Five Nights At Freddy's The Movie Review · 12:46am Nov 2nd, 2023
So it's finally here. Nine years; multiple games, books, fan-animations, art, plushies, and now we have finally arrived at the day that they've gotten a big movie. I got to see it last night during Halloween evening, and so now I'm here to talk about it today. This is, Five Nights At Freddy's.
Struggling to find work, Mike Schmidt winds up finding a job working the night shift at a rundown, abandoned children's entertainment facility known as Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. Unfortunately as he spends time there, he's frequented by strange nightmares relating to his past, and uncovers bizarre activity happening with the animatronic band that's left to roam the place. Something is off at this place, and he starts to unravel a dark truth behind the old pizzeria...
So right off the bat; let me get this out of the way. I freaking loved this movie. Maybe that's cause I had a really stressful Halloween yesterday, but I loved this movie. It caters to the FNAF fans, and if you're a casual fan, it's perfect for the casuals too. You don't need to know every single thing, every piece of lore or part of the timeline cause jesus christ, I think the timeline is confusing as hell as it is, I can't keep up with it! Which is why to my eyes, this movie is a separate universe from the games, which frankly, I'm completely fine with. I think it's fine if this is it's own time-line/universe, allow it to flesh out things in this universe and do things differently.
The story, while not being anything super complex, is easy to follow and I was invested. I know some people might be turned off by the focus on Mike and his sister, but I thought it worked well enough, and I like seeing a reason for why he even signed up for the job to begin with. When you're that desperate in a situation like he was in, you'd take any money you can get. Also, maybe it's just me, I'm fine with him not being connected to the Aftons, if he was originally this. Again, I cannot keep track of everyone when there is so many factors in the timeline to keep track of. Either way, I was happy to see where it was going, I loved the roles the bots played in, and I love the nods to various sections of the FNAF universe and lore.
And that's something else I love about this movie; this movie is made for the fans, which to my eyes is NEVER a bad things. I've heard a lot of critics getting angry for no real reason other than... whaaa? Who the hell cares anymore? Now don't get me wrong, FNAF is not for everyone, not everyone is gonna like it, and that is totally fine, I completely understand why someone wouldn't care for this series, or the movie, I'm not gonna get mad at anyone for that. What I am gonna criticize is when people bitch about the movie being 'for the fans' when really, any adaption of a video game should be for the fans, and not catering to everyone but the people who made the games popular. Looking at YOU, Resident Evil. And even with the fact this movie's more on a fresh track, there's a lot of cool nods to the games in various ways; some obvious, some subtle, they're all there. There were even references to the books, and I haven't read those, but I bet some of those made people happy.
The effects also work well, and I freaking love that they use actual animatronics. This is why you get the Jim Henson company to make robots, they know their stuff. They look great, and honestly, I don't have any nitpicks. They look instantly recognizable, I have no problems with this.
Acting from everyone is also pretty good; even the child actors. Really, I can't find any bad actors in this, I think everyone did a good job with the roles provided. Especially the cameos we got; CoryKenshin, you were just... perfect 
Set designs were also great; I like this movie's setting in the early 2000s, honestly I think that's a perfect setting for this movie, especially with the tech that's shown and available. And the pizzeria itself is soooo gorgeous to look at; even with how filthy it looks, it just looks so fun, I bet this was a fun place for children in it's heyday. You know before the slaughters occurred 
When the movie releases to physical (yes I'm this floppin' old that I want it on physical), I'm gonna screencap the hell out of this place cause I wanna make Lego vignettes out of it!
And of course, sound design is great. From the soundtrack and the score, the music is great. Loved the usage of certain sounds in a few spots for the film.
Now to be honest my nitpicks are very few in far between, with only a small handful of critiques I've had that don't really break the movie, but still something I feel is worth bringing up.
The main villain. Now anyone could probably guess who the villain is, but I feel like we should have had more time with them since they don't appear that often; now I understand not wanting to make it so obvious, or at least, not overuse them, but I feel like an extra scene or two with them would have helped a little bit with the big reveal coming before the final showdown.
I know another critique people have had is the movie being PG-13 and not hard R, honestly this doesn't bother me that much, but I do think even with the creativity of some of the kills, we could have added more bodies to the count. Just a smidge more. I don't want this to be a big gore fest, cause that's not really what FNAF is, but stepping up the kills would have been good. And I will admit this part, it's not really a bad thing or a good thing. For me... the movie isn't that scary, at least in parts. It's not gonna keep you awake for days, but it doesn't hold back on the ruthlessness of the situation the characters are in. I think most of us generally came here for the story, and not the jumpscares.
And I know some folks had issues with one particular character in the film and her role, but honestly that doesn't really bother much; frankly trying to follow Security Breach's place and narrative was a huge pain the ass and I got a headache. I think she was fine being in this role, and again, I choose to believe this movie is a parallel universe so not everything is gonna be the same. There's a lot of constants, but there's gonna be variables.
Now with all of that said; I definitely enjoyed this movie. It is for the FNAF fans, and I know it's gonna be divisive as hell; I can already see people split on it. Some who hate it, some who love it, I can honestly get all the critiques, but personally, in a day and age where it feels like everyone says that every new movie or show sucks now, I'm being more laid back in my reviews and just wanting to watch a fun movie/show, or at least trying to be. I'm not gonna be a rage reviewer, I don't want to; it's peak was a long time ago.
But for the movie, I definitely recommend giving it a watch, even if it's just once. And for the love of god, go see it in theaters first; always good to support your local theaters, and cause we've gotten too used to everything being on streaming, we need to slow the hell down on that.
I give Five Nights at Freddy's the movie, an 8 out of 10.
Thanks for reading, sorry this was so late, and hope you all had an awesome Halloween! 
No worries here, Four. Glad that you enjoyed the movie!
Amazing what happens when the original creator comes in and makes something they know the fans will love - I had a feeling it'd be like the Mario movie when I saw the critics' reaction and I was right. I loved it! Glad you liked it, Four - here's to potential sequels.
I never even played any of the games, but even I thought it was a nice shoutout to a popular game franchise. With a very low budget too, this thing is already turning a profit after just its opening week. Also another examples of critics hating something but audiences love so it’s another testament to how more viewers than ever couldn’t give a rats behind what critics think and that’s a good thing.
I'll have to watch the film personally to get my own evaluation of it before I give my opinion on it. Great review on your end though, Four.