Review of 'Five Nights at Freddy's'

Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) struggles to care alone for his much younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio). Their estranged aunt Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson) wants custody of Abby for the monthly child allowance payments. When he is fired from his job as a mall security guard he reluctantly agrees to take job as a night guard at the now abandoned Freddy Fazbear's Pizza restaurant. In addition to arcade and pinball games the pizzeria featured full-size animatronic mascots Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Mr. Cupcake to entertain the children. Mike suffers nightmares of the kidnapping of his brother Garrett (Lucas Grant) when he was much younger, feeling guilt for not having prevented it. The first night at the pizzeria Mike's nightmare is visited by five children that disappear when he approaches them. On the second night, Jane hires a group of thugs to vandalize the restaurant so that Mike is fired but they are attacked and killed by the mascots. Local police officer Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) has happy memories of the restaurant and befriends Mike but when he is forced to bring Abby on the third night, Abby seeks out the killer mascots to make friends…

I was a bit reluctant to watch this film as it looked like it might be a simple “shock and slash” but was pleasantly surprised to find a well rounded story with great looking effects and a great cast. Yes, there was a bit of the shock and slash but the depth of the story added so much more, keeping you guessing pretty much up to the final third of the movie where everything falls into place as secrets are revealed. The animatronics look great and are suitably creepy while the violence is horrific, it is mostly off-camera. The characters are very real and down-to-earth which makes the emotion feel more real to the viewer. The exception to this being Aunt Jane who fills the role of villain to ramp up the dramatic tension, playing against the downtrodden Mike who is simply trying to get by and protect his sister.

I have to say watching this took me back to memories of an institution similar to Freddy's that was big when I was young: Chuck E. Cheese. I understand that these restaurants were an inspiration for the film and they share a lot in common: Slightly creepy animatronics, video games, pizza, etc. This meant I watched the film with a bit of nostalgia though, to be fair, I do not recall ever having visited a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, but every kid back then knew what it was.

Very enjoyable horror flick with great looking, creepy, animatronics and a decent story along with some great acting and a hint of nostalgia for those of us that are old enough to remember similar restaurants as a kid…

Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”

Review Date: 2026-02-03

Directed by: Emma Tammi

Studio: Universal Pictures

Year: 2023

Length: 109 minutes

Genre: Horror

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4589218/