It must be said that, for a (relatively) small production drawn from an indie darling, Five Nights at Freddy’s doesn’t have a bad bet. The film will follow the tribulations of Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson AKA Peeta in The Hunger Games), night guard in the ruins of Freddy Fazbear’s pizzeria. There still lurk the series’ iconic lethal mechanical mascots. We can also see Freddy in the teaser. The animatronics are designed by the Jim Henson Creature Shop, the illustrious puppet studio behind Sesame Street. They have shiny coats, red eyes and well-greased gears.
Our attentive readers will also be able to spot William Afton, founder of the pizza franchise, played here by the brilliant Matthew Lillard (Sammy in Scooby Doo and Stu in Scream). Better known by the nickname of Purple Man, he sports here the easy hairiness of Colonel Sanders in less exuberant. This rich and cruel engineer is the designer of the animatronics, and the least we can say is that he has the blood of a child on his hands…
Five Nights at Freddy’s is directed by Emma Tammi (Cursed Land, Into the Dark: Blood Moon) and produced by Blumhouse. It will haunt our cinemas on October 27, 2023, just in time for Halloween.