Film Journal 2023: Five Nights at Freddy’s
Directed by Emma Tammi
My entire frame of reference for Five Nights at Freddy’s was:
1. It is based on a video game
2..it stars Peeta from the Hunger Games
From what I knew it was a single concept idea given a feature length story. What I know now is that there is in fact a whole universe of existing lore out there for this film to pull from. Having zero familiarity with any of that lore I confess I was a bit lost. Its not exactly a simple story to follow going in relatively blind.
The elements of the film that do speak for themselves- the relationship between brother and sister, the jobless young man struggling to find his way amidst his responsibilities. Grief and guilt- work well enough. It’s the worldbuiilding that gets complicated. Feels like a film made for the fans, and from what I can tell the fans in my crowd seemed to dig it. For myself, while I had a decent enough time, all I could think was, this film is missing Nic Cage.
It’s worth pointing out that this is solidly in PG13 territory, which means the horror elements are relatively subdued. On this front, I think, and hope, it’s a good stepping stone into the genre for its younger fans.
The Stories of my Life 