Five Nights at Freddy's (2023) co-written and directed by Emma Tammi
Based on the popular video game franchise, Five Nights at Freddy's tells the story of Mike (Josh Hutcherson), a guy failing at life, probably because he has too much baggage. His parents died and he's raising his eight-ish year old sister Abby (Piper Rubio). He is not good at parenting and has a hard time holding down a job. He's haunted by the memory of another sibling who disappeared during their childhood. He gets fired from his mall-cop job just when his aunt is trying to take over care of Abby. The aunt is undesirable to everyone but the aunt. Mike is desperate enough to take an overnight security job at an abandoned pizza place from the 1980s that features animatronic characters, video games, and other fun stuff. The fun is all gone, especially as viewers see in a pre-credits sequence where the previous guard is killed off by the animatronics. Will Mike fare any better?
Having never played the game but certainly hearing about the premise (homicidal Chuck E. Cheese horror), I came into this with not a lot of knowledge. I had enough to figure out the plot and its twists. Since the movie is PG-13, the horror is mild, with a few jump scares and occasional menacing moments. I did not find it scary since it was predictable. The actors are just okay. The animatronics are a little creepy but not scary enough to sustain the terror. The set-up took a while and they did too good of a job making Mike seem like a loser. He is not that great of a hero. Maybe if I had played the game(s), I'd appreciate this more.
Barely recommended--I don't regret watching it but I am not sure I would recommend it either.
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