By Hasan Mirasyedi, Staff Writer
“Five Nights at Freddy’s” is a horror themed video game that was first released on August 8th of 2014.
The game is set at an abandoned pizzeria called Freddy Fazzbear’s Pizza, a Chuck E. Cheese-style pizzeria with animatronics named Freddy, Chica, Foxy, Bonnie, and Golden Freddy. The pizzeria originally opened up in 1984 but closed two years later in 1986 after a couple of local children mysteriously disappeared. It turned out that co-owner William Afton had killed these missing children in the basement of the pizzeria.
Fast forward 14 years to the year 2000, and the Freddy Fazzbear’s Pizzeria is run down and beaten up, but the owner still has security guards take care of the place. However, in the pizzeria lurks the 5 animatronics, each possessed by one of the children who were brutally murdered in the basement.
Directed by Emma Tammi, the film stars Josh Hutcherson, known for his role as Peta in the Hunger Games, and Elizabeth Lail, known for her role in You and Countdown. The Movie follows a troubled security guard named Mike Schmidt, played by Josh Hutcherson, along with a cop named Vanessa Monroe, played by Elizabeth Lail. Mike originally is hesitant of working as a security guard at night but he ends up getting the job from his career counselor Steve Raglan, played by Mathew Lilard, famous for his roles in Scream and Scooby Doo. Director Emma Tammi does a great job setting the tone of the movie with many dark shots, creepy close ups to kids drawings, and eerie songs, deliberately making viewers uneasy. With a star-studded cast and great cinematography, the movie has drawn much excitement since its release, but has it satisfied audiences?
Andrew Rodgers, a senior at River Hill, stated that “he enjoyed the movie a lot.” He thought that it was a great adaptation of the video game with “the plot [being] slightly different” than the video games, but nevertheless “a good movie.” Another senior, Henry Zatkowski, agreed, adding, “I thought the movie was great. If you are a fan of the video games and understand the lore, it is a movie worth watching.” However, with all the great reviews, one common outlier was evident, the movie was “lacking the scare factor.” Five Nights at Freddys is most famously known for its jump scares, so with this big piece of the puzzle missing, it left some audience members disappointed. Senior Hao Bei Balentine voiced his disappointment by saying, “in terms of horror movies, it isn’t a very good one since it’s only rated pg-13. So if you’re looking for jumpscares and stuff, it isn’t for you.”
Five Nights at Freddy’s is one of the most popular video games in recent times, and with the new movie adaptation its popularity has grown. Its story properly captured the famous Five Nights at Freddy’s “lore” displaying an emotional and eye-catching story to viewers leaving a lasting impression. If you are not familiar with the video games and only want to watch the movie for its “horror” aspect, I would steer clear from the movie as it might be a little of a let down. But if you’re a die hard FNAF fan who’s been part of the video games journey, I would highly recommend the movie adaptation.