Blumhouse Productions released the highly-anticipated Five Nights at Freddy’s  movie on Oct. 27., 2023 to a variety of reactions and fan reception.

The movie takes place in the early 2000s with Josh Hutcherson taking the lead role as Mike, who is motivated by the need to keep his family safe. When working at an abandoned pizzeria is the only thing Mike can do to keep custody of his younger sister, he tries his hand at being a night security guard.

Despite being long-anticipated, the movie holds mixed reviews. Some reviews from fans admonished the movie for pandering too much to outside audiences while people who had never seen the movie felt like they were out of the loop. Fans who uplifted the movie for bringing back their childhood nostalgia clashed with fans who felt the movie pandered to children.

The movie did not adhere to the story of the games, but any long time fan could understand why Blumhouse decided to detach from the game in that way. To put it simply, the original lore is a twisting labyrinth of storyline and trying to fit the movie into the same universe as the game would have been as easy as fitting an elephant into a sewing needle.

In a way, the movie was more of a collage of all the games put together than a strict adaptation. It took characters and events from the different games and used that as a backdrop for the storyline. That’s what made it such a good movie.

The movie was created in a way that many different people could enjoy it. The fanbase of Five Nights at Freddy’s is so diverse and the way the movie was made really plays to that. There’s mystery for the theorists to enjoy, easter eggs for all types of fans and a great story over all. Though there was not a lot of violence, I think that is for the better because it makes the movie more accessible for fans of all ages. 

Even if you are not a fan of the franchise, you can still enjoy the movie as long as you know why you are watching it. If you are watching it because you want to see a really violent and frightening horror movie, you are going to be highly disappointed. That is not what this movie is. This movie is a fun, mildly scary movie about an almost-decade-old video game franchise. If you allow yourself to enjoy it for what it is, you will have an amazing time.

I rate this movie a 4.5 out of 5.