On Oct. 27, 2023, Universal Pictures released “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie, directed by Emma Tammi, in theaters and on the Peacock streaming service. The movie follows Mike Schmidt, played by Josh Hutcherson, who was given a job by Steve Raglin, as a security guard at the abandoned Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. He takes up the job to make himself look better in his court case against his Aunt Jane, over custody of Mike’s sister. In between all of this, with the help of Vanessa, played by Elizabeth Lail, Mike uncovers the mystery of Freddy’s. 

This movie has been a massive success for Blumhouse, becoming the highest-grossing movie the company has released and the highest-grossing horror movie of 2023. While the movie is a box office success, having made $299.4 million, its rating on websites such as Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb are low, only getting 30% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.5/10 on IMDb. One of the reasons for these low reviews is its horror elements, or rather, the lack of it. The “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie was promoted as a horror movie, meant to give people chills and suspense through its runtime, but many people felt like this movie wasn’t scary enough with only a few jump scares. Another criticism is its story, with critics saying there was an abundance of exposition by Vanessa where she just spills out information to the viewer directly. Furthermore, some people did not understand the overall plot. A lot of the storyline left viewers confused and by the end, there were still many questions that were left unanswered.

Even though this movie has gotten a lot of backlash, many fans of the original series and regular moviegoers have enjoyed this movie despite its somewhat weak storytelling. This movie is still worth the watch as fans of the series and newcomers will still have a fun time.