Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)

2 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Anima-Yawn-Ics

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

An adaptation of a popular horror video game, Five Nights at Freddy's starts well, with sympathetic characters, a fun design, and an appealing comical tone, but it goes on too long and eventually falls apart.

Mike (Josh Hutcherson) looks after his younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio). They are alone; their parents are out of the picture, largely the result of Mike and Abby's brother Garrett being abducted years earlier. Mike has trouble holding down jobs, and is hanging on by a thread, while his mean aunt Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson) tries to win custody of Abby.

A career counsellor (Matthew Lillard) places Mike in just about the last job that will take him, as an overnight security guard for an abandoned pizza parlor, Freddy Fazbear's. The animatronic animals there, who originally entertained guests with music, now seem to be able to walk around freely. There's something menacing about them, and they seem to have set their sights on Abby.

Directed and co-written by Emma Tammi, Five Nights at Freddy's gives us a family we can root for and care about, and finds a nifty way to add playful silliness to the game's trademark jump-scares. The practical visual FX and the restaurant location are also spooky fun. The mystery of the abducted Garrett is intriguing at first, but the more detail is revealed, the more things start to feel spotty, slapdash. It feels as if certain details were shoehorned into place.

Likewise, certain performances contribute to an awkwardness, a sense that something is being haphazardly hidden from us. When the reveals occur, they feel less like a satisfying snap than a sloppy drop. Mostly, though, the movie wears out its welcome. Perhaps Five Nights at Freddy's could have been shortened by a night or two...