To follow the core story of "Five Nights at Freddy's", you do not need to have played the game. I have never picked up a copy of "FNAF" and went into the movie somewhat blind, only knowing bits and pieces of the lore. As events unfolded, there was never a moment when the main plot felt confusing. As a mildly creepy, jump-scare filled thriller, the film delivered.
The main character, Mike, has a strong backstory with clear motives and reasoning. His character has a strong focus on a concept called "Dream Theory", which is fascinating. The performance by Josh Hutcherson is admirable and I truly cared about what happened to him and his sister.
Apart from big blockbuster superhero films, I have never seen a crowd so excited and invested in a movie. On more than one occasion, the majority of the crowd went berserk with enthusiastic applause, and I had no clue the reason. While the story was simple to follow, the deeper pieces of "FNAF" lore left a portion of the audience on the outside of an inside joke.
Rather than keep the film a tight 90 minutes, there is about 20 minutes of fluff that unnecessarily dragged on. The side-plot of the movie was dull and half-baked, with some of the characters falling into stereotypes. Similarly, though Mike's backstory is interesting, the end of his narrative lacks closure.
As the end credits rolled, I leaned over to talk to some of the patrons who cheered the loudest during the "inside joke" moments. The two audience members had this to say: "It was a cinematic masterpiece. We know everything about "FNAF", having played all the games, and it stayed true to about 75% of the source material."
If you are familiar with "Five Nights at Freddy's", this film will not disappoint. However, as someone with minimal exposure to the source material, the result was a bit lackluster.
Best Character - Mike Best Scene - The Dreams Best Piece of Score - "Five Nights at Freddy's"
The main character, Mike, has a strong backstory with clear motives and reasoning. His character has a strong focus on a concept called "Dream Theory", which is fascinating. The performance by Josh Hutcherson is admirable and I truly cared about what happened to him and his sister.
Apart from big blockbuster superhero films, I have never seen a crowd so excited and invested in a movie. On more than one occasion, the majority of the crowd went berserk with enthusiastic applause, and I had no clue the reason. While the story was simple to follow, the deeper pieces of "FNAF" lore left a portion of the audience on the outside of an inside joke.
Rather than keep the film a tight 90 minutes, there is about 20 minutes of fluff that unnecessarily dragged on. The side-plot of the movie was dull and half-baked, with some of the characters falling into stereotypes. Similarly, though Mike's backstory is interesting, the end of his narrative lacks closure.
As the end credits rolled, I leaned over to talk to some of the patrons who cheered the loudest during the "inside joke" moments. The two audience members had this to say: "It was a cinematic masterpiece. We know everything about "FNAF", having played all the games, and it stayed true to about 75% of the source material."
If you are familiar with "Five Nights at Freddy's", this film will not disappoint. However, as someone with minimal exposure to the source material, the result was a bit lackluster.
Best Character - Mike Best Scene - The Dreams Best Piece of Score - "Five Nights at Freddy's"