Five Nights at Freddy’s has been a very popular video game for the last few years. I can’t say I know too much about this game. My daughter loves it although she’s never played it, only watched famous YouTubers playing it. That’s what the kids do these days I guess (lol). I say all this to say that I’m going into this review purely based off the movie because I have no real knowledge of how to play the game. The movie centers on Mike, a young adult who seems to have had a rough life. Mike has been given guardianship of his little sister so he’s trying to keep her in a stable environment. It’s not so easy though. Mike loses his job for making a bad assumption and has no choice but to take a shady gig as a security guard at a once popular kiddie hangout. The job seemed simple enough, but we soon see that Mike will have to face some personal demons as well as some not so friendly animatronics.

The Good

The suspense and action started right from the beginning. No slow and steady start here. I thought that was great because it gets the audience hyped about what’s to come. We also got a little glimpse into Mike’s situation and throughout the film we get more pieces to his story. I think it was a well written flick. They didn’t throw out all the parts to the story all at once. It was fed to us in bits throughout the movie but not in a boring way. I was always engaged, never board with the story.

The acting was great here. Josh Hutcherson (“The Hunger Games“) plays the lead character of Mike. Piper Rubio plays Mike’s little sister Abby. Elizabeth Lail (“You“) plays the helpful yet shady cop Vanessa. She knew way too much about Freddy Fazbear’s for Mike not to ask more questions. Also, great performances from Matthew Lillard (Steve, “Scream“, “Scooby Doo“) and Mary Stuart Masterson (Aunt Jane, “Benny & Joon“, “Some Kind of Wonderful“). I found out from all the cheers at the movie theater there were some popular YouTubers that appeared in this movie as well. CoryxKenshin and MatPat had cameos in this flick and seems they’ve been playing this game for years on their respective YouTube channels. I have to say that I thought it was pretty cool that my daughter recognized these gamers when the rest of the theater did.

The Bad

The main part of the movie was located in a Chuck E. Cheese like establishment called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. The place has been abandoned for decades because some kids went missing back in the 80’s. For some reason the owner still wants to keep this place open so much so that they keep hiring security guards to guard the place at night. The movie doesn’t really explain why this place needs to stay open. And yes I know the owner was a wacko and it seemed to me he wanted to keep taking kids for his twisted reasons. Is that a reason to keep the place open? I don’t think it is but maybe I’m wrong. I just wish the movie went into more about why he did what he did and is continuing to do it. Also didn’t understand the significance of the five nights. Was it that a guard was never able to survive five nights on the job and if they did would they be rewarded somehow? Wish they would’ve explained that more but then again it could have no significance at all in which case my questions wouldn’t matter.

Overall

This was a fun flick. I don’t know if what happens in the movie is what happens in the game but even without having played the game before I was thoroughly entertained here. I’d recommend checking this one out. It’s a cool way to bond with your kid too I think. Five Nights at Freddy’s is currently in theaters.