming to closure with his brother’s kidnapping.
The plot of the FNaF movie is pretty simple but allows for an opportunity to be added with future sequels just like the video game series. The movie, however, has some weirdly scripted scenes.
For example, when Vanessa, a local police officer, says “You can do whatever you want with your own life, but if you ever bring Abby back here again, I will shoot you.”, or when Foxy traps a person to kill them only for the camera to cut away. The only other part that should have been fixed was the ending, as the iconic character of William Afton/Springtrap was rushed to be added in within the last 15 minutes of the movie.
Blumhouse Productions, Fair use, https://dam.gettyimages.com/universal/fivenightsatfreddys
The infamous animatronics of the series were practical so they were built as suits so actors could wear them. “Every single detail was something that we did a process of trial and error on and checked it out and beta-tested it,” the movie’s director Emma Tammi said.
She, along with co-producer Jason Blum, took dedication to making the animatronics look as accurate and realistic as possible. They also used as little CGI as possible.
The main leads of the movie play their roles well. Mike Schmidt, played by Josh Hutcherson, Abby Schmidt, played by Piper Rubio, and Vanessa Monroe, played by Elizabeth Lail, make the idea of the killer animatronics more believable as they tower over them. Mike and Abby’s relationship building throughout the movie lets both parties develop as people, with Abby becoming nicer to her brother and Mike overcoming his trauma.
Steve Raglan, later revealed to be the series antagonist, Willam Afton, is played by Matthew Lillard, who plays the serial killer well with a condescending and aggressive tone throughout the movie’s ending.
Another part that Emma Tammi and co-producers Jason Blum and Scott Cawthon had taken careful consideration of was the accuracy and references to the video game series.
“There’s so much in the movie that speaks to the fanbase,” Blum said. References to scenes from the games to FNaF YouTubers were added to connect with and thank the dedicated fans of the series.
“I've always been a FNaF fan and seeing a movie that promised to be it did have me concerned at first,” senior Tyreq Thomas said. “But as I watched it, I realized that the movie was actually made with care and dedication.”
From the characters and references, the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie is truly a love letter to the fans of the FNaF series. It may not be the movie of the year, but I’m proud to say that it’s a movie I would highly recommend and watch again.