What should happen in the Five Nights at Freddy's Movie?

What should happen in the Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie?

I don’t want a Five Nights at Freddy’s movie. I thought I should make that perfectly clear. I’m a fan of the series, I enjoyed every game and love delving into the lore but will it translate well into movie form? Probably not but I hope the movie can at least be watchable. What do I in my humble opinion think should be in the FNAF movie? I explain below.

 

As we all know video game movies are terrible. I’ve always thought the best thing to do would to be setting a movie in the universe of the certain game franchise without centring on the plot of an actual game. This would give the writers and developers chance to do what they want to while still remaining loyal to the setting and franchise. For the FNAF movie I think it should be set in one of the Pizzeria’s we’ve never seen in a game. Setting the movie before 1987 and FNAF 2 or even as a spinoff that doesn’t relate to the events in the games would allow the writers some free will and not make the movie too restrictive. It would also allow a brand new story and thus a setting unrelated to the pizzeria’s in the game series I think would be a good idea.

 

The lore is perhaps the most interesting part of the entire franchise. First things first, I will be very unhappy if the movie just reveals everything that we have to speculate about. Apart from that it’s important for the movie to be for fans of the series but equally the movie has to try to bring in newcomers to the series. Take FNAF 1 as an example. There was some interesting backstory subtly laced in but it wasn’t all explained in one go or made too complex too quickly. A similar thing needs to happen with the movie’s plot. It’s because of this I think it’d be preferable to have a separate plot from the games. FNAF 3 briefly mentions sister locations. Something like this I believe would be ideal as you could still capture the essence of the games while not being tied down by heaps of lore and backstory.

 

FNAF is subtle in its story. This is a big reason why I don’t think it’ll work as a film, most of its story isn’t shown. A movie needs to show more due to the medium itself however the films focus I think needs to be on the character in the Pizzeria. The film cannot just take place in the Pizzeria and what time we spend outside will hopefully be used to build a complex and interesting character. This is strange considering the characters in the game are merely vessels to play, however this is not a game. A likeable character is important otherwise we’ll just be watching a boring horror with cardboard characters waiting for them to die.

 

There’s a catch however with what I just said. Too much time cannot be taking place outside the Pizzeria. This seems obvious however would you really be surprised if we spend ages with some random idiot and their boring life? Maybe showing the character in the Pizzeria during the day would be good as it would set the scene and start building the creepy atmosphere of the twisted place. Whatever they do none of us want to see a FNAF movie where most of the time is spent outside a Freddy Fazbears Pizzeria.

 

Another thing I hope happens is that out main protagonist is alone in the Pizzeria. The games made you feel incredibly isolated and this added to the tension and fear. This means that with the main character in the Pizzeria there needs to be no friends, no love interest and definitely no wacky black sidekick. If a little group goes in and a black guy dies first I may leave the cinema. With what I’ve said so far it sounds a bit like I just want a scare fest with an interesting character. This isn’t true, the Pizzeria’s always have a dark secret behind them and this should be no exception. I think it would be good if the protagonist would gradually discover some sort of conspiracy or mystery behind the Pizzeria as he tried to survive. I just think it needs to leave somethings left unanswered and be subtle about what’s going on, not just throw everything at us.

 

Horror films need to have horror. Let’s think about what makes FNAF scary. I’d say the suspense and tension as the animatronics move around the Pizzeria and you never know when you’re about to be attacked. I’ve never thought it’s just jump scares. There are very well crafted jump scares, but what makes the jump scares terrifying is the build-up. The atmosphere and tension alone makes the game scary even if you aren’t killed once. I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this, for the movie to be scary and not just full of jump scares then it needs to use creepy sets and build the tension and suspense of the situation of being in a dark Pizzeria full of killer animatronics. Obviously there will be jump scares and they will be effective like they were while playing the games if they’re well-crafted amongst the good build-up and atmosphere.

 

Let’s not have a gore fest. Please movie makers, don’t do it. Don’t get me wrong, if we see one person get violently stuffed into an animatronic suit I wouldn’t be disappointed. While I am quite strange I think maybe in the intro we could see this happen to someone, it would build the stakes as well as show newcomers to the series what these animatronics are capable of. But this shouldn’t be a regular occurrence, it’s not what FNAF is about.

 

The film needs to as I said earlier introduce new people to the FNAF franchise as well as be faithful for the fans. This makes throwing in all the many animatronics we’ve seen over the games seem a bit silly. How much would a newcomer be confused with the original 5, the toy versions, balloon boy, the puppet, spring trap, shadow animatronics and phantoms? I think the ideal situation would to be to use the 4 main animatronics from the original FNAF as the main antagonists. This should please both parties as it won’t be overcrowded for new comers and as a fan myself I would be very pleased seeing the classics on screen. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy are perfectly capable of being terrifying antagonists for the film and keeping it to 4 for most of the movie would avoid the film feeling over crowded. I would however like to see a cameo from Golden Freddy, not only is he my personal favourite but I imagine all the fans would love to see his ghostly presence. He doesn’t need to play a big role, just a cameo, even just a glimpse would be great.

 

I really want the FNAF movie to be good. I am a fan of the franchise, I will go and see it and I can’t wait for FNAF 4. I’m not exactly confident but let’s hope this is an actual good video game movie. But nevertheless I’m curious, what is everyone else hoping to see in the movie? I’ll end this post now, the power on my laptop has nearly run out …