After sitting in development hell for years, the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie has finally hit theaters and streaming, but critics have not been kind to the latest video game adaptation. Initial reviews were negative, and the ratings have only gone down since more critics have seen the movie. At the time of writing, the film sits at 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, and there’s a chance that score could drop further as more people see the movie over the weekend.
While the film has fared slightly better with general audiences — and gone over much better with fans of the long-running video game series — there is no denying that Blumhouse’s latest is a critical flop. The Five Nights at Freddy’s movie was never going to be a critical darling, but its reviews are even worse than expected. Considering M3gan, a horror movie with a similar tone and premise, got mostly positive reviews, there seems to be more to Five Nights at Freddy‘s negative reviews than genre bias.
9 The PG-13 Rating Weighs The Movie Down
It makes sense, considering how popular the video games are among younger players, that the studio would want Five Nights at Freddy’s to have a PG-13 rating. An R rating would have constricted who’s allowed to see the movie and hurt its box office, but it would have also produced a more entertaining film. Many critics are calling the movie toothless and not all that scary due to how it needed to play for a younger audience. Director Emma Tammi addressed the rating and a potential extended cut, saying she was happy with how the film turned out and that viewers shouldn’t expect an R-rated cut any time soon.
8 The Movie Is Too Long For What It Is
Five Nights at Freddy’s clocks in at one hour and 55 minutes. While that’s hardly the longest film in theaters at the moment, it is rather long for a horror movie about creepy animatronics. A 90-minute movie about possessed animatronics could have been a fun, spooky time at the theaters during the Halloween season. However, at almost two hours, the film drags. Critics who would find the film disposable but fun are turned off by just how long they have to spend with Freddy and his friends before reaching the ending of Five Nights at Freddy’s.
7 The Creepiness Of The Game Doesn’t Translate To The Big Screen
With 13 games in the franchise, Five Nights at Freddy’s is an undeniable phenomenon in the world of gaming. While the extended lore has kept fans invested for years, the reason the games became so popular in the first place is their creepy atmosphere and gameplay. It is genuinely tense to play the game and be in the shoes of the night guard, but it’s less so to watch it happen to likable actors. There is a reason Five Nights at Freddy’s was a video game in the first place, as the concept lends itself perfectly to the immersive nature of the art form. This is less true for movies.
6 The Lore Is Too Convoluted For Newcomers
Fans of the game are finding a lot to appreciate in the movie, as it does right by the complex lore of the series. However, the Easter eggs and lore in Five Nights at Freddy‘s will go over film critics’ heads, as they haven’t spent years immersing themselves in the world of the source material. For the uninitiated, the lore seems either under-baked or too big to grasp, leading many critics to write off the film. The movie could have done a better job of introducing the world and characters to a new audience, most of whom didn’t come to theaters with any expectations.
5 Other Movies Beat This Adaptation To The Punch
A film version of Five Nights at Freddy’s has been in some form of pre-production since 2015. However, due to studio changes, a global pandemic, and script issues, it took nearly a decade for the film to get off the ground and into theaters. In that time, many other filmmakers used the game as inspiration to make their own original films. Most notably, Willy’s Wonderland, starring Nicolas Cage, featured a night guard fighting creepy animatronics in a run-down pizza parlor. While these movies weren’t huge hits or cinematic masterpieces, they beat Five Nights at Freddy’s to their own gimmick, causing the film to feel stale and repetitive.
4 Too Much Of A Focus On The Human Characters
Normally, a film like Five Nights at Freddy’s would be critiqued for having underwritten characters with nothing to do. However, this movie spends too much time fleshing out its human characters. Fight Nights at Freddy’s promises scary animatronics — and while it does eventually get there, too much time is spent with Josh Hutcherson’s character, Mike, and his backstory. If the human conflicts were very engaging and emotional, this time might be worth it. However, they are just serviceable enough to support the narrative, and they don’t require so much attention.
3 An Over-reliance On Jump Scares
Five Nights at Freddy’s was always going to have jump scares, as jump scares are a staple of horror movies. And while the games have been critiqued for relying on jump scares too much, that point has been made tenfold for the movie. The games convey their horrors not just through jump scares, but also through a creepy atmosphere and world. The film, however, rarely uses shadows and subtly to earn its scares. Most of the movie’s scariest moments are loud bangs, and while that may startle the audience out of their seat, it won’t linger like a good scary movie does.
2 The Film Doesn’t Lean Into Its Humor Enough
Critics aren’t finding Five Nights at Freddy‘s scary, but they aren’t finding it very funny either. The idea of a haunted Chuck E. Cheese-style restaurant is creepy, but it’s also darkly funny — and the games have a morbid sense of humor that could translate well to a movie. However, the film takes itself too seriously, leaving little room for fun. Movies like Evil Dead II or An American Werewolf in London are great examples of horror films that balance humor and scares. Those films are massively entertaining even for people who aren’t scared of them, and that more playful tone would be a better fit for Five Nights at Freddy’s.
1 Five Nights At Freddy’s Is Poorly Paced
The biggest problem critics — and many audience members — are having with Five Nights at Freddy’s is its pacing, especially in the first half. The film hums along without a real sense of urgency or scares, giving too much time to repetitive human drama and failing to give the audience a reason to care. A fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat monster movie is exactly what people are looking for this time of year, but this movie is too dull and slow to fully satisfy that craving.
