Film Review: ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ is Five Nights Too Many

Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 27, 2023 - 12:21pm

CHICAGO – For the uninitiated, “Five Nights At Freddy’s” is based on a popular series of video games with a simple premise … you play a security guard trapped inside a Chuck E Cheese-type pizzeria where the animatronics come to life and keep trying to kill you. Yet the biggest threat facing audiences with the film is that they just might die… of boredom.

Rating: 1.5/5.0

Josh Hutcherson (“The Hunger Games”) plays the security guard here with a look on his face as though he were doubting his own life choices. He’s a down on his luck screw up haunted by a past family tragedy and trying to raise a younger sister … whose favorite activity involves making creepy drawings and talking to imaginary friends. He’s Running out of options for steady employment and desperate to keep custody of her in a court battle with his aunt (Mary Stuart Masterson). So he takes a job offer from a shift career counselor (Matthew Lillard) and goes to work as a night security guard at the rundown pizza place. But this scruffy headcase also dopes himself up at nights to return to a recurring memory he has of his brother’s abduction, and is joined by some creepy kids running through a forest.

”Five Nights at Freddy’s” is in theaters October 27th. Featuring Josh Hutcherson, Piper Rubio, Matthew Lillard, Elizabeth Lail and Mary Stuart Masterson,. Screenplay adapted by Scott Cawthon, Seth Cuddeback and Emma Tammi. Directed by Emma Tammi. Rated “PG-13”