Early reactions for Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNaF) are here and they can be charitably described as mixed at best by both fans and critics.
Not every single reaction from those who saw it was negative. But even in the positive reactions, most people admitted FNaF wasn’t scary. That’s got to be considered a flaw for a film based on a horror franchise known for having some of the most heart-pounding jumpscares of all time.
The film, starring Josh Hutcherson, focuses on Mike Schmidt, who reluctantly takes a job as a security guard at a rundown pizzeria called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Much like the 2014 hit game of the same name, spooky stuff starts to happen in the shadows of the restaurant as the animatronic mascots prove to be murderous toward anyone poking around the kids’ arcade and eatery too closely.
Granted, we only have these reactions because FNaF has been released in the U.K. ahead of its debut in the United States. Therefore, most of the reviews aren’t coming from Stateside just yet. Could American audiences have a different take? It’s entirely possible. But for now, let’s take a look at what the critics who’ve seen FNaF have to say.
For instance, Digital Spy’s Ian Sandwell (via BBC) didn’t find much to like about the movie that would appeal to either fresh eyes or hardcore fans. But with that said, he did admit in his review that the game was recreated “faithfully,” even if the execution faltered.
A number of reviewers cited the lack of scares in the film as a huge issue. For instance, The Independent‘s Clarisse Loughley expressed disappointment over FNaF featuring way less “robot murder than you’d have hoped for.” GamesRadar’s Neil Smith even went so far as to compare FNaF‘s scare level as being on par with “Barney the purple dinosaur.” The Telegraph‘s Tim Robey also declared that “The longer we spend inside Freddy’s, the duller it gets.”
When it comes to reactions from general audiences, including hardcore fans and moviegoers with no knowledge of the games, those were fairly mixed as well.
Again, not all the audience reactions were outright negative. For instance, X (formerly Twitter) user @simplykraus declared it “terrific” and similar to a Stephen King tale. Meanwhile, Nitro Spider’s Letterboxd review admitted FNaF was “no masterpiece” and “not that scary,” but nevertheless praised it as a well-crafted movie with fine performances, engaging characters, and “wonderful” animatronics. Much praise was given to Matthew Lillard’s performance as Steve Raglan, such as from X user @TomMCJL and others.
If you’re at least halfway curious to watch Five Nights at Freddy’s, it comes to theaters on Oct. 27, or via a paid subscription to Peacock on that same day.