(Torch commission via @cawterwaul / Instagram)

Photography Manager: Rena Danho

Email: rdanho@umassd.edu

If you were on the internet in 2014, then you probably have at least heard of the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise.

YouTube stars like Jackscepticeye and Markiplier, dubbed the “King of Five Nights at Freddy’s,” have played these games for years and racked up billions of views. 

Five Night at Freddy’s has been one of the biggest horror games to date, and it is why certain YouTube gamers have their popularity and reputation now. 

Even aside from YouTube gaming channels, channels like Game Theorists hosted by MatPat (Matthew Patrick) have gained many followers off of this game. 

Five Nights at Freddy’s was first released on August 8th, 2014, by developer and publisher Scott Cawthon. The first installment is a single-player game where you play as the night security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. 

As the security guard, you must watch the cameras and monitor the animatronics (Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy) because “they do get a bit quirky at night.” You quickly learn that the animatronics are out to kill you, and you must protect yourself to avoid dying before your shift is over. The goal is to survive all five nights so you can grab that paycheck. 

Since the first game was released in 2014, there are now a whopping total of thirteen games in the series. Each game has kept the same theme of animatronics trying to kill you; however, they all vary in location and sometimes even in which animatronics are featured. 

As much as I love to talk about Five Nights at Freddy’s and could endlessly discuss the franchise’s lore, the day that fans of this game have been waiting for has finally arrived. 

On Friday, October 27th, the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie was released. The film is based on the original game but pulls lore from the entire franchise.

I was lucky enough to be able to snatch tickets to the showing a day before the official release, and I will be giving you my honest opinion on whether it is worth seeing and if it lives up to fans’ expectations. 

There will be spoilers! You have been warned. 

To give a quick recap of the movie, we first meet our main character, Mike Schmidt. 

Mike seems to have a rough life, bouncing between jobs while simultaneously trying to care for his little sister, Abby, while trying to figure out what happened to his missing little brother.

As an original Five Nights at Freddy’s fan, the movie was something I think dedicated fans will love.

The movie is entirely accurate to the game, and we see this in many different aspects.

For example, the main character’s name is Mike Schmidt. However, in the lore, he is also known as Michael Afton – the son of William Afton. 

For those who don’t know, Willian Afton is the main villain of the franchise, as he is a child murderer who created the animatronics. He is also embodied by the Springtrap animatronic. 

But in the movie, Mike is just Mike Schmidt (at least as of right now). His parents are unknown and never named in the film, and in their absence, Mike is left to take care of Abby. 

It is also revealed that Mike had another younger brother named Garrett, who is presumed dead after being kidnapped. There is also no relation shown to William Afton, aside from William posing as a career counselor, Steve Raglan. 

Although this is one example of how the movie diverges from the game, it isn’t the only difference. 

On top of the thirteen games, several books make up the franchise’s story – a story that can’t be encompassed in just one movie. 

Five Nights at Freddy’s is a game franchise with so much lore that making a movie that is accurate to everything would be very challenging (not to mention that the movie also had to operate under the confines of a PG-13 rating, adding additional challenges). 

Even though the movie isn’t entirely game-accurate, what makes the movie just as good is that it embodies the essence of Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Seeing the animatronics on the big screen was exciting for fans across the US. Fans of Five Nights at Freddy’s all have one thing in common: a love of the lore. Despite the movie’s lore not being accurate or canon, it still creates a whole new story for fans to decipher.

And fans were treated with easter eggs hidden throughout the movie, like MatPat’s cameo, CoryxKenshin’s cameo, the coffee shop being named Sparky’s in reference to Sparky the Dog, “it’s me” being written on the mirror in the office, and many, many more references. 

This movie seems to be a lot more popular with fans of the games rather than people who are unfamiliar with the franchise. 

Seeing Five Nights at Freddy’s get so popular and made into a movie seems almost unreal to fans. Many of us are happy to have new content from the game and references to the original installment that came out eight years ago. 

All in all, if you’re a fan of Five Nights at Freddy’s, then I would say yes, see the movie. It is worth it. However, if you’re more of a movie person and want to see a good movie, maybe skip out on this one.

But hey – that’s just a theory.