A common trend in the movie industry has been making live-action movie adaptations of other popular media; books, anime/manga, board and video games, and more. One of the newest adapted films centers around a very well-made and highly enjoyed video game franchise, Five Nights at Freddy’s, also referred to as FNAF. But, unlike the games, the movie didn’t sit well with all of the audience. Be aware, there will be some spoilers!
As an avid fan of the backstory developers and writers come up with for their games, I was significantly disappointed in how much the script writers neglected to include the movie. And while I can see where the level of movie-making-technology is not up to par to make the lore look good in a live-action setting, there are some they could’ve worked in.
With the extensive lore and backstory created for Five Nights at Freddy’s, the overall narrative of the movie fell, significantly, flat. Michael Schmidt, played by Josh Hutcherson, serves as the main protagonist of the movie and a replacement for the game’s version of Michael Schmidt. Now, the movie version of Michael is a far cry from the game version. Movie Michael trades his selflessness and braveness for sarcasm vulnerability hidden under a tough facade. Which kind of makes him seem like a serious, wet blanket compared to the game rendition. Michael Schmidt’s entire storyline revolves entirely around his younger sister in the movie, Abby, and trying to stop their aunt from taking custody of Abby. Which is where he gets his one brave moment from; he fights through the animatronics at the pizzeria, trying to save Abby from her fate and becoming Circus Baby.
More than that, were important chunks of the lore that were altered or not included at all, which I found in poor taste. One of the biggests plot changes of the movie being the characters’ connection with William Afton, played by Matthew Lillard. In the video games, Michael Schmidt is his alias, while Michael’s real identity is that of William Afton’s estranged oldest son. And, instead, they give William Afton a daughter, by the name of Vanessa. Now upon meeting Vanessa, it is blatantly obvious she was, in some way, deeply connected to William Afton; she was always trying to get close to Michael while also pushing him away from asking questions, she knew about the animatronics coming to life, and she knew how to stop them and had the equipment they needed. So from the beginning, she was a very sketchy character. And I feel like the reveal of her being William Afton’s daughter was meant to be a twist no one saw coming. But it was not hard to piece together before the end of the movie. However, her fate isn’t totally decided. She is last seen in a coma after being stabbed by her father for betraying him. This seems to have some of the audience believing we may see a Five Nights at Freddy: Security Breach relation further down the line.
On top of the lack of lore provided in the movie, there was very little gore. The original age rating of the game is 13 and up, So the producers decided to make the movie PG-13 and with that, came a total of six deaths in the movie, all of which had relatively low levels of violence, gore, and even, visibility. The first death is at the beginning of the movie with a security guard and he is seen to be put into an animatronic head with a saw. The next four are a group of individuals working for Michael’s aunt who are tasked with breaking in and destroying the pizzeria to get Michael fired. They are killed by the various animatronics of the pizzeria. The most gory of the four deaths being the death of Abby’s babysitter, of which we see only her silhouette as Freddy bisects her from the waist up in one bite. And finally we see the bottom half of Michaels and Abby’s aunt as she lays dead in Michael’s house. We know that Golden Freddy was the one who killed the aunt but, we never see past her waist so it’s unclear he killed her. All of the deaths in this movie were watered down and hidden from the audience, most likely to allow the younger audience members the ability to watch without restriction. I think with such a low age rating, the producers did not have the chance to give the audience the type of gore they would expect from a movie revolving around Five Nights at Freddy’s.
The producers truly did their best with what they were given for this movie. The writing and characterization were a bit off. The lack of lore and gore was greatly disappointing. Truly, I believe my favorite part of the movie were the YouTube stars’ cameos and Matthew Lillard. And honestly, I’m upset I had wasted the $10 I paid to see the movie in theaters.