‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ to Debut Simultaneously in Theater

If the concept of a movie sounds silly, should the makers treat the material seriously? Normally, I’d say yes. It takes talent and creativity to take a story that most people assume has no depth and give it a twist. However, there are exceptions, like a story about the colorful animatronics of an abandoned family restaurant who come to life and start killing people. The murder sequences in FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S were supposed to be fun, but the ridiculousness isn’t emphasized enough. And most of the running time is dedicated to the family issues that Mike Schmidt (the restaurant’s new security guard) goes through. The tone of those scenes is so dramatic that it feels like a different movie. It’s based on a video game, in which the evil mascots would pop up in front you, the player, at any random moment. And even when nothing was happening, the location’s atmosphere was creepy enough. Why would the screen tell you that you lost before showing the murder itself? Because having these uncanny valley creatures come near you or ever stare at you while making weird noises is traumatizing enough. This combination of jump scares and the first person point of view is more suited for short online content. In fact, a lot of people had more fun watching reaction videos than playing the game themselves. That’s another reason why this adaptation’s approach needed to be campier. It was never going to work as a feature-length film that leans more towards horror than comedy.

3/10