534: Five Nights at Freddy's (Expanded)

[00:00:01] Let's get to a bonus review, which is Five Nights at Freddy's. And I did do that earlier this year watching it for the first time but wanted to revisit it considering they just showed a teaser online for the sequel coming out next year and I just wanted to see what I thought about it on rewatch.

[00:00:23] It came out in 2023. It is directed by Emma Tami. Stars Josh Hutcherson, Piper Rubio, Elizabeth Lale, Matthew Lillard, Mary Stewart Masterson.

[00:00:40] And the synopsis is a troubled security guard begins working at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. During his first night on the job he realizes that the night shift won't be so easy.

[00:00:52] To get through. Pretty soon he will unveil what actually happened at Freddy's.

[00:01:00] I still stand behind my thoughts the first time so you can check out that review if you want a little bit extra on this.

[00:01:07] But to give everybody a refresher just in case this is your first time hearing my thoughts on it.

[00:01:13] I've never played the games. To be real, I didn't even know they existed until this movie was announced. I just was never around people who played them. I was never exposed to that.

[00:01:27] I think the overall idea, the concept and setting is very interesting of these animatronics coming to life and terrorizing people and almost becomes a horror version of Night at the Museum.

[00:01:41] First time watching it, I thought it was okay. It's passable. I don't think it's gone up that much since then. But it's grown on me some.

[00:01:55] For one, I mean originally what intrigued me the most was it was directed by Emma Tammy who also did the western horror film The Wind which I think is very underrated.

[00:02:07] And I like Blumhouse as anyone who listens to the show frequently knows. I'm a sucker for these low budget horror films.

[00:02:17] This movie of course made an insane amount of money at the box office. One of Blumhouse's biggest, if not their absolute biggest hit.

[00:02:28] Critically, I know fans of the games liked it generally from what I've read. Critics were so so on it. A lot of people I talked to are straight down the middle.

[00:02:40] What hurts the movie the most to me, not even knowing that much about the games, but I know that they are quite gruesome at times.

[00:02:51] The movie is PG-13. So whenever there is the opportunity to be ultra violent, stylish, crazy, it mostly feels watered down.

[00:03:04] So the horror, the gore is not nearly as at 11 as I think it could be to really go all out.

[00:03:14] It still gets some scares and some spooks and has a decent atmosphere consistently.

[00:03:23] But it never really reaches the heights or even gets near to the heights that it could be considering all that's gone into it, where it's coming from, and even knowing the body of work from Blumhouse.

[00:03:38] Blumhouse. Nevertheless, I like Josh Hutcherson a lot in it. I don't love him generally, but I think he's pretty good in this, and I think the sister is also quite good.

[00:03:53] Probably what helps the movie the most, and it feels like something Emma Tammy brought to the story, is this look at childhood trauma.

[00:04:04] Josh Hutcherson, when he was a kid, he was asked by his parents to watch over his little brother, and then that brother got kidnapped and was never seen again.

[00:04:15] So Josh Hutcherson was blamed for this, and he's felt guilty his whole life, and that's riddled his entire adulthood with problems.

[00:04:26] He can't keep a job. He has anger issues.

[00:04:29] And so it doesn't, I mean, it's nothing crazy complex or deep, but I appreciate that it's trying to look at how childhood trauma carries into your adult life, or it can if it's not dealt with properly.

[00:04:45] And those flashbacks, those nightmares of him trying to figure out what happened because he never really got an answer.

[00:04:52] He never saw the brother, so he didn't know if he was alive or dead.

[00:04:57] Plus the twists with the eyewitnesses of the other children and how they pop up again at the end.

[00:05:04] And some good notes, the look of the Freddy's establishment, I like.

[00:05:13] I like that it's run down, it's lit.

[00:05:16] I mean, it's a little monotonously dark at times, but I still like the sparse random lighting where there's some light fixtures hanging off and some random lights in the background,

[00:05:28] and then the ultra-neon arcade game lights popping in different places.

[00:05:35] And I only really noticed that this time around.

[00:05:38] It's shot better than you would normally think, kind of subtly so.

[00:05:45] The score is very strong.

[00:05:50] In terms of some of the violence and the horror elements, the opening with the security guard stuck in the trap and the spinning saws or blades, whatever it is.

[00:06:01] The look of the bears is definitely a highlight and way more detailed and practical than I would think Blumhouse would normally do.

[00:06:15] I just wish there was more time spent with them on screen.

[00:06:19] Not necessarily character development, but more variety with what the bears do throughout the movie.

[00:06:26] The killing of the group that's trying to screw over Josh Hutcherson and the bears laying traps for them one by one.

[00:06:40] The final moment with the actor who played Shaggy, love that guy, when he actually becomes the bear itself, like he's infused and the bear's mechanic sticks into his body.

[00:06:55] The band performance by the bears is pretty enjoyable.

[00:07:03] One little side note.

[00:07:05] I sort of have a soft spot for this kind of story because I work the night shift in security.

[00:07:12] So even though I don't work at a place like Freddy's, I like that atmosphere and you going there at night when no one else is there.

[00:07:21] And things just have a different feel, a different vibe.

[00:07:24] If you haven't seen Willy's Wonderland with Nicolas Cage, I actually saw just by chance, I saw that movie before this.

[00:07:37] I don't know how there wasn't more of a uproar with that film because it is truly just Five Nights at Freddy's but with Nicolas Cage.

[00:07:48] The story beats are the same.

[00:07:50] The characters are slightly different, but it's one of the most obvious copies that I've ever seen.

[00:07:58] But it is still a decent movie.

[00:08:02] One of the better character designs for me is Foxy.

[00:08:07] Not to mention the voice performances for all the bears or the animals and then the sound design.

[00:08:15] With it all feeling very mechanical, rusty, sharp, edgy.

[00:08:20] It just really is well done in that way.

[00:08:25] All in all though, I wish I could love this movie.

[00:08:28] I wish it was less predictable.

[00:08:32] A few more wow moments, shocking moments.

[00:08:35] Not necessarily violence, but emotionally, stylistically.

[00:08:41] One thought I had watching it this time, and it goes into Blumhouse's really signature success story,

[00:08:51] is that while they do definitely have some great films, they do have a lot of duds as well,

[00:08:58] but they have an ability to make films that are just average enough consistently,

[00:09:05] that are just spooky enough to be an easy choice to re-watch, to put on at Halloween,

[00:09:13] as opposed to a lot of people who may not want to watch the best of A24,

[00:09:19] like super deep, thoughtful, epic movies.

[00:09:24] Instead, there's something like this that's just mindless enough, that gets the job done,

[00:09:31] that it's no surprise that it not only did well when it first came out,

[00:09:37] but I see it having a bit of a shelf life.

[00:09:41] Maybe that's partly because of the IP, but it still has that sweet spot that will help it,

[00:09:50] at least this is my prediction, to earn a lot more on digital rentals and everything in that realm.

[00:10:02] So that one is a heavy three out of five.