Five Nights at Freddy’s is a recently made horror movie based on the video game franchise, made by Scott Cawthon, that was launched in 2014 and has grown to feature 13 games in total. In the game, you play the role of a security guard that makes sure nothing gets in or out of the pizzeria. The movie, directed by Emma Tammi, premiered in theaters and on Peacock on October 27, 2023.

In the film, Mike (Josh Hutcherson), after ruining his career as a mall security guard, becomes the new night-time security guard of an old pizzeria that was popular in the 80’s, Freddy Fazbears Pizzeria. Little does he know that the animatronics that the children loved, had more qualities than what meets the eye. 

Long time fans of the game are calling it “the year’s most charming and unabashedly kid-friendly horror flick.” Other critics are saying that the movie was a, “middling, pulseless version of the game… the movie withholds scares or danger from the animatronics for a long time.” The movie definitely held back with scaring the audiences in majority of the scenes. But there are a few death scenes that even die hard fans were left saying that they were “horrified” by it.

As reviewers, we had differing opinions on the film, one of us found it boring while the other thought it was entertaining. I (Pranika) personally agreed with the critics on how it wasn’t much of a horror film. The jump scares did not feel that scary and there were not many throughout the film. The entire story felt dragged out and the climax of the plot felt extremely far into the movie.

I (Kevin) partially agreed that the scenes were not as scary as most horror movies tend to be, but some factors like comedy between the “villians” do break the tension that had been built up in the previous scenes. The movie does seem like it would be scary, but only if it followed the plot of the games. Showing the origins of the restaurant with first animatronics could have also been talked about in the movie and made it more captivating to watch while adding background information.

Overall, the movie didn’t live up to the standards of the video game and while the idea was there, it was not amazing. Nevertheless, it should not be overlooked as a bad movie in total as it contained features that are worthy of being watched.