Let me see if you have heard this one before. A security guard, a police officer and a kid walk into a former pizza place filled with creepy animatronics. What can possibly go wrong?

Cast

Josh Hutcherson as Mike Schmidt (the security guard) and better known in The Hunger Games saga (2012 to 2015). Piper Rubio plays Abby and starred in For All Mankind (2023) television series. Elizabeth Lail plays Vanessa Shelly and best known for her role in Once Upon a Time (2014) television series. Matthew Lillard stars as Steven Raglan/William Afton and has starred in Scream (1996), SLC Punk (1998) and Scooby-Doo (2002) and Scooby-Doo sequels and spin-offs. Grant Feely stars as Ghost Kid (Blonde Boy) and recently starred in Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) television series.

Plot

Not an overly complicated plot. After Mike Schmidt is reprimanded for assaulting a child’s father, he accepts an offer proposed by Steve Raglan, his career counselor, to guard Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. With the help of Vanessa, a local police officer, the story about the murdered children who inhabit the five animatronic mascots — Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy and Mr. Cupcake — is fleshed out. Mike begins experiencing dreams of the murdered children, and they eventually ask Mike if Abby can join them. After some harrowing incidents, Abby is kidnapped by the animatronics so she can be killed and join them (as a ghost). Finally, William Afton, the murderer of the five children, is revealed and a fight ends with William Afton injured severely.

Review

Full disclaimer as Fringe Fiction has never actually had a chance to play the video game or its sequels. The movie in of itself was decent, but the dreams in the latter part of the film kind of made the film a bit disjointed. Also, the inclusion of some of the mechanisms from the video games would have definitely more fan-friendly, like the cameras and the use of sound of the animatronics walking about the pizzeria. The movie leads way for a sequel.

Verdict (Out of 10)

Fringe Fiction gives the movie a 6.6 out of 10. It was a decent movie, but the front-end exposition, the dreams and the some of the twists were underwhelming.