Weekend Watch - Five Nights at Freddy’s

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating and review. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers is Five Nights at Freddy’s, the videogame adaptation from Blumhouse about a security guard at a shutdown children’s pizza restaurant who must contend with the violent tendencies of its haunted animatronics while he keeps watch at night. The film stars Josh Hutcherson as the film’s lead Mike, joined by Piper Rubio as his sister and charge Abby, Elizabeth Lail as local police officer Vanessa, and Matthew Lillard as the career counselor who places Mike at Freddy’s, Steve Raglan. It opened last weekend to some of the worst reviews of the year while also winning the weekend at the box office. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: C-, it’s not as terrible as people say, but a few tweaks would take it from just okay to something truly great.

Review:

                Five Nights at Freddy’s offers a slightly toned down but still atmospheric and jump-scare heavy horror film that just misses the mark on a few too many notes to feel totally true to its source material. Through its soundtrack, puppeteering, and creative twists on the game’s lore, it offers audiences a fairly fresh take on the horror genre, with lots of potential for any future installments. Unfortunately, predictable plot twists, inconsistent performances, and a miniscule level of the blood and gore that you might expect from such a film leave it as a middling offering to wrap up spooky season (or not if you’re trying to watch Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks).

                As far as capturing the feel of the video game from which it is inspired, I think this film does a decent job. It has plenty of jump-scares, Easter eggs, and lore-specific statements to please fans of the game. The soundtrack that goes along with it all really adds to the 1980s atmospheric theming with lots of synth and 16-bit sounds that really immerse the audience in the world – particularly in the film’s opening sequence, which features maybe the film’s best overall vibes. The disappointment comes when the camera cuts away from the instances of violence in order to maintain a PG-13 rating that will give it a larger audience base and box office haul. While the games maintain a palatable T for Teen age rating, they do this by minimizing the on-screen violence and relying heavily on jump-scares, which makes for a satisfying gaming experience. However, horror films that cut away from the violence and utilize primarily jump-scares are inevitably going to suffer in the ratings department, and I think here, the film could actually be a more critical success if it leaned a bit harder into the franchise’s Saw adjacencies and less on its marketability with 8-to-12-year-olds.

                Game creator and co-writer of the film Scott Cawthon has taken the lore of his hit franchise and twisted bits and pieces of it to craft what should be an original enough story for fans who came in knowing the depths of Freddy’s lore. It plays around with characters and storylines in a way that still gives us a satisfying story even if its beats are fairly predictable and familiar for the average moviegoer. The real breakdown is not so much in the changes from the source material but in the execution of the new story, which is rife with plot holes and less-than-surprising twists. Combine that with inconsistent performances from both Hutcherson and Lail, and you’re left with a somewhat disappointing story that still entertains but doesn’t really wow.

                Hutcherson is at his best in the film when he gets to just talk and be present, expressing more subtle trauma and emotionality quite well. It’s the moments when he has to explode and emote more intensely that his performance breaks down a bit and reverts too much to his younger self to be believable. Likewise, Lail’s performance as Vanessa feels too insincere in the film’s moments of emotional connection and simple explanations, but when the going gets tough, she exhibits fear and terror excellently in her expressions, giving the audience a glimpse at some potential horror greatness if she can nail those other beats. Lillard’s cameo moments work well enough, but it’s fairly obvious what part he has to play, and certain moments feel a bit more phoned in than I’d typically like – he’s not late-90’s/early-2000s Matthew Lillard anymore (at least not here). Piper Rubio might give the film’s best performance, but it’s not an overly complex one, as she gives the audience a glimpse into the childlike innocence that has been so often victimized by the film’s antagonistic forces. She is kind and good and a little bit airy, but it works well enough.

                Five Nights at Freddy’s struggles to find solid footing with an atmosphere and adaptation that almost work perfectly but break down like the animatronics in the presence of tasers when you take into account the film’s conventional plot and inconsistent performances that leave something to be desired. It’s by no means the worst film of the year, but it could definitely have been a much better film with just a few tweaks and really gone down as a great video game adaptation. As it stands, it’s a passable horror film on the level of most others, not really elevated or innovative but still thrilling in its creation of a suspenseful atmosphere and use of jump-scares.

Weekend Watch - M3GAN

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Blumhouse’s latest horror cult classic in the making, M3GAN. The film released last weekend to surprisingly great reviews (a 72 Metacritic score and 95% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes) considering its genre, marketing, and the month of January. The film about an A.I. doll that gains increasing levels of sentience, leading to drastic actions in pursuit of its prime directive of protecting the child Cady, stars Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng, and Amie Donald and is now showing in theaters. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: B; it’s definitely not “good” but by embracing its ridiculousness it triumphs, nonetheless.

Should you Watch This Film? Absolutely! It’s a great time, a welcome escape for a quick hour and forty-two minutes with enough heart and story to keep everyone entertained; though you can probably wait for this to hit streaming if you’d rather.

Why?

                Move over, Child’s Play, we’ve got a new scary doll movie that might just be about to make some franchise waves. M3GAN lets you know from the jump exactly what kind of experience this is about to be – irreverent, on-the-nose, and surprisingly tame in terms of its violence. This film has no desire to be in the same club as Get Out or Hereditary or even writer James Wan’s The Conjuring and does a phenomenal job carving out its own niche among the more under-the-radar horror comedies like Happy Death Day or The Cabin in the Woods. In this case, M3GAN’s niche happens to be that of toy horror and its modern evolution out of haunted/possessed dolls into threatening A.I. The film delivers all that you could want from a PG-13 version of this film, with a solid combination of build-up and jump scares, a touching story about family and coming to terms with loss, and so many payoffs you’d swear the writers studied under Chekhov himself.

                As surprising as M3GAN’s success has been, I should also note here that the film is by no means perfect. For January, it might be the closest we’re ever going to get to a perfect wide release, but M3GAN still has its issues. For starters, its PG-13 rating keeps the elements that could have made it a great slasher at a minimum. With no major gore or physical horror to speak of, the film feels a bit muzzled in the horror department. When she finally goes on her rampage, M3GAN only actually kills two characters, neither of which felt overly impactful to the lives of the protagonists. The film’s total body count, including animals and people not killed by the robot, comes to a grand total of seven – not the most violent, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be.

                M3GAN makes up for some of its lack of horror with plenty of (I think intentional) comedy. My theater was laughing out loud noticeably in at least four distinct moments in the film that I can remember, and I found myself and/or my wife chuckling to ourselves in at least ten or twelve others. Ultimately, the film’s embrace of its comedic nature is what has endeared it to audiences and made it one of the most commercially successful January releases in quite some time. A doll singing Sia after it makes a kill, doing a dance as a threat to a potential victim, and running through the woods after a kid on all fours are only a few of the moments that stand out as prime examples (all of which featured in the trailer, so this avoids spoilers) of the filmmakers going full-send on their film’s wild premise. Any film that is so unapologetically itself as M3GAN is deserves recognition and appreciation, and I’m glad to offer it here.

                M3GAN’s ability to embrace its blend of horror, childishness, and fresh takes helps it overcome quite a bit of its shortcomings in the horror department, launching the film on what I anticipate will be a franchise-starting path. It’s currently showing in theaters if you can’t wait to go see it. Otherwise, it’ll probably hit streaming around March, and I definitely recommend giving it a watch.