Five Nights At Freddy's

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

 Five Nights At Freddy's is an adaptation of the hit video game horror series of the same name, in which a security guard must survive the night shift guarding a derelict 80s novelty restaurant populated with possessed animatronics. This film follows Mike, the security guard in question, who needs the job to keep custody of his kid sister but who is also obsessed with solving the mystery of his abducted younger brother. As a horror film I wasn't often very scared or even on edge but what this movie does do rather well is sudden intensive jump scares. I'll admit that some of the scares I didn't even sense coming but the movie really knows how to startle the viewer in quick bursts. I also thought there were a lot of moving pieces in this: a child abduction story, a custody battle, possessed animatronics, a serial killer/kidnapper, a cop with a shady past and ties to the restaurant, a mystery being solved via dreams and the history of Freddy's itself. Now I won't say all of these moving pieces made sense or blended together well but it really had this 'down the rabbit hole' quality. The more questions or intrigue the feature posed the more I was interested to see just exactly where it was all going to go.

The way this film is shot really highlights Five Nights At Freddy's as an aesthetic film, the bright neon colours that pulse and flicker and fade through scenes are very unique. The camera work really plays strongly with the practical sets and animatronics themselves, giving you an appreciation for the production at hand here. The soundtrack for the film is a nice touch too; a real blend of detail for the characters with The Romantics 'Talking in Your Sleep' and an equal share of fan appreciation with Living Tombstone's bop: 'Five Nights At Freddy's'.

 

Josh Hutcherson, who played Mike, leads this feature with a stern capability; Hutcherson really leans into the dour and troubled side of his character which makes his performance the most grounded quality of the film. Piper Rubio, who played Abby, takes a moment to get going but really charms in her role; Rubio manages to portray a child with challenging behavioural issues while also being the brightest ray of sunshine in the feature. Michael P. Sullivan, who played Doug, really just stole the show in his few scenes; Sullivan has a very subdued yet entirely brilliant approach to physical comedy that drew some great alughs from my audience.

However, the best performance came from Matthew Lillard, who played William Afton. I haven't seen Lillard in such a major live action gig for a while and I had high expectations that were certainly met. Lillard crafts this role as quite the oddball when first we meet him, posing as a mundane careers officer who has no qualms with poking fun at his clients. Lillard has to deal with a lot of exposition early on and he makes that sort of line delivery a journey. The way we are fed information about the diner by him leaves a sense of intrigue, foreboding and interestingly, hints at some unreliable narration. Yet in his final scene Lillard really gets to come to life, portraying a more vicious and sadistic streak that is an alarming shift in perspective. What at first seems an odd yet funny role from Lillard becomes more perverse and dangerous. He becomes wilder and more spiteful, which just goes to show his incredible range. I loved Lillard as a new horror antagonist, I hope to seem him in something similar soon.

There is one thing I have to say for Blumhouse horrors, they like to find a unique angle but only if that angle is something they can entirely commercialize or make look good in a trailer. Think to some of their recent big hits: M3GAN, Freaky, Totally Killer or Happy Death Day to name a handful. All of these movies are big genre-bending features that are rarely great but coast the numbers on their entertainment value. And with Freddy's being an already widely recognised property this reeks gold mine; who cares if it's actually good? The feature starts with some very basic horror elements: a family that is down on it's luck with a protagonist in serious need of some better luck and a number of scenes riddled with flickering lights and jump scares. The movie begins like any horror could and doesn't even try to get creative for a very long while, content in simple scares and a tone propped up on a miserable character. Yet as I mentioned earlier the film becomes crammed with new plot point after new plot point; which can be very fascinating - particularly if you're not familiar with the Five Nights At Freddy's universe. However, it is quite busy and the plot points don't always make a lot of sense. The possessed animatronics being influenced by drawings and dreams but also their own creator/kidnapper is a puzzling plot point and the entire dream story arc as a whole doesn't really work at the best of times. The character of Vanessa is a major weak link and that big final act twist with her link to her father really didn't stick the landing. This is a feature that could've really tried not to do everything at once, it would have made the conclusion far more satisfying. I also felt the fear factor in relation to the animatronics could have been built up, the slow clunky robots and heavily CGI cupcake really didn't unnerve me much.

The editing for the film really staggered about, sometimes it moved great but there were a lot of scenes that just didn't feel scary because of the flow pacing. The score is barely present, meaning that there are a number of scenes in which the appropriate tone isn't really achieved.

Elizabeth Lail, who played Vanessa, seemed a bit lost as to what she needed to achieve with her role; Lail approaches Vanessa in such a scattershot way and there really needed to be some better direction taken with the character performance here. Mary Stuart Masterson, who played Aunt Jane, is an almost comical minor antagonist; the over the top approach from Masterson towards the family member hoping to reap financial gain from another family member was too much from her very first scene. Kat Conner Sterling and David Lind, who played Max and Jeff respectively, were far from believable as youth delinquents on a vandalism payroll; Lind just had no presence to be the leader of this mean crew and Sterling was a mismatched piece that felt out of place in her part of the film. Tadasay Young, who played Dr. Lillian, spouted some of the most nonsensical aimless dialogue of the film; I felt bad that Young had to spout so much exposition because her lot rarely even went so far as to serve the plot.

It is a film that is often baffling, rarely scary and yet somehow still entirely entertaining. I would give Five Nights At Freddy's a 6/10.