[Five Nights at Freddy’s gameplay]
[a distorted version of “Talking in Your Sleep” by The Romantics]
FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S, THE MOVIE, WAS JUST RELEASED IN THEATERS ON OCTOBER 27. IT’S A HORROR MOVIE BASED OFF OF A VIDEO GAME OF THE SAME NAME. THE GAME, RELEASED IN 2014, QUICKLY BECAME ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR VIDEO GAMES WITHIN A YEAR AND SPURRED A SURGE OF SEQUELS, SPIN-OFFS, AND RIP-OFFS THAT CONTINUE TO BE RELEASED EACH YEAR.
[various YouTubers playing FNAF]
IN THE GAME, YOU PLAY AS MIKE SCHMIDT, A NIGHT SHIFT SECURITY GUARD AT FREDDY FAZBEAR’S PIZZERIA—A PLACE SEEMINGLY INSPIRED BY CHUCK E. CHEESE OR SHOWBIZ PIZZA. THE GOAL IS TO SURVIVE FIVE NIGHTS IN YOUR OFFICE WITHOUT LETTING THE ANIMATRONICS CHARACTERISTIC OF SUCH RESTAURANTS GET TO YOU, BECAUSE THEY HAVE SOMEHOW GAINED FREE WILL AND ARE OUT FOR BLOOD!
[CCTV static]
THAT NOISE IS THE SOUND OF THE CCTV SYSTEM SWITCHING BETWEEN CAMERA FEEDS. THE ICONIC CAMERA FEED IS A LARGE PART OF THE MOVIE AS WELL. THE SECURITY GUARD IN THE MOVIE, PLAYED BY JOSH HUTCHERSON, IS ALSO NAMED MIKE SCHMIDT. ELIZABETH LAIL PLAYS A POLICE OFFICER, AND MATTHEW LILLARD PLAYS A CAREER COUNSELOR. FROM ICONIC HORROR ORIGINS HIMSELF, MATTHEW LILLARD IS KNOWN NOT ONLY AS SHAGGY FROM THE LIVE ACTION SCOOBY-DOO BUT ALSO AS STU MACHER FROM THE ORIGINAL SCREAM HORROR MOVIE.
[a line from Stu Macher in Scream (1996)]
AS ADAPTATIONS GO, THE MOVIE IS INCREDIBLY FAITHFUL TO ITS SOURCE MATERIAL AND THE PEOPLE WHO HELPED POPULARIZE IT. MULTIPLE YOUTUBERS WHO PLAYED THE GAME IN THEIR VIDEOS CAN BE SEEN AS PHOTOGRAPHED “EMPLOYEES OF THE MONTH” IN THE BACKGROUND OF SOME SCENES. YOUTUBER CORY WILLIAMS, KNOWN ONLINE AS CORYXKENSHIN, PLAYS AN UNFORTUNATE TAXI DRIVER.
[a line from Cory Williams in the movie]
ANOTHER YOUTUBER MATTHEW PATRICK, KNOWN AS MATPAT, PLAYS A CHEERY WAITER AT A DINER PULLED RIGHT FROM THE GAME SERIES.
[a line from Matthew Patrick in the movie]
FINALLY, THE MOVIE ENDS WITH A FAN-MADE SONG OVER THE CREDITS.
[“Five Nights at Freddy’s 1 Song” by The Living Tombstone]
I WENT INTO THE MOVIE WITH VARIED EXPECTATIONS. AS A KID, I DIDN’T PLAY THE GAME MYSELF, BUT I WAS A CHILD WITH THE INTERNET WITH FRIENDS WHO PLAYED THE GAME, SO I WAS AWARE OF ITS JUMPSCARES AND ANALOG HORROR. ON ONE HAND, I KNEW THE MOVIE WOULD HAVE SOME FUN HORROR ELEMENTS—I’M A BIG SCARY MOVIE FAN—BUT I WAS ALSO WARY ABOUT HOW IT WOULD TURN OUT GIVEN THE HISTORY OF VIDEO GAME ADAPTATIONS. THE FILM WAS PROPOSED IN 2015, LESS THAN A YEAR AFTER THE GAME CAME OUT, BUT TOOK MANY YEARS AND DIFFERENT STUDIO PRODUCTION COMPANIES BEFORE IT ENDED UP WITH BLUMHOUSE. EVEN AFTER THAT IT TOOK TWO YEARS OF SCRIPT REWRITES BEFORE THE FINISHED PRODUCT ARRIVED.
[Ethan] I grew up with Five Nights at Freddy’s, and I really wanted to watch the movie.
AFTER WATCHING IT, I ASKED SOME OF MY FELLOW MOVIE-GOERS, ETHAN, NYLA, AND COCONUT FOR THEIR THOUGHTS. FOR SOME, THE MOVIE WAS HIGHLY ANTICIPATED.
[Coconut] A lot of people hyped up the movie—especially my friend Ethan—so I came to support as well.
I ASKED THEM IF IT LIVED UP TO THE HYPE.
[Ethan] Uh, sort of, a little—you know? I was just kind of like…they changed a few things so I was like “aw man, whatever,” but it was still a really good movie—like I actually kind of liked it. Like, I really enjoyed it.
[Nyla] It was a good movie, yeah. But, um, I could tell that it wasn’t—it didn’t go with the story as much.
[Coconut] Um, I thought it was a pretty good movie, but I didn’t know the background story. But, if I did know the background story, I probably wouldn’t like it.
ETHAN WAS FAIRLY INTO THE MOVIE, BUT, FOR HIM, SOME MOMENTS TOOK AWAY FROM THE HORROR.
[Ethan] Uh, whenever they were—whenever they had that montage of them building the fort, that was kind of like, you know, that was like, oh that’s kind of goofy, that’s funny…but, you know.
OVERALL, I THINK WE’D BOTH AGREE IT WAS A PRETTY GOOD MOVIE FOR WHAT IT WAS. IF YOU ARE A FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S FAN OR JUST A HORROR MOVIE FAN IN GENERAL, GO OUT AND SEE IT OR STREAM IT ON PEACOCK.
FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M MAX MILO.
