I have waited for the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie for about half my life. I know plenty of friends who have put their blood, sweat and tears into learning the Five Nights at Freddy’s lore since 2015, and seeing the FNAF movie was going to be the culmination of their life’s work. Countless hours were spent by children watching eight hour videos of the entirety of the FNAF lore. And then the movie threw most of the lore out of the window. No Bite of 87’, no Bite of 83’, no nothing. 

It was a hard pill to swallow. But, honestly, they got a lot of the movie right — the animatronics looked absolutely great, there were cameos from big Youtubers in the FNAF scene (although no Markiplier), the cinematography was good, and there were a few good jumpscares.

But a lot of the movie felt simply out of character. There were scenes that felt straight up goofy, such as the infamous fort building scene. The movie feels as though it is simultaneously trying to be a horror and feel-good movie and, unfortunately, the feel-good scenes detract from the movie as a whole. Also, the movie nearly entirely abandons what the game series is known for: jumpscares. There were maybe three in the whole runtime of the movie.

However, even with everything that the movie did pretty terribly, I think that it was overall good. The plot was serviceable and fit some of the themes of the overall plot of FNAF, and there were some scenes that were genuinely unnerving. It was a fun movie to watch, especially with the group of people that was in the theater with us during the showing. I think that having a group of people with you who want to have a good time and joke around is almost necessary to enjoy the movie to its fullest. Whether that group comes in the form of a group of friends streaming the movie on Peacock or an audience in the theater, I think it will greatly benefit your experience with the movie as they exchange references to FNAF (“was that the Bite of 87’??”).

Although the movie was not nearly lore-accurate or true to the character of FNAF, the experience as a whole was very fun, and if you go into it with low expectations, you’ll have a good time. I would recommend the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie with three and a half stars out of five.