By Ahead of its previews tonight in cinemas before a combination full theatrical release and Peacock release tomorrow, reviews are now in for the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie from Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures.
Unfortunately the verdict may be scarier than the film, with the film landing just 31% (4.5/10) on Rotten Tomatoes from 52 reviews thus far.
The film follows a troubled security guard (Josh Hutcherson) as he begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the night shift will be difficult to get through as the animatronic creatures come to life – and have rather sharp teeth.
The family-friendly(ish) PG-13 horror film has long been in the works and has had heavy input from the game’s creator. It doesn’t appear to have helped, here’s a sampling of reviews:
“It’s the type of adorable gateway horror that’ll play well at slumber parties or rowdy theaters full of obsessed fans, which is precisely its target audience.” – Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting
“When ‘The Banana Splits Movie’ got there first, and did it slightly better, you’re in trouble.” – William Bibbiani, TheWrap
“This fun Blumhouse adaptation of the cult ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ franchise treats its source material with reverence, but to the point of over-complication” – Josh Korngut, Dread Central
“Five Nights At Freddy’s is pretty much exactly what it is meant to be. The degree of Love to Hate really is about you, not the film… as it should be.” – David Poland, Hot Button
“Never quite figures out what it wants to be. It seems to be aiming for cult status, but isn’t nearly transgressive enough to achieve it… it provides a tragic backstory that seeks to provide emotional depth but instead just slows the proceedings to a crawl. The ultimate result is a snooze” – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
“These specimens, courtesy of the Jim Henson company, are just menacing animal effigies being shunted around. Promisingly malevolent but with little going on inside, they feel like what they are: internet memes being pimped out to the point of exhaustion.” – Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph
“Five Nights at Freddy’s is somehow a slog to get through and will be promptly forgotten by morning.” – Benjamin Lee, Guardian
“Freddy Fazbear and his pals would seem precision-tooled for terror. Sadly, though, they are about as scary as Barney the purple dinosaur in what is ultimately a ploddingly predictable, gore-lite yawner.” – Neil Smith, Total Film
Despite the poor reviews, the film is tracking for a $50 million+ opening at the domestic box-office this weekend.
The post “Five Nights at Freddy’s” Reviews Are In appeared first on Dark Horizons.
