Puppets—they’re just plain creepy, right? You may disagree, but the phenomenal success of the Five Nights at Freddy’s video game franchise argues strongly to the contrary, encompassing as it does over 20 games, a handful of novels, a handful of novels, and now, perhaps inevitably, a whole movie. Five Nights at Freddy’s creeps into Australian cinemas on October 26—just in time for Halloween, baby.
Directed by Emma Tammi, who co-wrote the screenplay with OG FNaF creator Scott Cawthon and Seth Cuddeback, Five Nights at Freddy’s puts us in the unfortunate shoes of freshly-minted security guard Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson), who scores a gig on the night shift at the abandoned family restaurant Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
Those aforementioned shoes better be runners, though, as our hero discovers to his dismay and possible death that the restaurant’s four animatronic mascots, Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, creak to life once the clock strikes midnight, killing anyone found in the old pizza pit. And given Mike’s the night watchman, that means him.
That’s a cool concept for a fun horror flick, and one that has been explored onscreen before. The Nicolas Cage vehicle Willy’s Wonderland was riffing on the already-extant Five Nights at Freddy’s game series, as did The Banana Splits Movie, which reimagined the goofy staples of ‘70s kids TV as malevolent monsters. But perhaps the seed was planted way back in the day in excellent but little-seen Chopping Mall (track it down—you’ll have a good time).
Also in the cast are Matthew Lillard and Mary Stuart Masterson, who both know a thing or two about fun, teen-centric horror thanks to their turns in Scream and Daniel Isn’t Real, respectively. More exciting than the human elements, however, is the fact that the animatronics are being crafted by the special effects legends at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. All other considerations aside, those things are gonna be scary as hell.
