By Geno McGahee
This film was a long time coming. In 2014, the indie video game hit and became super popular. I know because my son was seriously into it and I watched as he and his friends would enjoy the jump scares and story. As much as I didn’t personally ever play the game, I knew all about it from my kids and a feature film concerning this game was in high demand.
The demand is so high that I tried to get tickets today for the show. I actually tried to buy them last night and every show was sold out. This movie is a runaway hit and thankfully, despite missing the cinema experience, I was able to watch it with my kids on Peacock on my big screen in my living room.
Prior to this film, there were a couple of knockoffs that weren’t that bad. THE BANANA SPLITS MOVIE came out in 2019 and WILLY’S WONDERLAND with Nicolas Cage was released in 2021. Neither could satisfy the fans but they were enough to hold them off and they were both very fun movies, but now the real deal is here. FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S was just unleashed and it was worth the wait.
Mike (Josh Hutcherson) lives with a lot of guilt. Years ago, his younger brother was snatched and murdered and he cannot let it go. He is also the caregiver for his younger sister, Abby (Piper Rubio), but that is not going well. His aunt wants to take her away and he cannot hold down a job. He is bouncing around but finally gets an offer from Steve (Matthew Lillard) to work at a shutdown kid’s restaurant with some very interesting animatronics.
While working, Mike meets a police officer that is there to help. Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) knows a lot about the place and does some strange things initially, including asking Mike to dance while the animatronics sing. I’ve never had a cop ask me to dance. Now that I know it’s possible, I’m eagerly awaiting it.
In his dreams, Mike keeps replaying the abduction of his brother and is now seeing a bunch of creepy kids. He is convinced that they know something and he can communicate with them to find out who took his brother. The dream keeps repeating and Mike becomes obsessed and starts neglecting the needs of Abby.
When he brings Abby to work with him, things get really fun. The animatronics come to life and begin partying with her. They aren’t too fond of Mike, but they just want to play with Abby and seem like a good group of fluffy robots, but things aren’t as they seem.
The fun factor here is great. I had a lot of fun watching this and it just kept getting better. It was a little predictable and there was a couple of silly things that didn’t make a lot of sense, but those are just little things that didn’t take anything away from the enjoyment of the film.
I didn’t expect to enjoy FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S so much. Then again, I’ve always had affection for robots. So, this film had a check in the good box immediately with me, but it’s earned its way beyond that.
I highly recommend this FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S. It’s just a fun film that is safe for kids. The creators knew their audience, understood what the fans wanted and gave it to them. My daughter kept on telling me, as we watched it, that things would happen and what characters were which. It’s no wonder why it’s hitting so hard. They gave the people what they wanted, but the film is enjoyable when you don’t know a great deal about it like me.
