Alana’s Old Favorites and New Discoveries – December 2023

Hi all! I’m Alana, and I’m the Adult Programs Coordinator for Ida Rupp Library. My blog posts will consist of older favorites and recommendations along with new finds in the wide world of entertainment. I never limit myself based on audience or genre, so whatever your preference, I hope I can help you find your next watch, read, listen, or play-through!

For this month, I had to talk about one of my favorite movies of the year: Five Nights at Freddy’s. This movie completely obliterated all its projections for the box office with a profit of over $250 million worldwide at the time of writing – that’s more than ten times the film’s total budget! For those who may not be aware, the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise actually began as a video game created by indie developer Scott Cawthon in 2014, which has grown into a multi-entry series of games, novels, graphic novels, and now a movie. The plot of the original game is simple: you play as a night security guard at a restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, which is home to four large animatronics. There’s Bonnie the Rabbit, Chica the Chicken, Foxy the Pirate Fox, and Freddy, the titular bear. These machines are able to roam freely at night, and your character must keep them away from the security office by watching a set of cameras and closing electrified doors on a limited power supply. If they make it into the security office or your power supply runs out before morning, the game ends, and your character does not survive.

I am someone with only a bare-bones knowledge of the Five Nights at Freddy’s universe. I knew about the basics of the original gameplay and cast of animatronics, but not much else beyond that. In the film, Josh Hutcherson stars as Mike Schmidt, the overnight security guard who is tasked with keeping an eye on Freddy’s. Mike is a troubled man and his options for work are limited, so he accepts a position at Freddy’s out of necessity: his sister Abby (played by Piper Rubio) is solely under his care after a tragedy in his childhood. However, Mike soon finds out that there is much more to Freddy’s than meets the eye, and he must fight to keep himself and Abby safe. Hutcherson and Rubio are joined by a supporting cast including Elizabeth Lail, Matthew Lillard, and Mary Stuart Masterson.

The animatronics themselves are also real – to a point. Each of the animal suits were created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and operated by puppeteers both inside and outside of the suits. For some sequences, there were up to six puppeteers controlling Foxy the Pirate Fox at one time! I found that this technique really paid off for the film, as opposed to creating a computer-generated version of the characters and using greenscreen to edit them in later, because it gave the actors a concrete object to act alongside instead of a placeholder. Their performances feel more authentic in this way, and I believe this type of practical effects age better when revisiting a movie after several years.

There is a lot of discussion as to whether or not the movie lived up to its hype for superfans of the franchise, but in my opinion, it was perfect for those viewers who are going in with little-to-no information such as myself. The plot is easy to follow even with no prior knowledge of the game. And for those who are already fans, there are tons of Easter Eggs to look for, including cameos from known internet personalities and some foreshadowing for a sequel at the very end of the credits.

I would also consider this movie a good watch for people who tend to shy away from horror movies. There are moments that are suspenseful, and a couple that might make you jump, but these moments are few and do not detract from the viewing experience. In fact, my mom, who usually refuses to watch any sort of scary movie, said that she really enjoyed this one! DVD and Blu-Ray copies of this film will be available soon through our library system, as well as streaming on Peacock TV. If you decide to watch, feel free to let me know what you thought, good or bad!