The Last of Us drama series was a hit on HBO earlier this year, demonstrating how a popular video game could make the leap from the console to streaming platforms while bringing its gaming fandom along for the ride. Add the billion dollar box office of The Super Mario Bros. Movie to the mix and 2023 is looking like the year when game films and series are breaking big.
The latest game-gone-Hollywood is Five Nights at Freddy’s which broke records over its opening weekend, earning $130 million in just three days (the movie was released on October 27). The film received mostly dismal reviews, but it has an 88 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes compared to only 26 percent from the critics. Disparate scores on Rotten Tomatoes aren’t uncommon, but Five Nights at Freddy’s isn’t really a common film. The original Five Nights at Freddy’s video game was released in 2014. The point-and-click horror survival game revolves around a character named Mike Schmidt, a security guard who works the night shift at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The pizzeria is a send-up of Chuck E. Cheese and the game strategy involves Mike utilizing security cameras, doors, and lights to ward off the attacks of the animatronic animals that come to life inside the pizzeria every night. Along the way players discover that the mechanical monster menagerie is possessed by the souls of the children who were murdered by the mad robot genius and co-founder of Fazbear entertainment, William Afton. Currently the Freddy’s universe boasts ten core games, five spin-off games and three novels. And there’s no doubt that it’s the fans of the games and books who helped give the film one of the biggest openings of the year.
Scott Cawthon created Five Nights at Freddy’s. He co-authored the novel trilogy and gets a screenwriting credit here along with Seth Cuddeback and director Emma Tammi. Tammi is solid, delivering PG-13 creeps while evoking a grimier version of the 1980s nostalgia that Stranger Things minted for the young adult audience. The 1980s was the heyday of the original Chuck E. Cheese restaurant arcades. It was also the decade that began with the Atlanta Child Murders and ended in a Satanic Panic. Tammi summons the actual creepiness of those times with lights and cameras accentuating the very weird vibes we get from puppets of all kinds. The cast lead by Josh Hutcherson is generally strong, but the characters feel like overly simple video game characters complete with some clunky dialog. And those details don’t seem to matter to the young gamer audience this PG-13 film was made for.
The movie takes place in the year 2000. The Freddy’s location Mike works at was shut down in the 1980s following a series of gruesome child murders. Five Nights at Freddy’s doesn’t recreate the Reagan Era. It looks back to the days of the dawn of video gaming with a crazed eye, but one that winks: Freddy’s is full of spot-on Chuck E. Cheese references and Mike’s main nemesis is his aunt Jane, played by certified Brat Packer, Mary Stuart Masterson (Some Kind of Wonderful, 1987).
Cawthorn puts his own unique twists on YA nostalgia horror, and he’s an artist who obviously understands what his audience responds to. The immediate success of this movie means we’re sure to get at least one more and I’d love to see this same team follow up with a broader and deeper dive into the dark lore of the game. I’d love a more-supernatural thriller and less-robots-attack movie. But, what do I know? These robots are doing just fine.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is in theaters and streaming on Peacock.
Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.