Five Nights at Freddy's - Review Thread

So, obviously, I can't sit here and make comparisons to the game, because I haven't played it. I can just speak to this as a film. And as a film, it feels pretty ho-hum. The idea is certainly here to create something fairly creepy, and the movie offers a few faint glimmers of that potential here and there, but it overall suffers from something that I wouldn't have thought it would...which is being dull. As something that's supposed to be a horror movie, the horror aspects alternate between being generic and weak. Again, I can see how this could all work with the right execution, but that's the problem -- the execution of this leaves a lot to be desired. Director Emma Tammi lacks a clear grasp on crafting interesting and/or spine-tingling setpieces (in spite of a decent aesthetic) but more importantly, a consistent sense of intrigue. As a movie, Five Nights at Freddy's feels bogged down in exposition and character background, to the detriment of the marquee attractions. It seems like everything may be geared more towards fans of the game itself, who may get more out of all the lore laid forth, but if you're making an adaptation of anything, then you've got to also make it compelling somehow for the newbies, and that's something that Five Nights at Freddy's doesn't really do. It gets bogged down so much in the lore/backstory, that it forgets to craft some effective setpieces around them -- but, more of an interesting narrative in general -- as well as keep the pacing consistent. The movie never feels like a chore to get through, exactly, but it is one where hardly anything about it feels like it has any impact. Some effort is made with the Josh Hutcherson character (Hutcherson, by the way, gives it his all and comes out of this thing as the best part) and his subplot with his younger sister, but even that feels kind of obligatory/by-the-book.