Freddy Fazbear's Pizza has an opening for a security guard. You interested? Well, it turns out that this kid’s entertainment location ALWAYS has an opening for a security guard. Why? The poor suckers keep getting killed in violent and nasty ways. Enter at your own risk because something shady is going on here.
Five Nights At Freddy’s has had gamers’ collective attention for years now. A movie version of the horror game is long overdue, but - thanks to the partnership of Universal and Blumhouse - Five Nights At Freddy’s finally arrives in theaters and on Peacock to mixed results. While violent in plenty of ways, the story itself - concerning the grief over a missing child and one man’s attempt to make it square up with his family after all these years - is a bit more padded than it ought to be for a horror game adaptation.
Just get to the murdering robots already!
Part of the problem with the movie is that it lands in the wake of 2021’s Willy’s Wonderland which, as far as the tone goes, is more in tune with my sensibilities when it comes to killer animatronics. While both the video game and Willy’s Wonderland came into existence around the same time, far more people have been exposed to Five Nights At Freddy’s . . . which is why a film adaptation makes so much sense.
Directed by Emma Tammi, who co-wrote the adaptation with video game series creator Scott Cawthon and Scott Cuddeback, Five Nights At Freddy’s opens with a SAW-like torture scene - which is pretty interesting given its family-friendly vibe - as a security guard is caught, tortured, and then killed by one of the animatronic killers.
From this opening, we shift into another tortured story as security guard Mike (Josh Hutcherson), struggling to do the right thing for his much younger sister, Abby (Piper Rubio), and agrees to take yet another security guard position: this time at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. It’s that or lose custody of her. 
But I guess he doesn’t watch the nightly news because Freddy Fazbear’s has been closed since the 1980s when a bunch of kids went missing. Funny thing is, Mike’s own brother went missing, too. Could there be a connection to these missing kids and the violent ghosts inhabiting the creatures - Freddy (Kevin Foster), Bonnie (Jade Kindar-Martin), Chica (Jess Weiss), Cupcake, and Foxy. which come alive at night?
Co-starring Mary Stuart Masterson, Matthew Lillard, and Elizabeth Lail, as a mysterious, but helpful cop, Five Nights At Freddy’s is just a genuinely weird film in which all the parts don’t quite fit together. The horror is definitely there, but the story is so padded that it takes away from the atmosphere that Tammi has created. It also clocks in at close to 112-minutes, which is just too much for some of its fans to take in.
Yet, when it finally all comes undone, Five Nights At Freddy’s just winds up hammering a hollow shell of horror.
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Code Edition
Home Video Distributor: Universal
Available on Blu-ray - December 12, 2023
Screen Formats: 2.00:1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos; English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1; Spanish: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1; French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
Discs: 4K Ultra HD; Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set
Region Encoding: 4K region-free; blu-ray locked to Region A
Universal visits Freddy Fazbear's Pizzaria with its 4k UD + Blu-ray + Digital Code edition of Five Nights at Freddy's which features a native 4K 2160p, presentation of the video- game to movie adaptation.
It's a two-disc set (blu-ray) that comes housed in a black case wrapped within a cardboard sleeve with matching cover art.
VIDEO
Don't adjust your TV. It's supposed to display the film in 2.0:1 ratio. And Don't attempt to adjust the color either. This is a dark and dreary affair through and through, although the HDR10 transfer is a good one that holds up well throughout.
Thanks to the HDR10 transfer, the film actually looks best in its dimly lit interior or night scenes with the bright colors of the neon signs standing out against the blackest and blacks. Vital are always sharp and crisp, and you'll be hard-pressed to find any flaws or problem areas.
AUDIO
We get English Dolby Atmos (TrueHD core), Spanish: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1; French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks but we'll address the Atmos track going forward.
You will find a lot to love as there's always something happening somewhere in the room, whether it be from passing vehicles that zoom from side to side, or creepy atmospheric sounds, or mechanical animatronic sounds that work the room. Very well done with dialogue that is always crisp, mostly front-centered, and perfectly audible.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- Commentary One
- Commentary Two
Special Features:
Supposedly justifying the Night Shift Edition designation, we get a trio of what they are calling Secret Menu Items, namely three special features totaling a bit less than 20 minutes of runtime.
Really nothing special as they are run-of-the-mill EPK-type features that should really do little to excite fans of the film.
- Five Nights at Freddy’s: From Game to Big Screen (7:20)
- Killer Animatronics (5:51)
- Five Nights in Three Dimensions (4:23)
| Movie |  |
|
| Video |  |
|
| Audio | |
|
| Extras |  |
|
|
Composite Blu-ray Grade
|
||
MPAA Rating: PG-13.
Runtime: 109 mins
Director: Emma Tammi
Writer: Scott Cawthon; Seth Cuddeback; Emma Tammi
Cast: Josh Hutcherson; Piper Rubio; Elizabeth Lail
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Can You Survive?
Memorable Movie Quote: "Just keep your eyes on the monitors and keep people out. Piece of cake."
Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures
Official Site: https://www.facebook.com/FNAFMovie/
Release Date: October 27, 2023
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: Follows a troubled security guard as he begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the night shift at Freddy’s won’t be so easy to make it through.
