4 days until the party.
Before reading, please consume the attached graphic so we can be on the same page of the lore. You will be quizzed on it later.
I have counted down the days for a while now, and as I write this I have four nights, if you will, before the movie premieres. My feelings on it are mixed – excitement, worry, anticipation, nervousness. This isn’t the typical movie you’d see premiering in theaters. In other words, it’s not a Marvel movie. It’s “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” based on a beloved series of horror games of the same name. Games I have a long, involved history with.
The year is 2014. I recently started seventh grade at Salk Middle School, and my friend is sitting across the room messing around on his tablet. A crowd gathers around him. Nosey as I am, I look over a couple shoulders and see a strange-looking restaurant and some text in the top-right of the screen, reading: Night 4, 2 a.m. After a bunch of button pressing, a yellow animal thing appears on screen, and then Game Over.
He told me it was a new horror game called “Five Nights at Freddy’s,”and it was designed for only the bravest of seventh graders. At the tender age of 12, I wasn’t ready to play alone. But I was certainly interested in gameplay viewing. That day, I went home, opened YouTube on my LG Optimus L90 (that’s a phone, by the way) and discovered Mark Edward “Markiplier” Fishbach’s ‘WARNING: SCARIEST GAME IN YEARS’ FNAF video. Not to be dramatic, but he’s one of the more influential people in my life, all thanks to his FNAF playthrough on YouTube (a playlist I still go back to today).
FNAF was a J.K.-Rowling-like last-ditch effort by struggling video game creator Scott Cawthon. Players told Cawthon that the anthropomorphized beaver models he made for a family-friendly game called “Chipper and Sons Lumber Company,” were “creepy, almost animatronic-like.” He opted to lean into that idea for a one-off horror game.
Despite the perhaps underwhelming support of a $0 Kickstarter campaign, the game was an instant success. It not only captured the attention of my 12-year-old self, but also big names on YouTube like Yamimash and Markiplier. Sequel after sequel followed suit, making an impact on pop culture for every new installment. Games, books, graphic novels and plenty of fan-made content flowed for years.
My life changed on that sacred day of my friend and his tablet. I became a huge fan of the franchise and continue to follow it closely. I eagerly await Markiplier’s playthrough of “Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted 2” as I write this. Anyone who’s friends with me puts up with my love for the series. So help them.
In 2015, not long after the release of FNAF 3, news began to circulate . There would be a movie adaptation to the games. Oh, how excited my 13-year-old self was. But that was in 2015.
As you may or may not have noticed, it is not currently that year.
Teenage Kyle would go through waves of excitement and disappointment, hearing plenty of “FNAF movie canceled” and “FNAF movie in the works again” headlines throughout the years.
But last year, something was different.
This time, a decade after my introduction to the game, it wasn’t just “FNAF movie in the works AGAIN.” Actual news started popping up. Blumhouse would be producing from behind the scenes. Universal Pictures would take on distribution. Emma Tammi was the director, with Cawthon as the writer.
Early in 2023, pictures of the Louisiana set appeared everywhere, with hundreds of photos of people in front of a “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza” restaurant circulating like blood in a panicked body. Cast members such as Josh Hutcherson were announced. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop would create all the animatronic costumes.
They were actually doing it this time. This was actually happening.
My close friends were excited with me. Well, maybe they were more excited for me. It’s hard to know. Regardless, weeks before the premiere date, I already had two viewings scheduled. One on opening night and one the day after.
The emotional rollercoaster had reached terminal velocity.
Tammi said in an interview “this movie is explicitly for the fans.” Usually, video game movie adaptations attempt to make a film for a general audience and for the fans. Meaning no one is happy.
However, beyond that, I had a bigger fear for the movie. It’s PG13. I was convinced that the conclusion had to be a “good ending,” meaning the movie would lack a tension and fear that could make it exceptional.
Excitement. Worry. Anticipation. Nervousness. The rollercoaster wouldn’t stop.
Not until the 27th.
Let the party begin.
The 27th came. Then the 28th. Now, as I write this, the 29th.
In these 72 hours, I viewed, investigated and spectated the audience for the movie about three and a half times, three of which were in theaters. With a total of 13 different people, I spent seven hours watching FNAF over the weekend.
I hate to take credit for an accomplishment that isn’t mine in any way. But I will. It looks like I’m the reason this movie broke a few box office records. You’re welcome, Mr. Cawthon.
Each time I viewed the movie I enjoyed it on a new level. The first time I watched it, it was like going through Disney World for the first time. If Disney World was full of dingy, malicious animatronics. This movie spared no expense when it came to Easter eggs, and I was reminded very often through the viewing that this was the FNAF movie, made by Cawthon himself, for his fans.
The second time (the half-watch I mentioned) was investigative, searching for hidden Easter eggs missed in the first viewing – many of which I saw people yelling about on TikTok. Some I discovered on my own (proudly), and some which were confirmations of things I was informed about through various TikToks.
The third and fourth time, my eyes were about 75% looking at the movie and 25% gauging the audience’s reactions to certain scenes. And boy, they did not disappoint. One certain PG13-pushing scene never failed to get a serious reaction from the audience (Today, I heard a kid say, “I thought this was a kids’ movie!” Poor guy), as well as one line from the diner scene which got everyone hyped up, every time. In the words of my editor-in-chief, “MatPat cameo!!!!????? FNAF!!!! OMG.”
[Editor’s note: This quote has been verified. It is real.]
But how was the movie, actually?
I tried my hardest, honestly, to hide my feelings about the movie until now. But you’re not dumb. It’s clear that I absolutely loved it. Now, obviously I’m biased since… you know. I brought friends, however, that couldn’t tell you the names of the animatronics in the movie if you asked them. And they enjoyed it as well. Before you ask – I can say with 95% confidence that they weren’t just appeasing me.
As a movie, it was refreshing, fulfilling, funny (if at some times a little goofy) and pretty tense. As a horror movie? Not so much. Especially after the first watch, it’s difficult to be scared by it. I will say, the hesitations I had regarding the PG13 rating of the movie were, for the most part, eased.
This is the part where I have to start spoiling stuff. If you need to stop here, I highly recommend watching. Find a friend or sibling or anyone that really enjoys the franchise just to see their reactions, and then enjoy the movie for yourself.
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While the movie does have a clear-cut “good ending,” it’s still satisfying. The gore, especially in the springlock scene, needed to be minimal, which made that part a little anticlimactic, but the very last scene before the credits makes up for it. I loved seeing Afton suffering in the back room, just like he would have in the games. But I do hope that, like “Stranger Things,” the rating changes over time in sequels to accommodate older-growing audiences.
The movie certainly leaves the door open for future installments, especially with The Puppet’s message at the end of the credits, “COME FIND ME.” I have high hopes and high expectations, but with how well the first movie delivered I feel at ease, like my soul has been laid to rest by a certain haunted marionette.
If you have any questions about Easter eggs, feel free to find me or email me. Questions for lore? youtube.com/@GameTheory. I don’t know yet.
Har har harhar har.
