Five Nights at Freddy's

Director: Emma Tammi
Starring: Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Matthew Lillard, Mary Stuart Masterson, Kat Conner Sterling, David Lind, Christian Stokes, Joseph Poliquin, Grant Feely, Lucas Grant, Michael P. Sullivan
Running Time: 109 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★)     

The most intriguing question to come out of director Emma Tammi's Five Nights at Freddy's is whether it's possible for an adaptation of a wildly popular video game franchise to take itself too seriously. By infusing a 'PG-13' rated, Goosebumps-style horror movie about killer animatronic animals with psychological trauma and abducted children, game creator Scott Cawthon's co-written script actually overdelivers in certain ways. But whether this was the route to take and how well the film manages to pull it all together makes for a more complicated conversation. 

Seemingly attempting to channel certain elements of heavier efforts like The Black Phone while leaning into childlike fears, it doesn't fully pick a side, but still proves enough of an anomaly to deliver a pretty fun time. Its biggest strengths and weaknesses rest entirely on a multi-layered backstory that might frustrate as many as it intrigues, though it's thoroughly watchable, leaving us with an experience a bit more agreeable than its detractors are giving it credit for. 

After assaulting a father he mistakes as a kidnapper, Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) gets fired as mall security and sent to career counselor Steve Raglan (Matthew Lillard), who offers him a thankless night guard job at the now abandoned Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a Chuck E. Cheese-like family dining establishment in the 80's and 90's. Following some hesitancy, he eventually accepts the position when social services threaten to give custody of his young sister Abby (Piper Rubio) to their nasty estranged aunt Jane (Mary Stewart Masterson).   

With Mike responsible for keeping trespassers out of the dark, decrepit building, he falls asleep on the job, haunted by nightmares of the abduction of his younger brother Garrett (Lucas Grant) years ago, receiving cryptic clues from five mysterious children who witnessed the kidnapping. Meanwhile, the restaurant's animatronic mascots, Freddy Fazbear, Chica, Foxy and Bonnie seem to have minds of their own, displaying potentially violent tendencies. Clearly knowing more than she lets on about this place's history, local police officer Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) attempts to show Mike the ropes. But as his visions draw him closer to the truth, Abby forges a bond with her new animal robot friends.

There's actually a fair amount to unpack plot-wise, as this isn't playing strictly in the horror realm, often more interested in deeply delving into its protagonist's emotional baggage. Mike's strained relationship with little sister Abby, her mysterious drawings, his custody battle and whatever Vanessa's hiding bare the hallmarks of an overstuffed screenplay, but it's focused enough to tie all these story threads together, even if reactions to the end result will vary.

While older fans will undoubtedly complain it's not gory or violent enough because of the 'PG-13' rating, the disturbing themes more than make up for it. This isn't scary so much as unnerving, with Mike's dream sequences standing out as the best directed sections, gaining in creepiness as he closes in on the truth about his brother and the run down restaurant. The production design, cinematography and overall retro aesthetic also goes a long way in creating an atmosphere that sells this grimy ex-eatery as a once fun destination decimated by the ravages of time. In a memorable moment, Mike watches a security training video that shows how Freddy's looked like in its prime, accurately recalling many similarly themed chains of the period. 

Since there's always something vaguely unsettling about even the cutest, cuddliest looking animal mascots (especially ones that sing and dance), it doesn't take much to get onboard with them as killing machines. Brought to life by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, their origin story is ridiculously detailed, with the movie holding it cards close to the vest before unloading everything in the third act, making inventive use of its grungy surroundings.  

As the disheveled, traumatized Mike, Hutcherson makes a suitable lead, but it's young Piper Rubio who steals this out from under him as Abby with a wisely precocious and engaging child performance that seems lifted from 80's Spielberg. The Vanessa character is slightly underwritten, but You's Elizabeth Lail definitely makes the best of it, hopefully inching her closer to the breakout role she's been due. In more nefarious turns, Mary Stuart Masterson hams it up as the cartoonishly evil aunt and Matthew Lillard Scream fans won't be disappointed by how much craziness he packs into his relatively brief but unhinged slice of screen time. 

That Blumhouse's latest is splitting critics and audiences down the middle isn't exactly a surprise given its polarizing content and sometimes off kilter tone. This never bores or signals the coming cinematic apocalypse many have claimed, guilty mostly of just not conforming to the tropes of your typical video game adaptation. It's also hard to take your eyes off of, especially when trying to reconcile the story's bizarre intentions. But despite its flaws, or partially because of them, Five Nights at Freddy's is a weirdly entertaining trip that will have the uninitiated scratching their heads while the game's fans clamor for more.