Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023)

[Eric the Minion]

Discuss

[CoolioD1]

😴

[Valencia]

I thought it was fine.

 

That being said I had no expectations, am not a fan of the franchise, didn’t care if it was good or not, and have A list so it was “free” anyway.

 

I guess that’s how kids feel when their parents take them lol.

[WorkingonaName]

Lost my absolute shit when Matpat showed up 

[filmlover]

First thing's first: I have not played the video games (even though I had heard about them), so this more or less acted as my official introduction to the FNAF phenomenon. I suspect this movie will work best for the vast legion of those who are familiar with them and that whatever an outsider (in this case, one who checked it out only because it was free with a Peacock subscription instead of seeing it in a movie theater with a bunch of rowdy gamers) thinks of this movie is probably irrelevant in the long run. 

 

Or maybe it's just not particularly good. I, quite frankly, found this to be a very dull and oddly structured movie that was clearly neutered by its attempts to get as many of the property's young fans to see it as possible. The concept of possessed, animatronic robots killing people is one with potential for some gruesome, campy fun, but the PG-13 rating means there isn't much in the way of on-screen carnage. It also takes forever to finally get going: it's not until the movie has approached its third act that it actually embraces the terror, as it spends most of its time until then on a completely underdeveloped human-based plot that once again proves how difficult it is to build a movie out of a video game. The acting also doesn't relieve the tedium, between Josh Hutcherson's sleepy lead performance, Matthew Lillard chewing on the scenery and proving why he has never been a highly regarded actor, and Mary Stuart Masterson inexplicably picking up her most notable project since Bill Clinton was in office highlighting a cast that mostly takes a backseat to the animatronics (which are fairly impressive).

 

Also, was there any particular reason why this took place in 2000? The setting ends up being completely irrelevant other than as "oh look this year has now approached period piece" window dressing for those outside the main demos for this movie. 

 

Good for the producers that they've clearly landed a new franchise judging by the box office numbers. I'm just glad I didn't have to pay anything to see it.

 

C-

Edited October 29, 2023 by filmlover