Five Nights At Freddy's (2023) Dir: Emma Tammi
- Ridley Coote
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
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The 'Five Nights At Freddy's' video game series is one that has proved both successful and popular in the gaming community, especially for those who enjoy the horror genre. It felt inevitable that there would be a cinematic adaptation some day, and in 2023, that became a reality, with Emma Tammi directing. I had only briefly played the original game, and not in a long time either, so my knowledge of the 'FNAF' lore was limited. I did, however, know that there was the potential for this to be as much a fun film as it was a scary one, so that's what I hoped for.
Considering the film centres itself around a group of killer animatronics, there seemed to be a golden opportunity to focus in on the practical effects side of things when showing said-animatronics. That is not what happened. All of the animatronic characters were animated, and not in the most realistic looking way either. It was pretty disappointing, considering how cool they could have looked.
The plot was definitely not this film's strong point either. It was all a bit silly and predictable, especially the third act reveal, which was so obvious a child could have worked it out. With that said, what this film did do extremely well was cultivate a sense of entertainment. It knew its weaknesses, and it knew what it was, but instead of attempting to haphazardly avoid them, it kind of leaned into them, which made the film surprisingly watchable. It definitely had the fun factor I was hoping for before I started watching it.
Josh Hutcherson's leading performance wasn't particularly great, but he had enough screen presence to carry this one through, and some of his acting was actually fairly okay, here and there. Piper Rubio actually gave my favourite performance of anyone in the film, albeit it still wasn't exactly amazing. She was, however, very endearing, in spite of the shoddy writing her character had.
Elizabeth Lail felt like she was performing in one of the 'Scary Movie' films, such was the goofiness of her acting. It really did feel like a parody piece, particularly when she was supposed to be acting more emotional and stressed. Finally, I'll give a mention to Matthew Lillard, who has become a bit of an online cinema darling, of sorts, mainly due to his appearances in the 'Scream' and 'Scooby-Doo' franchises. I won't say his acting was much better than anyone else's, but I can't deny that I held a sentimental joy at his presence.
Overall, despite its many flaws, I did have a relatively good time watching this. It was definitely the kind of film I would class as 'so bad it's good', in its own way. I actually am compelled to watch the sequel, which I really wasn't expecting, prior to my viewing of this first film. The film knew what it was, and leaned into it hard, which actually kind of paid off for it. Will it ever be named amongst my favourite films ever? No, but it absolutely was not the worst use of my time ever, that's for sure.
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