Mike (Josh Hutcherson) is struggling with guilt about his brother’s kidnapping while caring for his sister, Abby (Piper Rubio). Mike gets in some hot water after his aunt, Jan (Mary Stuart Masterson), attempts to get full custody of Abby. In order to look better to the court Mike gets a job at an “abandoned” pizza place, high jinks ensue.

I’ve seen this movie getting a lot of hate online, not that it’s not all deserved, but to contrast this, I’d like to start with the things it did right. The cinematography was very good, there were many interesting shots, one that comes to mind is any time that Mike drives home they do some almost dollhouse looking shots overhead. Another thing I thought was pretty well done was the amount of care and thought put into the small details of the film. The diner where aunt Jan and Max (Kat Connor Sterling) meet towards the beginning of the film, is named Sparky’s. This is named after a popular fan theory that there was a secret animatronic dog named Sparky in the first game. Speaking of the diner scene, MatPat cameo! MatPat played the role of the waiter, and while on the topic of cameos, CoryxKenshin also makes an appearance as the taxi driver. I loved these cameos because it was a cool way to honor the veterans of the FNAF community. Anyways, other things like the suits of the animatronics were really well done, and game accurate. The set of the pizza place itself is really colorful, lively, and detailed. The use of the song Talking In Your Sleep by The Romantics was a nice touch. Especially considering the fact the song was released in the 80’s which is consistent with the timeline, thought that was a nice detail. I also found the use of dreams very interesting, and honestly probably my favorite part of the film. Mike using sleeping pills to force himself to sleep in order to attempt to figure out who kidnapped his brother felt very justified.

Now, onto the not so well done parts of the film. The most apparent issue in the film is that for a horror movie, it isn’t scary. And that’s coming from someone who scares very easily. The most you will see in this movie is a single melodramatic bloody hand on glass. Another issue I found, not that i’m an expert at acting, but many of the performances felt very one note. Also there is a bit of an issue when it comes to the pacing of the film. The biggest example of this was a completely unnecessary scene towards the end of the film, in which Mike, Abby, Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), and all of the animatronics build a blanket fort. I think this scene encapsulate the biggest issue of the film, that being it’s lack of direction. For a majority of the film I think it was unaware of what audience it wanted to please. Was it a film for children who wanted an “edgy” film to brag about seeing on the playground? Or one meant to satisfy the fans who have been there since the first game?

Overall, the film is very detailed and definitely had a direction it wanted to go in, but lost the point it was trying to make along the way. I still think it’s a fun film that many people could have fun with. Ultimately I’d give Five Nights At Freddy’s (2023) a 3 out of 5. But, at the end of the day WE ARE FNAF!