Radically fresh and every bit as frightening, Five Nights at Freddy’s has a very simple setup: and somehow that simple premise turns it into an effective delivery mechanism for sparse, economic horror. The peculiar title plunges gamers into the nightmarish hellscape of a children’s entertainment center similar to Chuck E. Cheese’s, where animatronic animals entertain children during the daytime, and at night, come to life to terrorize their night security guard. It wasn’t too long ago I made an appearance on the FTW podcast and discussed why the widely popular point-and-click video game would make the perfect horror movie. As the game progresses, it becomes unbearably tense. The tension just builds and never lets up, not even for a second. It doesn’t take long before an immense felling of paranoia begins to slowly creep up and all you can do is literally wait. Five Nights at Freddy’s was a top-selling game on Desura, and the game became the subject of a number of popular Let’s Play videos reaching millions of viewers world-wide. According to THR, the game created by Scott Cawthon is about to be adapted to the big screen via Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment, with Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg also set as producers for the Warner Bros. project. No word yet on a writer, much less a director or cast, but fans of both the game series and horror films should get excited.
Freddy’s is a survival horror like no other. It has a different and unique way of bringing the thrills. You are completely immobile and defenseless while playing, and so you can’t help but feel helpless in knowing something terrible can and will happen. It will be interesting to see how they bring the same sense of paranoia to the big screen.