For this Random Rants with Annemarie, we will be discussing a spoiler-free version of “Five Nights at Freddy’s.” When I do a movie review, I tend to like to separate it into three different categories: Skip, Stream or Support. Skip is just not watching the movie entirely, Stream is just waiting for the movie to be on streaming services and watching it there and Support is making the effort to go out to your local theater and support the theaters because the movie is just that good. I will always want you to support your local theaters, but I know sometimes that isn’t feasible, so the Support category is more so for if it is good enough to spend your time going to the theater experience. 

Now that we have the rules and semantics out of the way, let us get into the rating. 

I would rate this movie a solid 8.7 out of 10 (if you know, you know). In all seriousness, I would say this movie is a Support rather than a Stream. Seeing it in the theater is super fun, especially if you are going with people. My theater had a lot of people reacting and joking, but not in an annoying way. I went with about half the cast of the gaming show I’m on, “All Systems Go.” It was absolutely amazing. I genuinely enjoyed the movie, and think I will probably stream it again myself to pick up on the absolute plethora of easter eggs hidden throughout the movie.

 One thing about FNAF is you know that there is always going to be tons of lore. Now, disclaimer, I have been a big fan of the series since the first game came out in 2014. I enjoyed the movie, but the movie did take some liberties with the lore and changed some things. I personally thought it was fine, and it didn’t bother me too much, but a lot of long-time fans are really divided. So keep that in mind when you are going to see this movie. Just view it as an alternate timeline, or an amalgamation of previous iterations. It has lore from the games, lore from “The Silver Eyes” books, references to popular fan theories and even some of the short story anthologies if you look hard enough. 

One consistent issue I have heard of people having is people being really rude and obnoxious in the theaters. Now, my theater did have some yelling in it (me included at parts), but it wasn’t excessive. There were several people that did pull out their phones at full brightness which was annoying, and even at one instance someone accidentally shined their flashlight directly into the eyes of my friends and I. That was really irritating. But, all in all, it was a really fun experience. Just be warned that if you do go see it in theaters, there is a chance you will get really loud 12-year-olds going “hor hor hor hor hor” right behind you. If you are willing to take that risk, go see it. If not, stream it. This movie is lots of fun and definitely not one I would skip.

Annemarie Karabinus is an opinion writer. Contact her at [email protected].